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books tagged “memoir”
books tagged “memoir”
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Across Chinaby Peter JenkinsISBN 0688042236 (0-688-04223-6)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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Alias Olympia: A Woman's Search for Manet's Notorious Model & Her Own Desireby Eunice LiptonISBN 0684194171 (0-684-19417-1)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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American Notesby Charles Dickens, Christopher HitchensISBN 0679601856 (0-679-60185-6)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'American Notes'Book summary:American Notes is the fascinating travel journal of one of 19th century America's most celebrated tourists--Charles Dickens. A lively chronicle of his five-month trip around the United States in 1842, the book records the author's adventures journeying by steamboat and stagecoach as well as his impressions of everything from schools and prisons to table manners and slavery. [via]
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Babyhoodby Paul ReiserISBN 0688149790 (0-688-14979-0)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Babyhood'Book summary:Fans of television's Mad About You and its star, Paul Reiser, will be delighted with his second foray into the self-deprecating self-help genre. Couplehood, his first book, leads logically to this next phase--Babyhood. In a chatty voice Reiser takes us from the "Maybe someday we'll have kids" step into the deep-sea dive of commitment.
Babyhood begins on an airplane, with Paul and wife blissfully unencumbered by children. They are seated across from the young parents (graying before his eyes) of a terrorizing 2-year-old and a screeching infant. This sobering reality manages magically to pale in a transcendent moment of the baby's bliss, uncomplicated by drool or colic, and the two decide: "Now."
Well, more or less now. First they try to get pregnant, making expeditions to the bookstore to case out the shelves of baby books; then there are the bouncy reflections on who is, after all, cut out to parent ("I don't know if, for example, Mozart actually had kids, but certainly there is no record of him ever leaving the office early to coach Peewee Soccer League"). Later comes the account of sibling rivalry between the newborn and the family dog, and why women make better moms than men. Babyhood manages to provoke thought about the important questions of when and why to have children, many of which are answered in the book's endearing details. [via]
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Beneath the Underdog: His World As Composed by Mingusby Charles Mingus, Nel KingISBN 0679737618 (0-679-73761-8)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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The Best Little Boy in the World : 1998 Editionby John Reid, Andrew TobiasISBN 067960314X (0-679-60314-X)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Between Meals : An Appetite for Parisby A. J. Liebling, James SalterISBN 0679601422 (0-679-60142-2)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Between Meals : An Appetite for Paris'Book summary:A man of Rabelaisian appetite, with the exquisite palate of the true gastronome and the literary flair to match, A.J. Liebling (1904-1963) was a formidable eater and a remarkable man, and his nostalgic recitation of his years and meals in Paris is a pleasure to read, dream on, and drool about.
Liebling treasured a good appetite as a prerequisite for writing about food, as his accounts of substantial meals (two portions of cassoulet, one steak topped with beef marrow, and a dozen or so oysters, for example) attest. For the poised, precise, literary, and humorous flavor of his writing, you need only crack open the book--any page will do. Liebling recounts how to dine superbly without being lead astray by too much money, and he digresses magnificently on the evils of abstemiousness ("No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures; no ascetic can be considered reliably sane"). In this age of diets and pragmatic health care, it's refreshing to read such an inspired and inspiring ode to pleasure. As a means of savoring a love affair with Paris, sparking an interest in a trip to France, restructuring your priorities for the trip you've already planned, or gearing up on the flight over for the gastronomic debauches to come, Liebling is unsurpassed. --Stephanie Gold [via]
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Bookby Whoopi GoldbergISBN 068815252X (0-688-15252-X)
Hardcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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Childhood, Boyhood and Youthby Leo Tolstoy, C. J. HogarthISBN 067940578X (0-679-40578-X)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Childhood, Boyhood and Youth'Book summary:(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Introduction by A. N. Wilson; Translation by C. J. Hogarth [via]More editions of Childhood, Boyhood and Youth:
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A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & the Thanksgiving Visitorby Truman CapoteISBN 0679602372 (0-679-60237-2)
Hardcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & the Thanksgiving Visitor'Book summary:A Christmas Memory is the classic memoir of Truman Capote's childhood in rural Alabama. Until he was ten years old, Capote lived with distant relatives. This book is an autobiographical story of those years and his frank and fond memories of one of his cousins, Miss Sook Faulk. The text is illustrated with full color illustrations that add greatly to the story without distracting from Capote's poignant prose. [via]
