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books tagged “modern lit”
books tagged “modern lit”
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About a Boyby Nick HornbyISBN 1573227331 (1-57322-733-1)
Softcover, Riverhead Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'About a Boy'Book summary:Will Lightman is a Peter Pan for the 1990s. At 36, the terminally hip North Londoner is unmarried, hyper-concerned with his coolness quotient and blithely living off his father's novelty song royalties. Will sees himself as entirely lacking in hidden depths--and he's proud of it! The only trouble is, his friends are succumbing to responsibilities and children and he's increasingly left out in the cold. How can someone brilliantly equipped for meaningless relationships ensure that he'll continue to meet beautiful Julie Christie-like women and ensure that they'll throw him over before things get too profound? A brief encounter with a single mother sets Will off on his new career, that of "serial nice guy." As far as he's concerned--and remember, concern isn't his strong suit--he's the perfect catch for the young mother on the go. After an interlude of sexual bliss, she'll realise that her child isn't ready for a man in their life and Will can ride off into the Highgate sunset, where more damsels apparently await. The only catch is that the best way to meet these women is at single-parent get-togethers. In one of Nick Hornby's many hilarious (and embarrassing) scenes, Will falls into some serious misrepresentation at SPAT ("Single Parents-- Alone Together"), passing himself off as a bereft single dad: "There was, he thought, an emotional truth here somewhere, and he could see now that his role-playing had a previously unsuspected artistic element to it. He was acting, yes, but in the noblest, most profound sense of the word."
What interferes with Will's career arc, of course, is reality--in the shape of a 12-year-old boy who is in many ways his polar opposite. For Marcus, cool isn't even a possibility, let alone an issue. For starters, he's a victim at his new school. Things at home are pretty awful, too, since his musical-therapist mother seems increasingly in need of therapy herself. All Marcus can do is cobble together information with a mixture of incomprehension, innocence, self-blame and unfettered clear sight. As fans of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity already know, Hornby's insight into laddishness magically combines the serious and the hilarious. About a Boy continues his singular examination of masculine wish-fulfilment and fear. This time, though, the author lets women and children onto the playing field, forcing his feckless hero to leap over an entirely new--and entirely welcome--set of emotional hurdles. [via]
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Angela's Ashesby Frank McCourtISBN 156895963X (1-56895-963-X)
Softcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Angela's Ashes'Book summary:"When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. People everywhere brag or whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying shcoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years. Above all we were wet!" So begins Frank McCourt's stunning memoir of his childhood in Ireland and America, a recollection of unvarnished truth and no self pity, of grinding poverty and indomitable spirit that will live in the memory long after the tape has ended. Now a major film directed by Alan Parker and starring Robert Carlyle and Emily Watson. [via]
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Anita and Meby Meera SyalISBN 1565845293 (1-56584-529-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Anita and Me'Book summary:Now in paperback, the prize-winning coming-of-age novel about a young Indian girl in northern England. Winner of the Betty Trask Award and finalist for the Guardian Fiction Award, Anita and Me, which has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, tells the story of Meena, the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the British village of Tollington. With great warmth and humor, Meera Syal brings to life a quirky, spirited 1960s mining town and creates in her protagonist what the Washington Post calls a "female Huck Finn." The novel follows nine-year-old Meena through a year spiced with pilfered sweets and money, bad words, and compulsive, yet inventive, lies. Anita and Me offers a fresh, sassy look at a childhood caught between two cultures. [via]
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The Arabian Nightmareby Robert IrwinISBN 1585672173 (1-58567-217-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Asylumby Patrick McGrathISBN 1568954395 (1-56895-439-5)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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The Black Swanby Raphael SabatiniISBN 1568497210 (1-56849-721-0)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books
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Captain Bloodby Rafael SabatiniISBN 1582878005 (1-58287-800-5)
Hardcover, North Books
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Carry On, Jeevesby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585673927 (1-58567-392-7)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Carry On, Jeeves'Book summary:A full cast of Wodehouse creationsincluding tyrannical relatives, beastly acquaintances, demon children, and literary fatheadsreturn for further near catastrophes and sparkling comedy
A Gentleman of Leisure is a comic novel dedicated to Douglas Fairbankswho starred in the film versionand concerns a young man, his love life, and a burglary. Famiiliar Wodehouse characters from both sides of the ocean make appearances. Meanwhile, in Hot Water, J. Wellington Gedge is the man who has everythingbut finds himself caught in a series of international events which will, if he doesn't put a stop to it, leave him wearing the sissy uniform of the American ambassador to Paris. Summer Moonshine involves Sir Buckstone Abbott trying to sell what is probably the ugliest home in England, as well as a complicated love quadrangle and Carry On, Jeeves is a collection of stories in which Jeeves take charge and a familiar bevy of individuals appeal to him to solve their problemsand are never disappointed. [via]
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Chitaby Lafcadio HearnISBN 1565549716 (1-56554-971-6)
Softcover, Pelican Pub Co Inc
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The Chosenby Chaim PotokISBN 1568493193 (1-56849-319-3)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Chosen'Book summary:Few stories offer more warmth, wisdom, or generosity than this tale of two boys, their fathers, their friendship, and the chaotic times in which they live. Though on the surface it explores religious faith--the intellectually committed as well as the passionately observant--the struggles addressed in The Chosen are familiar to families of all faiths and in all nations.
In 1940s Brooklyn, New York, an accident throws Reuven Malther and Danny Saunders together. Despite their differences (Reuven is a secular Jew with an intellectual, Zionist father; Danny is the brilliant son and rightful heir to a Hasidic rebbe), the young men form a deep, if unlikely, friendship. Together they negotiate adolescence, family conflicts, the crisis of faith engendered when Holocaust stories begin to emerge in the U.S., loss, love, and the journey to adulthood. The intellectual and spiritual clashes between fathers, between each son and his own father, and between the two young men, provide a unique backdrop for this exploration of fathers, sons, faith, loyalty, and, ultimately, the power of love. (This is not a conventional children's book, although it will move any wise child age 12 or older, and often appears on summer reading lists for high school students.) [via]
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Cocaine Nightsby J.G. BallardISBN 1582430179 (1-58243-017-9)
Softcover, Perseus Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cocaine Nights'Book summary:When travel writer Charles Prentice arrives at Estrella de Mar, a resort town near Gibraltar populated primarily by British retirees, to find out why his brother Frank has been jailed, he's shocked to find that Frank has confessed to a spectacular act of arson that left five people dead. Charles tries to find the real culprit by hanging around Estrella de Mar, which one resident describes as "like Chelsea or Greenwich Village in the 1960s. There are theatre and film clubs, a choral society, cordon blue classes.... Stand still for a moment and you find yourself roped into a revival of Waiting for Godot." But the longer he stays, the more confused Charles is by the residents' breezy lack of concern about the constant background of vandalism, rape, prostitution, and drug dealing.
Things become clearer as Charles makes the acquaintance of local tennis pro Bobby Crawford, who has some interesting hypotheses about how to maintain the quality of the inner life in the age of affluence. As another of the locals explains, "Leisure societies lie ahead of us, like those you see on this coast. People ... will retire in their late thirties, with fifty years of idleness in front of them.... But how do you energize people, give them some sense of community?" Bobby's succinct answer, provided to Charles in another context: "There's nothing like a violent reflex now and then to tune up the nervous system." Bobby convinces Charles to help him replicate his social experiment in an adjacent retirement community, slowly convincing him that crime and creativity really do go hand in hand. But who, if anybody, takes the responsibility?
Cocaine Nights resonates quite neatly with Ballard's earlier science fiction and experimental stories. As early as The Atrocity Exhibition, Ballard was speculating about the salubrious effects of transgression, and his science fiction novel High Rise also deals with the introduction of violence to a self-contained paradise. Cocaine Nights differs from that earlier work primarily in that it is a naturalistic fiction set in a world that is much more ostensibly real, a world that, with a little less detached theorizing (even at his most natural, it seems, Ballard cannot help but be clinical) on the part of its characters, might even be mistaken for real. --Ron Hogan [via]
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Dr. Ratby William KotzwinkleISBN 1569247145 (1-56924-714-5)
Softcover, Da Capo Press, Incorporated
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Eleutheriaby Samuel Beckett, Martin Garbus, Michael Brodsky, Stan GontarskiISBN 1568580673 (1-56858-067-3)
Softcover, Thunder's Mouth Pr
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Eros: The Bittersweetby Anne CarsonISBN 1564781887 (1-56478-188-7)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Eros: The Bittersweet'Book summary:Anne Carson has become one of the best-known poets of our time, but her first book, Eros the Bittersweet, was deeply rooted in her other life, as a scholar and professor of classics at McGill University. Eros the Bittersweet is a multi-layered essay that is in part an explication of the Greek philosophical concepts of "eros" and "agape" as they are found in 7th-century BC Greek poetry, but it's also a scintillating study of the way we use language, how we react to language in poetry, how writers write and readers read. It's sleek and sensuous, with the rich, ripe language that we have come to expect from Carson's poetry.
Beginning by guiding readers through a discussion of the poet Sappho's definition of "eros" as bittersweet, Carson soon moves toward the heart of her book: the connection between love and knowledge. The act of reading, like the act of loving, is one of coming to know, and Carson argues that the novelist who constructs a literary "moment of emotional and cognitive interception is making love, and you are the object of his wooing." Eros the Bittersweet is as provocative as it is arresting, and it is a marvellous place to begin to know and love Anne Carson. --Jeffrey Canton [via]
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Fata Morganaby William Kotzwinkle, Joe ServelloISBN 1569247870 (1-56924-787-0)
Softcover, Marlowe & Co
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Fever Pitchby Nick HornbyISBN 1573226882 (1-57322-688-2)
Softcover, Riverhead Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fever Pitch'Book summary:In the States, Nick Hornby is best know as the author of High Fidelity and About a Boy, two wickedly funny novels about being thirtysomething and going nowhere fast. In Britain he is revered for his status as a fanatical football writer (sorry, fanatical soccer writer), owing to Fever Pitch--which is both an autobiography and a footballing Bible rolled into one. Hornby pinpoints 1968 as his formative year--the year he turned 11, the year his parents separated, and the year his father first took him to watch Arsenal play. The author quickly moved "way beyond fandom" into an extreme obsession that has dominated his life, loves, and relationships. His father had initially hoped that Saturday afternoon matches would draw the two closer together, but instead Hornby became completely besotted with the game at the expense of any conversation: "Football may have provided us with a new medium through which we could communicate, but that was not to say that we used it, or what we chose to say was necessarily positive." Girlfriends also played second fiddle to one ball and 11 men. He fantasizes that even if a girlfriend "went into labor at an impossible moment" he would not be able to help out until after the final whistle.
Fever Pitch is not a typical memoir--there are no chapters, just a series of match reports falling into three time frames (childhood, young adulthood, manhood). While watching the May 2, 1972, Reading v. Arsenal match, it became embarrassingly obvious to the then 15-year-old that his white, suburban, middle-class roots made him a wimp with no sense of identity: "Yorkshire men, Lancastrians, Scots, the Irish, blacks, the rich, the poor, even Americans and Australians have something they can sit in pubs and bars and weep about." But a boy from Maidenhead could only dream of coming from a place with "its own tube station and West Indian community and terrible, insoluble social problems."