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Clara, the Early Years : The Story of the Pug Who Ruled My Lifeby Margo KaufmanISBN 0679452613 (0-679-45261-3)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Clara, the Early Years : The Story of the Pug Who Ruled My Life'Book summary:You would think that a 12-pound dog would know her place in the world. Well, you obviously haven't met Clara, the pug that rules writer Margo Kaufman's life and the topic of discussion in Clara: The Early Years, Kaufman's hilarious account of living with the imperious pug. Kaufman, author of This Damn House! and the Hollywood correspondent for Pug Talk magazine, admits to being the "Official Pug Lollipop," a fact that Clara takes full advantage of. From their first meeting in a New York hotel room, Kaufman knows that Clara is "different": "Five minutes after her arrival, she inspected our junior suite like Leona Helmsley checking to see if the chocolate mints on the pillows were lined up at the right angles. Clara noticed the spacious queen-sized bed, the plush carpet, and the cozy loveseat in my sitting room. She beheld the cold hard floor--tile, not even marble--in her tiny bathroom. And she realized that the Human had put her own comfort over the pug's--a serious error that must be corrected at once so the Human would not make this mistake again." Sure, most people would have run screaming from the little Hitler, but not Kaufman. She's instantly smitten with the tiny, "bat-eared," "jack-o'-lantern"-toothed puppy, as the whole world soon would be. Joining Kaufman on book tours, stealing the show with her designer doggy cap and natural on-air charm, posing for photographs (to be used in dog-food endorsements, no less), and generally hamming it up and handing out orders, Clara comfortably stakes her claim to the Kaufman clan--including fellow pug Sophie. But when Kaufman and her husband decide to adopt Nicholas, a Siberian orphan, Clara feels the limelight slipping away. Wrapped in bureaucratic red tape, the adoption process involves not only months of paper pushing but a trip to Siberia that just about puts Clara over the top. Luckily, the persnickety pug accepts Nicholas into the fold and all is well in Clara's universe. As for the Kaufmans, well, indentured servitude to a pug isn't so bad. Kaufman's witty observations--combined with Clara's unforgettable antics--make for a memorable read. --Stefanie Hargreaves [via]
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Clear Pictures: First Loves, First Guidesby Reynolds PriceISBN 0684847523 (0-684-84752-3)
Hardcover, Scribner
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Communionby Whitley StrieberISBN 0688070868 (0-688-07086-8)
Hardcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Communion'Book summary:A catalogue of encounters with non-humans. [via]
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The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming the Compassionate Agendaby Paul David WellstoneISBN 0679462945 (0-679-46294-5)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming the Compassionate Agenda'Book summary:When senators think about running for president, they write books like The Conscience of a Liberal. Indeed, Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota thought about pursuing the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000, but ultimately backed off. There's some speculation he'll run in 2004. Whatever the case, he's known in Washington as one of the Senate's most liberal members--giving his better-known colleagues Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton a run for their money in this category. The first part of the book explains Wellstone's unlikely ascension to the Senate (he was once a college professor), and some of his campaign war stories are fun reading for political junkies. One of the most amusing passages describes how he once nearly clocked New York Republican Alfonse D'Amato over a disagreement: "When the train reached the Senate chamber, I jumped out and lunged forward, intending to catch D'Amato and deck him. My body was shaking with uncontrollable anger." Another senator held him back, and Wellstone calmed down.
The bulk of The Conscience of a Liberal, however, is given over to laying out a political agenda that includes universal health care, reversing welfare reforms, prekindergarten education, raising the minimum wage, and campaign-finance reform. He closes with a call for a new politics: "This is not a conservative America.... There is a huge leadership void in this country that the Democratic Party, emboldened by political courage and a commitment to the issues that made our party great, can fill." Democrats looking for a candidate to support in the next presidential election may want to start here. --John J. Miller [via]
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Dancing Naked in the Mind Fieldby Kary MullisISBN 0679774009 (0-679-77400-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Deadlines & Datelinesby Dan RatherISBN 0688165664 (0-688-16566-4)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Deadlines & Datelines'Book summary:Ranging from political campaigns to public school crises to turmoil in Russia, the bestselling author and CBS Evening News anchor examines the tragedies and triumphs that shape our nation. Complete with new essays on recent events, Rather explores America at the end of the twentieth century and looks ahead to its future as we enter the twenty-first. With his distinctive blend of frontline energy and a journalist's knack for a good story, Rather looks at the awesome struggles and everyday accomplishments he's witnessed at home and around the globe. With candor, compassion, and sometimes irreverence, Rather examines world leaders and local heroes.
Deadlines and Datelines is not without lighter moments. In one laugh-out-loud essay, Rather skewers the phenomenon of "dumb bass," or bass that are bred to go after any hook in sight. On the culture beat, Rather offers personal interviews and insightful appreciations as well as a compelling tribute to JFK, Jr. Throughout these essays, Rather offers readers a wide range of though-provoking observations, and shows yet again the skill and intelligence that have made him "part of our world" for more than four decades. [via]
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Diary Of Samuel Pepys: Selected Passagesby Samuel Pepys, Richard Le Gallienne, Robert Louis StevensonISBN 0679642218 (0-679-64221-8)
Hardcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Diary Of Samuel Pepys: Selected Passages'Book summary:The diary which Samuel Pepys kept from January 1660 to May 1669 ...is one of our greatest historical records and... a major work of English literature, writes the renowned historian Paul Johnson. A witness to the coronation of Charles II, the Great Plague of 1665, and the Great Fire of 1666, Pepys chronicled the events of his day. Originally written in a cryptic shorthand, Pepys's diary provides an astonishingly frank and diverting account of political intrigues and naval, church, and cultural affairs, as well as a quotidian journal of daily life in London during the Restoration.