Fever Pitch reveals the very special intricacies of British football, which readers new to the game will find astonishing, and which Hornby presents with remarkable humor and honesty--the "unique" chants sung at matches, the cold rain-soaked terraces, giant cans of warm beer, the trains known as football specials carrying fans to and from matches in prisonlike conditions, bottles smashing on the tracks, thousands of policemen waiting in anticipation for the cargo of hooligans. The sport and one team in particular have crept into every aspect of Hornby's life--making him see the world through Arsenal-tinted spectacles. --Naomi Gesinger [via]
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Five Womenby Frank Kermode, Robert Musil, Ernst Kaiser, Eithne WilkinsISBN 1567920756 (1-56792-075-6)
Softcover, David R Godine Pub
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The Fixer, the Natural, the Assistantby Bernard MalamudISBN 156731001X (1-56731-001-X)
Hardcover, Fine Communications
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Fresh from the Countryby Miss ReadISBN 1585472204 (1-58547-220-4)
Hardcover, Center Point Pub
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Goldfingerby Ian FlemingISBN 1567310516 (1-56731-051-6)
Hardcover, Fine Communications
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Goldfinger'Book summary:In this, James Bond's first encounter with the deadly Blofeld, a deadly game of canasta turns out to be thoroughly crooked and a beautiful golden girl ends up dead. This is one of the well-known 007 novels featuring the urbane hero, James Bond. [via]
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Good Bye to All That: An Autobiographyby Robert Graves, Richard Perceval Graves, Richard Perceval GraverISBN 1571810226 (1-57181-022-6)
Softcover, Berghahn Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Good Bye to All That: An Autobiography'Book summary:The quintessential memoir of the generation of Englishmen who suffered in World War I is among the bitterest autobiographies ever written. Robert Graves's stripped-to-the-bone prose seethes with contempt for his class, his country, his military superiors, and the civilians who mindlessly cheered the carnage from the safety of home. His portrait of the stupidity and petty cruelties endemic in England's elite schools is almost as scathing as his depiction of trench warfare. Nothing could equal Graves's bone-chilling litany of meaningless death, horrific encounters with gruesomely decaying corpses, and even more appalling confrontations with the callousness and arrogance of the military command. Yet this scarifying book is consistently enthralling. Graves is a superb storyteller, and there's clearly something liberating about burning all your bridges at 34 (his age when Good-Bye to All That was first published in 1929). He conveys that feeling of exhilaration to his readers in a pell-mell rush of words that remains supremely lucid. Better known as a poet, historical novelist, and critic, Graves in this one work seems more like an English Hemingway, paring his prose to the minimum and eschewing all editorializing because it would bring him down to the level of the phrase- and war-mongers he despises. --Wendy Smith [via]
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Heart of Darknessby Joseph ConradISBN 1580495753 (1-58049-575-3)
Softcover, Prestwick House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Heart of Darkness'Book summary:Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness was first published in 1899 in serial form in Londons Blackwoods Magazine.
Loosely based on Conrads firsthand experience of rescuing a company agent from a remote station in the heart of the Congo, the novel is considered a literary bridge between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. With its modern literary approach to questions such as the ambiguous nature of good and evil, the novel foreshadows many of the themes and techniques that define modern literature.
This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and readers notes to help the modern reader contend with Conrads complex approach to the human condition. [via]
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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Geniusby Dave EggersISBN 1568959095 (1-56895-909-5)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'Book summary:Dave Eggers is a terrifically talented writer; don't hold his cleverness against him. What to make of a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story? For starters, there's a good bit of staggering genius before you even get to the true story, including a preface, a list of "Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of This Book," and a 20-page acknowledgements section complete with special mail-in offer, flow chart of the book's themes, and a lovely pen-and-ink drawing of a stapler (helpfully labeled "Here is a drawing of a stapler:").
But on to the true story. At the age of 22, Eggers became both an orphan and a "single mother" when his parents died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. In the ensuing sibling division of labor, Dave is appointed unofficial guardian of his 8-year-old brother, Christopher. The two live together in semi-squalor, decaying food and sports equipment scattered about, while Eggers worries obsessively about child-welfare authorities, molesting babysitters, and his own health. His child-rearing strategy swings between making his brother's upbringing manically fun and performing bizarre developmental experiments on him. (Case in point: his idea of suitable bedtime reading is John Hersey's Hiroshima.)
The book is also, perhaps less successfully, about being young and hip and out to conquer the world (in an ironic, media-savvy, Gen-X way, naturally). In the early '90s, Eggers was one of the founders of the very funny Might Magazine, and he spends a fair amount of time here on Might, the hipster culture of San Francisco's South Park, and his own efforts to get on to MTV's Real World. This sort of thing doesn't age very well--but then, Eggers knows that. There's no criticism you can come up with that he hasn't put into A.H.W.O.S.G. already. "The book thereafter is kind of uneven," he tells us regarding the contents after page 109, and while that's true, it's still uneven in a way that is funny and heartfelt and interesting.
All this self-consciousness could have become unbearably arch. It's a testament to Eggers's skill as a writer--and to the heartbreaking particulars of his story--that it doesn't. Currently the editor of the footnote-and-marginalia-intensive journal McSweeney's (the last issue featured an entire story by David Foster Wallace printed tinily on its spine), Eggers comes from the most media-saturated generation in history--so much so that he can't feel an emotion without the sense that it's already been felt for him. What may seem like postmodern noodling is really just Eggers writing about pain in the only honest way available to him. Oddly enough, the effect is one of complete sincerity, and--especially in its concluding pages--this memoir as metafiction is affecting beyond all rational explanation. --Mary Park [via]
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Heavy Weatherby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585672300 (1-58567-230-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Heavy Weather'Book summary:Fans of P. G. Wodehouse's comic genius are legion, and their devotion to his masterful command of the hilarity borders on an obsession.[via]
It's Heavy Weather for Lord Emsworth and the Empress, especially with the appalling Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe snooping around with designs on the prize pig.More editions of Heavy Weather:
In The Fleshby Christa Wolf, John S. BarrettISBN 1567922678 (1-56792-267-8)
Hardcover, David R Godine Pub
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In the Penny Arcadeby Steven MillhauserISBN 1564781828 (1-56478-182-8)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
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In the Time of the Butterfliesby Julia AlvarezISBN 1565120388 (1-56512-038-8)
Hardcover, Algonquin Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In the Time of the Butterflies'Book summary:From the author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents comes this tale of courage and sisterhood set in the Dominican Republic during the rise of the Trujillo dictatorship. A skillful blend of fact and fiction, In the Time of the Butterflies is inspired by the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who, in 1960, were murdered for their part in an underground plot to overthrow the government. Alvarez breathes life into these historical figures--known as "las mariposas," or "the butterflies," in the underground--as she imagines their teenage years, their gradual involvement with the revolution, and their terror as their dissentience is uncovered.
Alvarez's controlled writing perfectly captures the mounting tension as "the butterflies" near their horrific end. The novel begins with the recollections of Dede, the fourth and surviving sister, who fears abandoning her routines and her husband to join the movement. Alvarez also offers the perspectives of the other sisters: brave and outspoken Minerva, the family's political ringleader; pious Patria, who forsakes her faith to join her sisters after witnessing the atrocities of the tyranny; and the baby sister, sensitive Maria Teresa, who, in a series of diaries, chronicles her allegiance to Minerva and the physical and spiritual anguish of prison life.
In the Time of the Butterflies is an American Library Association Notable Book and a 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award nominee. [via]
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Infante's Infernoby G. Cabrera InfanteISBN 1569247072 (1-56924-707-2)
Softcover, Marlowe & Co
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Infante's Infernoby Suzanne Jill Levine, G. Cabrera Infante, Guillermo Cabrera InfanteISBN 1564783847 (1-56478-384-7)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
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An Instance of the Fingerpostby Iain PearsISBN 1573227951 (1-57322-795-1)
Softcover, Riverhead Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'An Instance of the Fingerpost'Book summary:An Instance of the Fingerpost is that rarest of all possible literary beasts--a mystery powered as much by ideas as by suspects, autopsies, and smoking guns. Hefty, intricately plotted, and intellectually ambitious, Fingerpost has drawn the inevitable comparisons to Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and, for once, the comparison is apt.
The year is 1663, and the setting is Oxford, England, during the height of Restoration political intrigue. When Dr. Robert Grove is found dead in his Oxford room, hands clenched and face frozen in a rictus of pain, all the signs point to poison. Rashomon-like, the narrative circles around Grove's murder as four different characters give their version of events: Marco da Cola, a visiting Italian physician--or so he would like the reader to believe; Jack Prestcott, the son of a traitor who fled the country to avoid execution; Dr. John Wallis, a mathematician and cryptographer with a predilection for conspiracy theories; and Anthony Wood, a mild-mannered Oxford antiquarian whose tale proves to be the book's "instance of the fingerpost." (The quote comes from the philosopher Bacon, who, while asserting that all evidence is ultimately fallible, allows for "one instance of a fingerpost that points in one direction only, and allows of no other possibility.")
Like The Name of the Rose, this is one whodunit in which the principal mystery is the nature of truth itself. Along the way, Pears displays a keen eye for period details as diverse as the early days of medicine, the convoluted politics of the English Civil War, and the newfangled fashion for wigs. Yet Pears never loses sight of his characters, who manage to be both utterly authentic denizens of the 17th century and utterly authentic human beings. As a mystery, An Instance of the Fingerpost is entertainment of the most intelligent sort; as a novel of ideas, it proves equally satisfying. [via]
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A James Bond Omnibusby Ian FlemingISBN 1567311601 (1-56731-160-1)
Hardcover, Fine Communications
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A James Bond Omnibus'Book summary:Born in London in 1908, Ian Fleming worked variously as a banker and journalist before serving in the British Naval Intelligence during World War II. He published his first novel, "Casino Royale" in 1953 and thus started the astoundingly successful James Bond novels and films. Fleming died in 1964.This omnibus collection includes the 3 quintessential stories in this series . While these are the 5th, 6th, and 7th books, they are at the apex of his popularity, the actual cold war and were the first 3 turned into movies as well . In "From Russia With Love (1957)", SMERSH is the Soviet organ of vengeance, of interrogation, torture and death. James Bond is dedicated to the destruction of its agents wherever he finds them. Then the cold eye of SMERSH focuses on Bond and far away in Moscow a trap is laid for him. In "Doctor No (1958)", M calls this case a soft option. Bond can't quite agree. The tropical island is luxurious, the seductive Honey Rider is beautiful and willing. However, they are both part of the empire of Dr No. His obsession is power, and his gifts are pain-shaped. In "Goldfinger (1959)", a friendly game of two-handed canasta turns out to be thoroughly crooked and a beautiful girl ends up dead. In Bond's first encounter with Auric Goldfinger - the world's cleverest, cruellest criminal - useful lessons are learned. [via]
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Jane Eyreby Charlotte BronteISBN 1582790744 (1-58279-074-4)
Hardcover, Trident Reference Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Jane Eyre'Book summary:The new high quality, hardcover series of timeless classics features the finest works of world literature in 6 X 9 formats. The standard edition has an attractive jacket design. Each title chosen for it's literary quality and for the untold pleasure it will give readers of all ages. [via]
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Joy in the Morningby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585672769 (1-58567-276-9)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Joy in the Morning'Book summary:Joy in the Morning finds Bertie Wooster trapped in the countryside with his bossy ex-fiancé and her fire-breathing father, frightful brother, and beefy new betrothed. Uproar ensues until Jeeves arrives to save the day.[via]More editions of Joy in the Morning:
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Larry's Partyby Carol ShieldsISBN 1568955375 (1-56895-537-5)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Larry's Party'Book summary:Larry Weller is a regular guy, or so Carol Shields has him think. When we first meet him in 1977 Winnipeg at age 26, he's pondering the pluses of Harris tweed, still living at home, and realizing he's in love with his girlfriend, Dorrie, a flinty car saleswoman. Larry is proud of his job at Flowerfolks, even though he fell into floral design by accident, and if his relationship with his parents isn't perfect, it's not too bad, either. (Stu and Flo Weller may have less page-time in Larry's Party, but they are hugely memorable. He is a master upholsterer, happiest when working; she is a woman ruined by nervous guilt, having inadvertently killed off her mother-in-law with some improperly preserved green beans.)