In 1825, when Pepys's memoirs were first published, Francis Jeffrey of The Edinburgh Review declared, "We can scarcely say that we wish it a page shorter... it is very entertaining thus to be transported into the very heart of a time so long gone by; and to be admitted into the domestic intimacy, as well as the public councils of a man of great activity and circulation in the reign of Charles II." Edited and abridged by literary critic and author Richard Le Gallienne, this edition features an Introduction by Robert Louis Stevenson. [via]More editions of Diary Of Samuel Pepys: Selected Passages:
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Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clublandby James St. JamesISBN 0684857642 (0-684-85764-2)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland'Book summary:In 1996, New York City drug dealer and "club kid" Angel Melendez was bludgeoned, injected with Drano, dismembered, and tossed into the river. James St. James was there when the killer confessed, but before that, there were the clubs, the parties, the drugs, and the many fabulous (and some not so fabulous) outfits. Disco Bloodbath is "celebutante" St. James's story, equal parts confession and attempt at closure. This is no square-jawed detective's account of the investigation of the crime; St. James is a drug-addled clubster who wears a wedding dress out on the town and invokes Judy Garland as he talks about the scene in which he and Melendez immersed themselves before the murder. His story, despite its gruesome subject matter and frequent, shocking lucidity, has a chatty and anecdotal quality that's compelling, endearing, and unrelentingly human. --Lisa Higgins [via]
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A Dog's Lifeby Peter Mayle, Edward KorenISBN 0679762671 (0-679-76267-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Dogs Life'Book summary:The bestsellling author of A Year in Provence and Hotel Pastis now surveys his territory from a differnt vantage point: the all-fours perspective of his dog, Boy--"a dog whose personality is made up of equal parts Boswell and Dr. Johnson, Mencken and A. A. Milne" (Chicago Sun-Times). Enhanced by 59 splendidly whimsical drawings by Edward Koren.
From the Trade Paperback edition. [via]-
Down These Mean Streetsby Piri ThomasISBN 0679781420 (0-679-78142-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Down These Mean Streets'Book summary:The 30th anniversary edition of this classic memoir about growing up in Spanish Harlem includes an afterword reminding us that its streets are even meaner now, thanks to crack cocaine and the dismantling of government poverty programs. As a dark-skinned Puerto Rican, born in 1928, Piri Thomas faced with painful immediacy the absurd contradictions of America's racial attitudes (among people of all colors) in a time of wrenching social change. Three decades have not dimmed the luster of his jazzy prose, rich in Hispanic rhythms and beat-generation slang. [via]
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Dreaming: A Family Memoir of Drugs and Drink, Struggle and Joyby Carolyn SeeISBN 0679430261 (0-679-43026-1)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dreaming: A Family Memoir of Drugs and Drink, Struggle and Joy'Book summary:The award-winning author of Golden Days and The Rest Is Done With Mirrors now tells her life story and that of her family--one in which heavy drinking and, later, recreational drugs, were something of a family tradition. A fiercely funny and deeply empathetic book which shows that the wild life, for better and worse, has made us what we are. Photos. [via]
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Dreams of My Russian Summersby Geoffrey Strachan, Andrei MakineISBN 0684852683 (0-684-85268-3)
Softcover, Touchstone Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dreams of My Russian Summers'Book summary:Each summer, Andrei Makine's narrator and his sister leave the Soviet Union for the mythical land of France-Atlantis. That this country is a beautiful confabulation, a consolation existing only in his maternal grandmother's mind, makes it no less real. Though Charlotte Lemonnier lives in a town on the edge of the steppe, each night she journeys to a long-ago Paris, telling tales that the children then translate with their more Russian minds: "The president of the Republic was bound to have something Stalinesque about him in the portrait sketched by our imagination. Neuilly was peopled with kolkhozniks. And the slow emergence of Paris from the waters evoked a very Russian emotion--that of fleeting relief after one more historic cataclysm ..."
Makine's first novel is a singing tribute to the alchemy of inspiration, but it is no less familiar with the sorrows of reality. And it is only as he gets older that the narrator begins to piece together his grandmother's far more tragic past--her experiences in the Great War, the October Revolution, and after. Dreams of My Russian Summers is a love letter to an extraordinary woman (it's hard not to see the book as autobiographical) as well as to language and literature, which the boy turns to in avoidance of history's manipulations. It has all the marks of an instant classic. [via]
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Dropped Threads: What We Aren't Toldby Carol Shields, Marjorie May AndersonISBN 0679310711 (0-679-31071-1)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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Excursions in the Real Worldby William Trevor, Lucy WillisISBN 0679430296 (0-679-43029-6)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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Eyewitness to Power : The Essence of Leadership: Nixon to Clintonby David GergenISBN 0684826631 (0-684-82663-1)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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Falling off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the Worldby Pico IyerISBN 0679746129 (0-679-74612-9)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Family Installmentsby Edward RiveraISBN 0688012310 (0-688-01231-0)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Other American Storiesby Hunter S. ThompsonISBN 0679602984 (0-679-60298-4)
Hardcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Other American Stories, Tie-In Edition'Book summary:Dr. Thompson made the list of inspirational scribes when I polled in a recent writing workshop, and why not? Back in a spiffy Modern Library edition, replete with additional essays, I find in this iconographic work that HST both invoked--and provoked--an era that was not so much the '60s proper, but rather the mean, shadow-filled death of that time, which is still playing out. Thank God Thompson was there to explode the myth of "objective" journalism and help pave the way for the pens and voices that followed. [via]
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The First Manby Albert Camus, David Hapgood, Sarah BurnesISBN 0679768165 (0-679-76816-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The First Man'Book summary:In The First Man Albert Camus tells the story of Jacques Cormery, a boy who lived a life much like his own. Camus summons up the sights, sounds, and textures of a childhood circumscribed by poverty and a father's death yet redeemed by the austere beauty of Algeria and the boy's attachment to his nearly deaf-mute mother. The result is a moving journey through the lost landscape of youth that also discloses the wellspring of Camus' aesthetic powers and moral vision. [via]
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A French Affair: The Paris Beat 1965-1998by Mary BlumeISBN 0684863014 (0-684-86301-4)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A French Affair: The Paris Beat 1965-1998'Book summary:Even the most dedicated expat rarely manages to completely fit into an adopted foreign culture. It's precisely this quality that allows American Mary Blume to so thoughtfully observe and record Paris, the city that's served as her home for over three decades, though its ways may still mystify her. In A French Affair--a collection of essays published in the International Herald Tribune--the columnist deftly captures the quirks and changes that are visible only to those who live in France, though they may be most interesting to those who don't.