Carol Shields has said that she had "always been struck by the fact that in most novels people aren't working." Though her hero climbs the floral managerial trellis for 17 years and finds more rhapsody in work than marriage, Larry and Dorrie's honeymoon in England points him toward what will be his true vocation--mazes. These living constructs turn him into a thinker, a man of imagination, and the author's descriptions are quietly spectacular as well as effortlessly sweet. Larry wonders at their "teasing elegance and circularity ... a snail, a scribble, a doodle on the earth's skin with no other directed purpose but to wind its sinuous way around itself." Just as Larry changes with the times--each elliptical chapter ages him by one or two years--so does his art. In 1990, he designs a maze in which you can't really lose yourself. In 1997, the McCord Maze "is intended to mirror the descent into unconscious sleep, followed by a slow awakening." Larry, too, has a slow awakening, taking several false turns before reaching midlife. As the novel closes, with a bravura dinner party scene, he may finally be at ease in the world. But his creator knows that he is only halfway there, and still has to negotiate his way from the center of the maze to its exit. [via]
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Leave it to Psmith: Library Editionby P.G. WodehouseISBN 158567432X (1-58567-432-X)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Leave it to Psmith: Library Edition'Book summary:A full cast of Wodehouse creations--including tyrannical relatives, beastly acquaintances, demon children, and literary fatheads--return for further near catastrophes and sparkling comedy Overlook is proud to present four more antic selections from comic genius, P.G. Wodehouse. A Damsel in Distress is an early novel about Belpher Castle, the idyllic home of the aristocratic Marshmoreton family and a precursor to the Blandings series. Leave it to Psmith is a comedy adventure involving crime and gunplay, all set into motion by an umbrella in the Drones Club and Mulliner Nights is a series of stories about the inimitable Mr. Mulliner, his extraordinary relations, and the tipsy bishops, angry baronets, lady novelists, and haughty dowagers who frequent the bar-parlor of the Angler's Rest. Meanwhile, Lord Chuffy' Chuffnell borrows the services of Jeeves in Thank You, Jeeves, while pursuing the love of his life, but when he finds out that Jeeves's employer, Bertie Wooster, was once engaged to Pauline himself, fearsome complications develop. [via]
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The Liarby Stephen FryISBN 156947012X (1-56947-012-X)
Softcover, Soho Pr Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Liar'Book summary:Liar, The, by Fry, Stephen [via]
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The Line Of Beautyby Alan HollinghurstISBN 1582346100 (1-58234-610-0)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Line Of Beauty'Book summary:Interview with Alan Hollinghurst
Alan Hollinghurst's extraordinarily rich novel The Line of Beauty. has garnered a new level of acclaim for the author after winning the 2004 Man Booker Prize. Hollinghurst speaks about his work in our interview.More editions of The Line Of Beauty:
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Little, Bigby John CrowleyISBN 1568654294 (1-56865-429-4)
Softcover, Doubleday Book & Music Clubs
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Little, Big'Book summary:[This is the Audiobook CD Library Edition in vinyl case.]
Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award
[*The text of Little, Big used for this recording is the Author's Preferred Text, as revised, restored, and corrected for a new, museum-quality edition of Little, Big edited by Ron Drummond.]
Edgewood--which is not found on any map--is many houses, all put inside each other or across each other. It's filled with and surrounded by mystery and enchantment; the further in you go, the bigger it gets.
Smoky Barnable, who has fallen in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, travels from the City on foot to Edgewood, her family home. There he finds himself on the magical border of an otherworld.
Crowley's work has a special alchemy--mixing the world we know with an imagined world that seems more true and real. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Little, Big is elegant, sensual, funny, and unforgettable. It is a story of fantastic love and heartrending loss, of impossible things and unshakable destinies, and of the great Tale that envelops us all. It is a wonder. [via]More editions of Little, Big:
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Live and Let Dieby Ian FlemingISBN 1567310575 (1-56731-057-5)
Hardcover, Fine Communications
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Live and Let Die'Book summary:Mr Big is brutal, brilliant and feared worldwide. Protected by Voodoo forces and the psychic powers of his prisoner Solitaire, he is an invincible SMERSH operative at the head of a ruthless smuggling ring. James Bond's new assignment will take him to the heart of the occult: to infiltrate this secret world and destroy Mr Big's global network. From Harlem's throbbing jazz joints to the shark-infested waters of Jamaica, enemy eyes watch Bond's every move. He must tread carefully to avoid a nightmarish fate. [via]
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Lord Emsworth and Othersby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585672777 (1-58567-277-7)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lord Emsworth and Others'Book summary:In Lord Emsworth and Others, readers are treated to a selection of familiar characters and places, in new and unfamiliar circumstances. Fans and initiates will be highly entertained.[via]More editions of Lord Emsworth and Others:
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Making Historyby Stephen FryISBN 1569471509 (1-56947-150-9)
Softcover, Soho Pr Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Making History'Book summary:What if hitler had never been born?
In Stephen Fry's most seriously ambitious novel to date, he creates a futuristic fantasy that becomes a thriller with a funny streak. Tackling one of history's darkest episodes, he poses the question: What if Hitler had never been born? An unquestionable improvement, no doubt. Michael Young, an earnest young history graduate student, has just finished his dissertation, an exploration into the roots of evil and the early life of Adolf Hitler. When he meets up with an aging German physicist, they concoct an idealistic experiment that involves time travel to prevent the conception of the Fhrer. It will change the course of history, but will it create a better world? With characteristic brilliance and wit, Fry presents a thought-provoking alternate history that is both trenchant and deeply affecting. [via]
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Man and Boyby Tony ParsonsISBN 1570717257 (1-57071-725-7)
Hardcover, Sourcebooks Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Man and Boy'Book summary:Harry Silver has it all: a beautiful wife, a wonderful son, a great job in the media--but in one night he throws it all away.
Just yesterday Harry gave himself a shiny red sports car for his thirtieth birthday. Today he faces the baffling questions of a suddenly single dad:
--How do you wash a four-year-old's hair?
--Should he eat green spaghetti for breakfast?
--What do you tell his Mommy from the emergency room phone?In this poignant and witty novel, Harry has to bring up his child alone, look after his parents, work out his relationships and hold down a job.
As millions of women have discovered before him, that is not as simple as it may have seemed.
Man and Boy is by turns funny, sharp, warm and heart-wrenching. It is a brilliantly engaging novel from one of the most gifted and influential commentators writing today. [via]
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A Mapmaker's Dreamby James CowanISBN 1570621969 (1-57062-196-9)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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Meet Mr. Mullinerby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585672750 (1-58567-275-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Meet Mr. Mulliner'Book summary:Mr. Mulliner, a character who provided Wodehouse with some of his best vignettes, is first introduced in Meet Mr. Mulliner, along with his endless supply of brothers, nephews, and cousins, who are featured in the tales Mulliner tells the regulars at his favorite pub, The Angler's Rest.[via]More editions of Meet Mr. Mulliner:
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The Mermaid Chairby Sue Monk KiddISBN 1585476323 (1-58547-632-3)
Hardcover, Center Point Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mermaid Chair'Book summary:Sue Monk Kidd's The Mermaid Chair is the soulful tale of Jessie Sullivan, a middle-aged woman whose stifled dreams and desires take shape during an extended stay on Egret Island, where she is caring for her troubled mother, Nelle. Like Kidd's stunning debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, her highly anticipated follow up evokes the same magical sense of whimsy and poignancy.