In these commentaries--ranging from the opening of invention conventions to the mire of bureaucracy that accompanies the naming of a street (which may only be named after dead people, preferably deceased for at least 15 years)--Blume unveils the French quest for perfection in a world that's perfectly imperfect because of French design, and how the logic of Descartes's descendents--regarding such points as grammar--is sometimes extreme to the point of being irrational. She captures trends, from the fashionable la ratte potato to the metric system. She records notable moments---the death of a designer, the opening of a charm school for men--and notable people, such as Renoir's jet-setting son and Simone de Beauvoir. Of course, this being a book about France, Blume occasionally delves into food, be it the inner workings of a soup kitchen or the launching of cooking classes taught by royalty. With these witty and insightful short snippets, Blume provides small, crystal-clear windows into true French life--a rare accomplishment from an expatriate or a native. --Melissa Rossi [via]
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Gathering Evidenceby Thomas Bernhard, David McLintockISBN 0679738096 (0-679-73809-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80'sby Hunter S. ThompsonISBN 0679722378 (0-679-72237-8)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's'Book summary:A running tally of the folly of the 80's, the decade known for men of "huge brains, small necks, weak muscles and fat wallets.." - NYT Book Review [via]
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Home Townby Tracy KidderISBN 0679455884 (0-679-45588-4)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Home Town'Book summary:Northampton, Massachusetts, boasts a rich history that dates back to the 17th century. It is home to Mount Holyoke, which has been climbed by Charles Dickens and Henry James (among others), and to Sylvia Plath's alma mater, Smith College. It has always been the quintessential New England town, while becoming in recent years a politically progressive small city, whose population of 30,000 has WASPs rubbing elbows with lesbians, immigrants, students, and the homeless. Driven by a narrative force comparable to that of the best fiction, Home Town is a remarkable evocation of small-town life at the end of the 20th century.
Probing beneath Northampton's friendly exterior, Pulitzer-winning author Tracy Kidder uncovers the town's many layers, from the lowest to the highest rungs of society, and renders a portrait of Northampton by introducing those who know it best. Kidder relies most heavily on native Tommy O'Connor, a 33-year-old police sergeant who has never left his beloved hometown. Tommy's optimism and gentle humor make him an appealing guide, as he shows both the darkest and most charming streets of his town and wrestles with a future that may forever alter his relationship to Northampton. Kidder also introduces readers to Laura Baumeister, a young working mother and Ada Comstock scholar at Smith College who is struggling to care for her son and keep up with the rigorous school curriculum; Alan Scheinman, a real estate lawyer who made a fortune in the 1980s, now plagued by a crippling case of obsessive-compulsive disorder; and Samson Rodriguez, a former loom operator who may have been one of the first people to bring crack cocaine to Northampton. --Kera Bolonik [via]
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How Green Was My Valleyby Richard LlewellynISBN 0684825554 (0-684-82555-4)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'How Green Was My Valley'Book summary:Llewellyn's tale of a young man's coming-of-age in a small Welsh mining town--the basis for the beloved film of the same name--is "a beautiful story told in words which have Welsh music in them . . . a book which will live in the mind and memory of its readers" (Atlantic Monthly) [via]
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Imperiumby Ryszard Kapuscinski, Klara GlowczewskaISBN 067974780X (0-679-74780-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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In the Name of Sorrow and Hopeby Noa Ben Artzi-PelossofISBN 0679450793 (0-679-45079-3)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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In Xanaduby William DalrympleISBN 0679728538 (0-679-72853-8)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In Xanadu'Book summary:While waiting for the results of his college exams, William Dalrymple decides to fill in his summer break with a trip. But the vacation he plans is no light-hearted student jaunt - he decides to retrace the epic journey of Marco Polo from Jerusalem to Xanadu, the ruined palace of Kubla Kahn, north of Peking. For the first half of the trip he is accompanied by Laura, whom he met at a dinner party two weeks before he left; for the second half he is accompanied by Louisa, his very recently ex-girlfriend. Intelligent and funny, In Xanadu is travel writing at its best.
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It Was on Fire When I Lay down on Itby Robert FulghumISBN 0679741178 (0-679-74117-8)
Hardcover, Random House Large Print
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› Find signed collectible books: 'It Was on Fire When I Lay down on It'Book summary:The beloved author of All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten presents more memorable observations and commentary that range from an account of a disastrous Christmas pageant to travelogues. (Religion & Inspiration). [via]
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Knowing When to Stop: A Memoirby Ned RoremISBN 0684804409 (0-684-80440-9)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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Last House: Reflections, Dreams, and Observations, 1943-1991by M. F. K. FisherISBN 0679774114 (0-679-77411-4)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Last House : Reflections, Dreams, and Observations, 1943-1991'Book summary:The final volume in a trilogy of selections from the journals, short stories, and correspondence of one of America's best-loved writers. With style, humor, and spare, elegant prose, Fisher retraces her adventures in France as a young housewife, recalls her return to California, and ruminates on such favorite themes as food, literature, and relationships. [via]
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Life As We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Childby Michael BerubeISBN 0679758666 (0-679-75866-6)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Living Well Is the Best Revengeby Calvin TomkinsISBN 0679603085 (0-679-60308-5)
Hardcover, Modern Library
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Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamersby Carolyn SeeISBN 067946316X (0-679-46316-X)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers'Book summary:As Carolyn See says, writing guides are like preachers on Sundaythere may be a lot of them, but you cant have too many, and theres always an audience of the faithful. And while Making a Literary Life is ostensibly a book that teaches you how to write, it really teaches you how to make your interior life into your exterior life, how to find and join that community of like-minded souls youre sure is out there somewhere.
Carolyn See distills a lifetime of experience as novelist, memoirist, critic, and creative-writing professor into this marvelously engaging how-to book. Partly the nuts and bolts of writing (plot, point of view, character, voice) and partly an inspirational guide to living the life you dream of, Making a Literary Life takes you from the decision to become a writer to three months after the publication of your first book. A combination of writing and life strategies (do not tell everyone around you how you yearn to be a writer; send a charming note to someone you admire in the industry five days a week, every week, for the rest of your life; find the perfect characters right in front of you), Making a Literary Life is for people not usually considered part of the literary loop: the nonEast Coasters, the secret scribblers.
With sagacity, a magical sense of humor, and an abiding belief in the possibilities offered to ordinary people living ordinary lives, Carolyn See has summed up her lifes work in a book so beguiling, irreverent, and giddily inspiring that you wont even realize its changing your life until it already has. [via]More editions of Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers:
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Marcus Aureliusby C.R. HainesISBN 0674990641 (0-674-99064-1)
Hardcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Marcus Aurelius'Book summary:Marcus Aurelius (121180 CE), Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, born at Rome, received training under his guardian and uncle emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138161), who adopted him. He was converted to Stoicism and henceforward studied and practised philosophy and law. A gentle man, he lived in agreement and collaboration with Antoninus Pius. He married Pius's daughter and succeeded him as emperor in March 161, sharing some of the burdens with Lucius Verus.
Marcus's reign soon saw fearful national disasters from flood, earthquakes, epidemics, threatened revolt (in Britain), a Parthian war, and pressure of barbarians north of the Alps. From 169 onwards he had to struggle hard against the German Quadi, Marcomani, Vandals, and others until success came in 174. In 175 (when Faustina died) he pacified affairs in Asia after a revolt by Avidius. War with Germans was renewed during which he caught some disease and died by the Danube in March 180.
The famous Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (not his title; he simply calls them 'The matters addressed to himself') represents reflections written in periods of solitude during the emperor's military campaigns. Originally intended for his private guidance and self-admonition, the Meditations has endured as a potent expression of Stoic belief. It is a central text for students of Stoicism as well as a unique personal guide to the moral life.
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Meditationsby Marcus Aurelius, A.S.L. FarquharsonISBN 0679412719 (0-679-41271-9)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Meditations'Book summary:One measure, perhaps, of a book's worth, is its intergenerational pliancy: do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages? The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its most recent incarnation--as a self-help book--is not only valid, but may be close to the author's intent. The book, which Hays calls, fondly, a "haphazard set of notes," is indicative of the role of philosophy among the ancients in that it is "expected to provide a 'design for living.'" And it does, both aphoristically ("Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly.") and rhetorically ("What is it in ourselves that we should prize?"). Whether these, and other entries ("Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life.") sound life-changing or like entries in a teenager's diary is up to the individual reader, as it should be. Hays's introduction, which sketches the life of Marcus Aurelius (emperor of Rome A.D. 161-180) as well as the basic tenets of stoicism, is accessible and jaunty. --H. O'Billovich [via]
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A Misfit's Manifesto: The Spiritual Journey of a Rock and Roll Heartby Donna GainesISBN 0679463275 (0-679-46327-5)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Misfit's Manifesto: The Spiritual Journey of a Rock and Roll Heart'Book summary:Donna Gaines is the Margaret Mead of heavy metal, a turnpike intellectual, a walking, talking oxymoron. A Misfit's Manifesto is the story of her wild-in-the-burbs odyssey--from yeshiva girl to street-punk sociologist. The only child of a glamorous big-band vocalist, Donna had three fathers, including the "Kishka King of Brooklyn." Fat, lonely, and depressed, she found truth and beauty in the least likely places. Wandering the craggy terrain of Rockaway Beach, Queens, Donna embarked upon a path to enlightenment: sex, drugs, rock & roll, sociology, cosmetology, True Love, the occult, tattoos, science fiction, pizza, guns, comic books, and surfing--by Web or by sea. "Popular culture, my unholy redeemer," she proclaims.
It was Donna's consuming love of the "profane world" that gave her the courage to be, buffering her against relentless sorrow and self-loathing. Dignity, joy, and communion came not from family, organized religion, or mandatory schooling, but in the sound of doo-wop, then surf music, hard rock, punk, and grindcore. "For most of my life," she writes, "music was the only way to connect that wouldn't eventually kill me."