While Kidd places an obvious importance on the role of mysticism and legend in this tale, including the mysterious mermaid's chair at the center of the island's history, the relationships between characters is what gives this novel its true weight. Once she returns to her childhood home, Jessie is forced to confront not only her relationship with her estranged mother, but her other emotional ties as well. After decades of marriage to Hugh, her practical yet conventional husband, Jessie starts to question whether she is craving an independence she never had the chance to experience. After she meets Brother Thomas, a handsome monk who has yet to take his final vows, Jessie is forced to decide whether passion can coexist with comfort, or if the two are mutually exclusive. As her soul begins to reawaken, Jessie must also confront the circumstances of her father's death, a tragedy that continues to haunt Jessie and Nelle over thirty years later.
By boldly tackling such major themes as love, betrayal, grief, and forgiveness, The Mermaid Chair forces readers to question whether moral issues can always be interpreted in black or white. It is this ability to so gracefully present multiple sides of a story that reinforces Kidd's reputation as a well-respected modern literary voice. --Gisele Toueg [via]
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The Metamorphosis and Other Storiesby Franz KafkaISBN 1566199697 (1-56619-969-7)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Metamorphosis and Other Stories'Book summary:Beginning with one of the most shocking first sentences in all of literature, Franz Kafka details the horrific tale of an absurd life. Virtually imprisoned in his room, Gregor Samsa discovers that every aspect of his existence has amounted to nothing. Even the struggling, dysfunctional family he has sacrificed to support is thriving without his financial assistance. Slowly stripped of every bit of his humanity, Gregor realizes that no mans life, especially his, actually matters.
First published in 1915, Kafkas surreal novel about living in an indifferent universe has long been considered a seminal work of Existentialist literature.
All of the humor, zest, and richness of languageso often lost in other editions resonate in this new and exciting Prestwick House Literary Touchstone translation by M. A. Roberts.
The Metamorphosis includes a glossary and readers notes to help the modern reader more fully appreciate Kafkas complex approach to the human condition. [via]
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Missing Personby Daniel Weissbort, Patrick ModianoISBN 1567922813 (1-56792-281-3)
Softcover, David R Godine Pub
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Morality Playby Barry UnsworthISBN 156895297X (1-56895-297-X)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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Mortdecai Trilogy: Don't Point That Thing at Me, After You With the Pistol, And Something Nasty...in the Woodshedby Kyril BonfiglioliISBN 1585678066 (1-58567-806-6)
Softcover, Overlook Pr
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My Love, My Love, or the Peasant Girlby Rosa GuyISBN 1566891310 (1-56689-131-0)
Softcover, Coffee House Pr
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Native Sonby WrightISBN 156849694X (1-56849-694-X)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Native Son'Book summary:Bigger Thomas is doomed, trapped in a downward spiral that will lead to arrest, prison, or death, driven by despair, frustration, poverty, and incomprehension. As a young black man in the Chicago of the '30s, he has no way out of the walls of poverty and racism that surround him, and after he murders a young white woman in a moment of panic, these walls begin to close in. There is no help for him--not from his hapless family; not from liberal do-gooders or from his well-meaning yet naive friend Jan; certainly not from the police, prosecutors, or judges. Bigger is debased, aggressive, dangerous, and a violent criminal. As such, he has no claim upon our compassion or sympathy. And yet...
A more compelling story than Native Son has not been written in the 20th century by an American writer. That is not to say that Richard Wright created a novel free of flaws, but that he wrote the first novel that successfully told the most painful and unvarnished truth about American social and class relations. As Irving Howe asserted in 1963, "The day Native Son appeared, American culture was changed forever. It made impossible a repetition of the old lies [and] brought out into the open, as no one ever had before, the hatred, fear and violence that have crippled and may yet destroy our culture."
Other books had focused on the experience of growing up black in America--including Wright's own highly successful Uncle Tom's Children, a collection of five stories that focused on the victimization of blacks who transgressed the code of racial segregation. But they suffered from what he saw as a kind of lyrical idealism, setting up sympathetic black characters in oppressive situations and evoking the reader's pity. In Native Son, Wright was aiming at something more. In Bigger, he created a character so damaged by racism and poverty, with dreams so perverted, and with human sensibilities so eroded, that he has no claim on the reader's compassion:
"I didn't want to kill," Bigger shouted. "But what I killed for, I am! It must've been pretty deep in me to make me kill! I must have felt it awful hard to murder.... What I killed for must've been good!" Bigger's voice was full of frenzied anguish. "It must have been good! When a man kills, it's for something... I didn't know I was really alive in this world until I felt things hard enough to kill for 'em. It's the truth..."
Wright's genius was that, in preventing us from feeling pity for Bigger, he forced us to confront the hopelessness, misery, and injustice of the society that gave birth to him. --Andrew Himes [via]More editions of Native Son:
The Newton Letterby John BanvilleISBN 1567920969 (1-56792-096-9)
Softcover, David R Godine Pub
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Night of Amberby Sylvie Germain, Christine DonougherISBN 156792090X (1-56792-090-X)
Hardcover, David R Godine Pub
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Nine & A Half Weeksby Elizabeth McNeillISBN 1568491719 (1-56849-171-9)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books
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The Obscene Bird of Nightby Josce Donoso, Hardie st Martin, Leonard MadesISBN 1567920462 (1-56792-046-2)
Softcover, David R Godine Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Obscene Bird of Night'Book summary:This haunting jungle of a novel has been hailed as "a masterpiece" by Luis Bunuel and "one of the great novels not only of Spanish America, but of our time" by Carlos Fuentes. The story of the last member of the aristocratic Azcoitia family, a monstrous mutation protected from the knowledge of his deformity by being surrounded with other freaks as companions, The Obscene Bird of Night is a triumph of imaginative, visionary writing. Its luxuriance, fecundity, horror, and energy will not soon fade from the reader's mind. (Verba Mundi) [via]
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The Persecution and Assassination of J-P Marat As Performed by the Inmates O.T.A. O.C.U.T. Direction of the Marquis De Sadeby Peter WeissISBN 1577662318 (1-57766-231-8)
Softcover, Waveland Pr Inc
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Pigs Have Wingsby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585670596 (1-58567-059-6)
Hardcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Pigs Have Wings'Book summary:On the 25th anniversary of Wodehouse's death, booksellers and readers will be cheered to find the finest editions available of his classic novels--the first in a series of his best known works--by one of the greatest English comic writers of our time.
Fans devoted to the master of comic fiction P. G. Wodehouse are legion. He represents an antic high point in the world of farce and social satire. Best known for the creation of two fictional worlds based on Blandings Castle and the Wooster-Jeeves gentleman-valet duo, Wodehouse is appreciated the world over for his exceedingly clever and comically savvy send-ups of the idle rich in Edwardian England.
Pigs Have Wings takes us to Blandings Castle, where a romantic comedy unfolds alongside the intrigue of the Fat Pig competition in Shropshire.
With each volume edited and reset and printed on Scottish cream-wove, acid-free paper, sewn and bound in cloth, these novels are elegant additions to any Wodehouse fan's library. [via]More editions of Pigs Have Wings:
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Quick Serviceby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585675237 (1-58567-523-7)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Quick Service'Book summary:Spring brings four more antic novels by P. G. Wodehouse. In Quick Service a complicated chain of events is set into motion after Mrs. Chavender takes a bite of breakfast ham, and readers are reminded that disaster can be averted if you Ring for Jeeves. Bertie Wooster avoids Madeleine Bassett in Much Obliged, Jeeves, at Blandings Castle, in Uncle Fred in the pringtime, Uncle Fred is asked to foil a plot to steal a prize pig. [via]
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The Rector's Wifeby Joanna TrollopeISBN 1568952007 (1-56895-200-7)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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Right Ho Jeevesby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585670588 (1-58567-058-8)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Right Ho Jeeves'Book summary:On the 25th anniversary of Wodehouse's death, booksellers and readers will be cheered to find the finest editions available of his classic novels--the first in a series of his best known works--by one of the greatest English comic writers of our time.
Fans devoted to the master of comic fiction P. G. Wodehouse are legion. He represents an antic high point in the world of farce and social satire. Best known for the creation of two fictional worlds based on Blandings Castle and the Wooster-Jeeves gentleman-valet duo, Wodehouse is appreciated the world over for his exceedingly clever and comically savvy send-ups of the idle rich in Edwardian England.
In Right Ho, Jeeves Bertie's old friend Gussie Fink-Nottle has fallen in love and, as usual, makes a hash of the affair until Jeeves comes to his rescue.
With each volume edited and reset and printed on Scottish cream-wove, acid-free paper, sewn and bound in cloth, these novels are elegant additions to any Wodehouse fan's library. [via]More editions of Right Ho Jeeves:
The River Whyby David James DuncanISBN 1578050847 (1-57805-084-7)
Softcover, Sierra Club Books
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A Room With a Viewby E. M. ForsterISBN 1566191440 (1-56619-144-0)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble
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The Sea-hawkby Rafael SabatiniISBN 1568494831 (1-56849-483-1)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books
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The Shipping Newsby Annie ProulxISBN 1568950691 (1-56895-069-1)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Shipping News'Book summary:In this touching and atmospheric novel set among the fishermen of Newfoundland, Proulx tells the story of Quoyle. From all outward appearances, Quoyle has gone through his first 36 years on earth as a big schlump of a loser. He's not attractive, he's not brilliant or witty or talented, and he's not the kind of person who typically assumes the central position in a novel. But Proulx creates a simple and compelling tale of Quoyle's psychological and spiritual growth. Along the way, we get to look in on the maritime beauty of what is probably a disappearing way of life. [via]
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Siddharthaby Hermann Hesse, Sherab Chodzin, Sherab Chodzin KohnISBN 1570627215 (1-57062-721-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Siddhartha'Book summary:With parallels to the enlightenment of the Buddha, Hesse's Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's quest for the ultimate reality. Steeped in the tenets of both psychoanalysis and Eastern mysticism, Siddhartha presents an original view of man and culture, and the arduous process of self-discovery that leads to reconciliation, harmony, and peace. The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language, siddha (gotten) + artha (meaning or wealth). The two words together mean "one who has found meaning (of existence)" or "he who has attained his goals". The Buddha's name, before his renunciation, was Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha. In this book, the Buddha is referred to as "Gotama". [via]
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- Siddhartha: ISBN 1567310079 (1-56731-007-9)
Hardcover, Fine Communications - Siddhartha: ISBN 1570629706 (1-57062-970-6)
Hardcover, Random House Inc - Siddhartha: ISBN 1582878560 (1-58287-856-0)
Hardcover, North Books - Siddhartha: ISBN 1570628033 (1-57062-803-3)
Hardcover, Random House Inc - Siddhartha: ISBN 1570627215 (1-57062-721-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
- Siddhartha: ISBN 1567310079 (1-56731-007-9)
Singular Pleasuresby Harry Mathews, Francesco ClementeISBN 1564782336 (1-56478-233-6)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
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A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wakeby Joseph CampbellISBN 1568491689 (1-56849-168-9)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books
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A Skeleton Key To Finnegans Wake: Unlocking James Joyce's Masterworkby Joseph Campbell, Edmund L. Epstein, Henry Morton RobinsonISBN 1577314050 (1-57731-405-0)
Hardcover, New World Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Skeleton Key To Finnegans Wake: Unlocking James Joyce's Masterwork'Book summary:Since its publication in 1939, countless would-be readers of Finnegans Wake James Joyce's masterwork that consumed a third of his life have given up after a few pages and dismissed it as a "perverse triumph of the unintelligible." In 1944, a young professor of mythology and literature named Joseph Campbell, working with Henry Morton Robinson, wrote the first "key" or guide to entering the fascinating, disturbing, marvelously rich world of Finnegans Wake. The authors break down Joyce's "unintelligible" book page by page, stripping the text of much of its obscurity and serving up thoughtful interpretations via footnotes and bracketed commentary. A Skeleton Key was Campbell's first book, published five years before he wrote his breakthrough Hero with a Thousand Faces.[via]More editions of A Skeleton Key To Finnegans Wake: Unlocking James Joyce's Masterwork:
The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine: Or the Hithering Tithering Djinnby Donald BarthelmeISBN 1585678287 (1-58567-828-7)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Something Freshby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585676586 (1-58567-658-6)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Something Fresh'Book summary:[Audiobook CD Library Edition in Vinyl case.]
[Read by Frederick Davidson]
Welcome to Blandings Castle, a place that is never itself without an imposter.