Through all the ripped nights of binge-drinking in rock clubs, Donna Gaines became an acclaimed author and an expert on teen suicide. In an age of conformity and censorship, Dr. Gaines defends popular culture as a powerful spiritual force, a vibrant, valid connection to God. This is an outcast's journey into the black-hole sun, where Divine love and light are found--even in Ramones songs. Donna Gaines has written a work of dazzling originality and iconoclasm, an inspiration for misfits everywhere. [via]More editions of A Misfit's Manifesto: The Spiritual Journey of a Rock and Roll Heart:
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Monster : Living off the Big Screenby John Gregory DunneISBN 0679455795 (0-679-45579-5)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Monster : Living off the Big Screen'Book summary:This is a story of a screenplay, how it was initially conceived, "developed" by a number of studio heads and producers, and finally transformed into a movie even its writers admit is mediocre. In 1988, John Gregory Dunne and his wife Joan Didion began work on a film script based on the tragic life of anchorwoman Jessica Savitch. Over the next eight years, studio executives coaxed them to transform it into Up Close and Personal, a toothless star vehicle for Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. In his account of the script's metamorphosis, Dunne also mentions other potential masterpieces of excess that he and Didion worked on, including Dharma Blue, an aborted Jerry Bruckheimer-Don Simpson movie about UFOs and Ultimatum, a nuclear thriller that was abandoned after its studio spent $3 million on script development! Dunne makes no bones about being in show biz for the money--his film work financed his heart surgery, legal costs, and vacations in Honolulu. Still, this account of a screenplay's devolution unmasks an industry spoiled rotten by wealth and power. [via]
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Nisa: The Life and Words of Kung Womenby Marjorie ShostakISBN 0674624858 (0-674-62485-8)
Hardcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nisa: The Life and Words of Kung Women'Book summary:This classic paperback is available once again--and exclusively--from Harvard University Press. This book is the story of the life of Nisa, a member of the !Kung tribe of hunter-gatherers from southern Africa's Kalahari desert. Told in her own words--earthy, emotional, vivid--to Marjorie Shostak, a Harvard anthropologist who succeeded, with Nisa's collaboration, in breaking through the immense barriers of language and culture, the story is a fascinating view of a remarkable woman. [via]
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Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Sonby James BaldwinISBN 0679744738 (0-679-74473-8)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Openly Bobby Bob SmithISBN 0688151205 (0-688-15120-5)
Hardcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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An Orphan in History: Retrieving a Jewish Legacyby Paul CowanISBN 068814604X (0-688-14604-X)
Softcover, HarperCollins Publishers
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Personal Odysseyby Thomas SowellISBN 0684864657 (0-684-86465-7)
Softcover, Free Pr
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Playing off the Rail : A Pool Hustler's Journeyby David McCumberISBN 0679423745 (0-679-42374-5)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Playing off the Rail : A Pool Hustler's Journey'Book summary:Award-winning author David McCumber reveals the unknown world of the pool hustler as he travels across the country with one of America's top players, Tony Annigoni. From elegant snookers clubs to high-pressure tournaments to chancy dives, this wise-cracking and occasionally hair-raising road trip explores a distinctive American subculture. [via]
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Portnoy's Complaintby Philip RothISBN 0679756450 (0-679-75645-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Portnoy's Complaint'Book summary:Portnoy's Complaint n. [after Alexander Portnoy (1933- )] A disorder in which strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses are perpetually warring with extreme sexual longings, often of a perverse nature. Spielvogel says: 'Acts of exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, auto-eroticism and oral coitus are plentiful; as a consequence of the patient's "morality," however, neither fantasy nor act issues in genuine sexual gratification, but rather in overriding feelings of shame and the dread of retribution, particularly in the form of castration.' (Spielvogel, O. "The Puzzled Penis," Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse, Vol. XXIV, p. 909.) It is believed by Spielvogel that many of the symptoms can be traced to the bonds obtaining in the mother-child relationship.
With a new Afterword by the author for the 25th Anniversary edition. [via]More editions of Portnoy's Complaint:
Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Numberby Jacobo Timerman, Toby TalbotISBN 0679720480 (0-679-72048-0)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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The Prisoner's Wife: A Memoirby Asha BandeleISBN 0684850737 (0-684-85073-7)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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Reporting Liveby Lesley StahlISBN 068485371X (0-684-85371-X)
Softcover, Touchstone Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Reporting Live'Book summary:No TV news blond has more steel than 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl, whose Reporting Live is one impressively substantive celebrity memoir. As a rookie in the CBS Washington, D.C., bureau in 1972, she got an assignment too grubby and unpromising for the big reporters: Watergate. She didn't just date Bob Woodward, she vied with him for scoops. For a quarter century, workaholic Stahl saw more of presidents and fellow bulldog newshound Sam Donaldson than her own daughter and husband, Urban Cowboy writer Aaron Latham.
Stahl's book belongs on any political-history shelf. Besides a briskly readable account of epochal events witnessed up close, she offers canny insights into what broke Nixon, backs up Tom Shales's opinion of Carter as "a combination Mr. Rogers and John the Baptist," assesses Reagan's mysteriously fogbank-like mind, and paints a startlingly warm portrait of George Bush (though not Barbara). Not only can Stahl fire fierce questions at world leaders against hair-raising deadlines, she can analyze trends with cool detachment, sometimes busting her profession or herself as guilty parties. She laments the "moral McCarthyism" of our times and compares her profession to a pack of wild dogs she'd encountered on an African safari.
What did it mean to be a woman in a man's world? Menachem Begin sexually harassed her, but her experience with teenage girls proved useful in understanding Reagan's bitchy, backstabbing male staff. Stahl sketches her personal life (and Latham's near-fatal depression), but her stuff on media and politics is the real news here. --Tim Appelo [via]
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Revenge : A Story of Hopeby Laura BlumenfeldISBN 0684853167 (0-684-85316-7)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Revenge : A Story of Hope'Book summary:In 1986, a Palestinian terrorist shot author Laura Blumenfelds father. More than a decade later, Blumenfeld, a reporter for The Washington Post, decided to find the man who tried to kill her dad; she also wanted to learn about vengeance. I was looking for the shooter, but I also was looking for some kind of wisdom, she writes. I wanted to master revenge. Blumenfeld interviews a variety of people, from religious figures to assassins, about the meaning of revenge. The heart of the book, though, is her own journey to find the man who pulled the trigger. First she locates his family and learns vivid details about his life--he was a standout in his public-relations course at the University of Bethlehem. Blumenfelds own emotions arent far from the surface of this narrative. When she meets the shooters own father, for instance, she asks herself: Am I supposed to shoot him now? Finally she begins a creepy correspondence with the gunman, who is in prison. Their letters back and forth are oddly compelling--at first the shooter doesnt know her real identity, though she eventually reveals it. In the end, Blumenfeld says her quest helped her find hope in a dangerous world, even as the final words of her book reflect upon September 11 and its immediate aftermath, when so many other Americans longed for their own vengeance. --John Miller [via]
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Roadsby Larry McMurtryISBN 0684868857 (0-684-86885-7)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska: The Story of Hannah Breeceby Jane Jacobs, Hannah BreeceISBN 0679776338 (0-679-77633-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Secret Life: An Autobiographyby Michael RyanISBN 0679767762 (0-679-76776-2)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Secret Life : An Autobiography'Book summary:A candid but dispassionate memoir presents the experiences of a man who came of age in the 1950s and endured a lifelong struggle as a molested child, son of an alcoholic, and sexual deviant. 40,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour. [via]
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The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Familyby Elisabeth BumillerISBN 0679772626 (0-679-77262-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family'Book summary:As it follows a Japanese housewife named Mariko Tanaka over the course of a year, The Secrets of Mariko transcends reportage to yield the kind of human insights we expect from literature. Meet Mariko, a cheerful, overscheduled woman who cares for three children, two aging parents, and an unresponsive husband. As readers watch Mariko take part in PTA meetings, bicker with her teenagers, and pursue independence through her part-time job, they come to see Mariko as someone whose dreams and disappointments mirror our own. [via]
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The Serpent and the Rainbowby Wade DavisISBN 0684839296 (0-684-83929-6)
Softcover, Touchstone Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Serpent and the Rainbow'Book summary:In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombis -- people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried. Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context within vodoun culture. In the course of his investigation, Davis came to realize that the story of vodoun is the history of Haiti -- from the African origins of its people to the successful Haitian independence movement, down to the present day, where vodoun culture is, in effect, the government of Haiti's countryside.
The Serpent and the Rainbow combines anthropological investigation with a remarkable personal adventure to illuminate and finally explain a phenomenon that has long fascinated Americans.
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The Shadow Manby Mary GordonISBN 0679749314 (0-679-74931-4)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Shadow Man : A Daughter's Search for Her Fatherby Mary GordonISBN 0679428852 (0-679-42885-2)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Simple Gifts : A Memoir of a Shaker Villageby June SpriggISBN 0679455043 (0-679-45504-3)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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The Soccer Warby Ryszard Kapuscinski, William BrandISBN 0679738053 (0-679-73805-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Sorrow of Warby Bao Ninh, Phan Thanh HaoISBN 0679439617 (0-679-43961-7)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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The Stations of Solitudeby Alice KollerISBN 0688079407 (0-688-07940-7)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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Sunnyvale: The Rise and Fall of a Silicon Valley Familyby Jeff GoodellISBN 0679776389 (0-679-77638-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Tearing the Silence: Being German in Americaby Ursula HegiISBN 068484611X (0-684-84611-X)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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Telling: Confessions, Concessions, and Other Flashes of Lightby Marion WinikISBN 0679755225 (0-679-75522-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Telling: Confessions, Concessions, and Other Flashes of Light'Book summary:Combining the insight of Anna Quindlen and the comic storytelling of Garrison Keillor with her own singularly outrageous humor, Marion Winik has captivated thousands of listeners on NPR's All Things Considered. Now, in Telling, she takes us on a journey both personal and universal, a tour of the minefield of chance and circumstance that make up a life. Along the way, she offers razor-sharp takes on everything from adolescence in suburban New Jersey ("Yes, I wanted to be a wild teenage rebel, but I wanted to do it with my parents' blessing") to hellish houseguests and bad-news boyfriends; from the joys of breastfeeding in public to the sometimes-salvation of motherhood.
Candid, passionate, and breathtakingly funny, Marion Winik maintains an unshaken belief that following one's heart is more important than following the rules -- and a conviction that the secrets we try to hide often contain the deepest truths.
"A born iconoclast, an aspiring artiste, a feminist vegetarian prodigal daughter, from early youth I considered myself destined to lead a startling life far outside the bounds of convention. I would be famous, dangerous, brilliant and relentlessly cool: a sort of cross between Emma Goldman, Jack Kerouac, and Georgia O'Keeffe.... So where did this station wagon come from?" -- from Telling [via]More editions of Telling: Confessions, Concessions, and Other Flashes of Light:
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The Thurber Carnivalby James ThurberISBN 0679600892 (0-679-60089-2)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Thurber Carnival'Book summary:After the chuckles and amidst the chortles, the first-time reader of The Thurber Carnival is bound to utter a discreetly voiced "Huh?" Like Cracker Jacks, there are surprises inside James Thurber's delicious 1945 smorgasbord of essays, stories, and sketches. This festival is, surprises and all, a collection of earlier collections (mostly), including, among others, gems from My World--and Welcome to It, Let Your Mind Alone!, and The Middle Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze. Needless to say, there are also numerous cartoons that, by themselves, are worth the price of admission. While redoubling Thurber's deserved reputation as a laugh-out-loud humorist and teller-of-gentle-tales, it reintroduces him as a thinker-of-thoughts. To wit: his 1933 "Preface to a Life," in which he observes himself while discussing "writers of light pieces running from a thousand to two thousand words":
To call such persons "humorists," a loose-fitting and ugly word, is to miss the nature of their dilemma and the dilemma of their nature. The little wheels of their invention are set in motion by the damp hand of melancholy.
Enjoy the surprises, certainly, but revel in the candy-coated popcorn and peanuts. As in "More Alarms at Night," in which a teenaged Thurber intrudes upon his sleeping father, a skittish man named Charles, because he can't recall the name Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Coincidentally, his father has just been frightened half to death by Thurber's brother, who had earlier stalked into his room saying coldly, "Buck, your time has come.""Listen," I said. "Name some towns in New Jersey quick!" It must have been around three in the morning. Father got up, keeping the bed between him and me, and started to pull his trousers on. "Don't bother about dressing," I said. "Just name some towns in New Jersey." While he hastily pulled on his clothes--I remember he left his socks off and put his shoes on his bare feet--father began to name, in a shaky voice, various New Jersey cities. I can still see him reaching for his coat without taking his eyes off me. "Newark," he said, "Jersey City, Atlantic City, Elizabeth, Paterson, Passaic, Trenton, Jersey City, Trenton, Paterson--" "It has two names," I snapped. "Elizabeth and Paterson," he said.
Of course, things turn out fine, as well they should. And why not? The best of Thurber, which The Thurber Carnival arguably is, is sublime; surprising insight and wry observations tossed lightly and served constantly with effortless good humor and an obvious love for all things gently eccentric. --Michael Hudson [via]More editions of The Thurber Carnival:
To Timbuktuby Mark JenkinsISBN 0688115853 (0-688-11585-3)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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To Timbuktu: A Journey down the Nigerby Mark JenkinsISBN 0688163424 (0-688-16342-4)
Softcover, HarperCollins Publishers
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› Find signed collectible books: 'To Timbuktu: A Journey down the Niger'Book summary:Traveling with Mark Jenkins is a mixture of the daring and the dangerous, the dramatic and the absurd. Here, he and three friends, with the aid of a remarkably intuitive African guide, set out to attempt the first descent of the Niger River, the legendary city of Timbuktu their final goal. Along the way, they are attacked by killer bees, charged by hippos, stalked by crocodiles. They pass through villages where every female child has undergone a clitorectomy, stumble upon a group of completely blind men living in the bush, dance with a hundred naked women. That Jenkins reaches his goal, riding alone across the Sahara on a motorcycle, stands in sharp contrast to what befell those who first tried to find Timbuktu and whose fates the author interweaves with the narrative of his own adventures. [via]
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Turbulent Souls : A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Familyby Stephen J. DubnerISBN 0688151809 (0-688-15180-9)
Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Turbulent Souls : A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Family'Book summary:"Choosing My Religion," Stephen Dubner's 1996 cover story for The New York Times Magazine, described his conversion from Catholicism to Judaism. The drama and complexity of Dubner's conversion were intensified by the author's unusual religious history: before Dubner was born, his parents had made an equal and opposite conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. Dubner's memoir, Turbulent Souls, expands the story he first told in the Times essay. In the book's prelude, Dubner explains that he began his wandering toward conversion in the 1980s when he moved to New York City, "the most Jewish city outside of Israel."
There a certain disquietude began to take root inside me. I could not name this force, but neither could I make it leave me. And so I followed the noise inside my soul, and before long it led me back to my parents. I became consumed with a desire to know how a pair of young Jews named Florence Greenglass and Sol Dubner had become my Catholic parents.
Turbulent Souls is full of loving, witty anecdotes about his childhood in rural New York state (he refers to Mrs. Ferry, a catechism teacher who gave him Doublemint gum, as "Blessed Angel of the Sugar Deprived") and his efforts in adulthood to reconstruct both his and his parents' pasts. The best reason to read this book is Dubner's well-balanced thirst for explanation and reverence for mystery; it's a model of the equilibrium every one of us has to attain if we want to make peace with our families, our home towns, and our selves. --Michael Joseph Gross [via]More editions of Turbulent Souls : A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Family:
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Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Doorby Robert FulghumISBN 0679401032 (0-679-40103-2)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Uh-Oh : Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door'Book summary:"Uh-oh" is more than a momentary reaction to small problems. "Uh-oh" is an attitude -- a perspective on the universe. The #1 Bestseller by the author of ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN.
From the Paperback edition. [via]More editions of Uh-Oh: Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door:
Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depressionby Nell CaseyISBN 0688170315 (0-688-17031-5)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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Walking on the Wind: A Memoir of the Movementby John Lewis, Michael D'OrsoISBN 0684810654 (0-684-81065-4)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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Way to Go, Smith!by Bob SmithISBN 0688162878 (0-688-16287-8)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excessby Danny SugermanISBN 0688046568 (0-688-04656-8)
Hardcover, Daedalus Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess'Book summary:Danny Sugerman had it all: a gorgeous house in Laurel Canyon, all the money, drugs, fast cars, and pretty girls a young man could want. He was a success in the record business--until Jim Morrison died of an overdose. Here is how Sugarman lost everything and ended up in an insane asylum with a $400-a-day heroin habit. [via]
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