Wodehouse himself once noted that ''Blandings has impostors like other houses have mice.'' On this particular occasion there are two, both intent on a dangerous enterprise. Lord Emsworth's secretary, the Efficient Baxter, is on the alert and determined to discover what is afoot -- despite the distractions caused by the Honorable Freddie Threepwood's hapless affair of the heart.
Freddie is engaged to marry the daughter of a wealthy American who is a passionate collector of ancient Egyptian scarabs. When one goes missing, a thousand-pound reward is offered for its return and Blandings becomes a madhouse as friends turn rivals in the scramble to retrieve the object. [via]More editions of Something Fresh:
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The Tartar Steppeby Dino Buzzati, Stuart Clink HoodISBN 1567923046 (1-56792-304-6)
Softcover, David R Godine Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Tartar Steppe'Book summary:Often likened to Kafka's The Castle, The Tartar Steppe is both a scathing critique of military life and a meditation on the human thirst for glory. It tells of young Giovanni Drogo, who is posted to a distant fort overlooking the vast Tartar steppe. Although not intending to stay, Giovanni suddenly finds that years have passed, as, almost without his noticing, he has come to share the others' wait for a foreign invasion that never happens. Over time the fort is downgraded and Giovanni's ambitions fade until the day the enemy begins massing on the desolate steppe... [via]
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The Third Policemanby Flann O'BrienISBN 156478214X (1-56478-214-X)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Third Policeman'Book summary:A comic trip through hell in Ireland, as told by a murderer, The Third Policeman is another inspired bit of confusing and comic lunacy from the warped imagination and lovably demented pen of Flann O'Brien, author of At Swim-Two-Birds. There's even a small chance you'll figure out what's going on if you read the publisher's note that appears on the last page. [via]
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Time Must Have a Stopby Aldous HuxleyISBN 1564781801 (1-56478-180-1)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
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A Troubadour's Testamentby James CowanISBN 1570623392 (1-57062-339-2)
Hardcover, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Troubadour's Testament'Book summary:The author of "A Mapmaker's Dream" takes readers on a magical journey through 12th-century Provence to discover the spiritual power of perfect love. Among the papers in a local museum, a writer uncovers an extraordinary scroll by a troubadour named Marcebru, in which he commemorates the great love of his life. Inspired, the writer embarks on a pilgrimage through the Provencal countryside and, in the process, discovers a land of timeless beauty . [via]
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The Tunnelby William H. GassISBN 1564782131 (1-56478-213-1)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
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Turn of the Screw and Daisy Millerby Henry JamesISBN 1570020574 (1-57002-057-4)
Softcover, Univ Pub House
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Uncle Dynamiteby P.G. WodehouseISBN 1585678740 (1-58567-874-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Uncle Dynamite'Book summary:Wodehouse fans beware: Uncle Fred is in town and that means another literary dose of wacky hi-jinks. Love is in the air in Uncle Dynamite, and good old Fred (a.k.a. Lord Ickenham) resorts to impersonations, blackmail and ridiculous irreverence in an effort to sort out the havoc of a matchmaking blunderbuss. [via]
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Uncle Fred in the Spring Timeby P.G. WodehouseISBN 158567527X (1-58567-527-X)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Uncle Fred in the Spring Time'Book summary:All is not well with Clarence - the volatile Duke of Dunstable has carried off his prize pig, The Empress of Blandings. In a moment of inspiration, Clarence turns to one of England's wiliest peers and a man of infinite sang froid - Frederick, Earl of Ickenham. [via]
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Vby Thomas PynchonISBN 1568493215 (1-56849-321-5)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'V'Book summary:Having just been released from the Navy, Benny Profane is content to lead a slothful existence with his friends, where the only real ambition is to perfect the art of "schlemihlhood," or being a dupe, and where "responsibility" is a dirty word. Among his pals--called the Whole Sick Crew--is Slab, an artist who can't seem to paint anything other than cheese danishes. But Profane's life changes dramatically when he befriends Stencil, an active ambitious young man with an intriguing mission--to find out the identity of a woman named V., who knew Stencil's father during the war, but who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. [via]
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Venus As a Boyby Luke SutherlandISBN 1582343993 (1-58234-399-3)
Hardcover, St Martins Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Venus As a Boy'Book summary:In a small flat in London, a young man is turning to gold. But before he dies, before his skin and eyes and tongue harden into a golden death mask, he wants to share the amazing story of his life. Born and raised on the barren Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland, his childhood is a brutal one, devoid of tenderness. It is a miracle when he meets Tracy, falls in love, and discovers his true gift: the merest touch of him is enough to induce visions of angels and orchids. The physical heights he is able to reach-and to which he can bring others-go far beyond any normal sensual pleasure. Armed with this inexplicable talent, he makes his way to London, where he falls in with a group of teens forced to make a living on the street.[via]
Luke Sutherland's modern-day myth about the power of love veers from stratosphere to gutter, from visions of heaven to the all-too-mortal yearning for even one glimpse of it. With Venus as a Boy Sutherland has written a moving, poetic novel that manages to imbue the harsh realities of life on the street with a mesmerizing and ethereal beauty.More editions of Venus As a Boy:
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Wide Sargasso Seaby Jean Rhys, Charlotte BronteISBN 1568497296 (1-56849-729-6)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wide Sargasso Sea'Book summary:In 1966 Jean Rhys reemerged after a long silence with a novel called Wide Sargasso Sea. Rhys had enjoyed minor literary success in the 1920s and '30s with a series of evocative novels featuring women protagonists adrift in Europe, verging on poverty, hoping to be saved by men. By the '40s, however, her work was out of fashion, too sad for a world at war. And Rhys herself was often too sad for the world--she was suicidal, alcoholic, troubled by a vast loneliness. She was also a great writer, despite her powerful self-destructive impulses.
Wide Sargasso Sea is the story of Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress who grew up in the West Indies on a decaying plantation. When she comes of age she is married off to an Englishman, and he takes her away from the only place she has known--a house with a garden where "the paths were overgrown and a smell of dead flowers mixed with the fresh living smell. Underneath the tree ferns, tall as forest tree ferns, the light was green. Orchids flourished out of reach or for some reason not to be touched."
The novel is Rhys's answer to Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë's book had long haunted her, mostly for the story it did not tell--that of the madwoman in the attic, Rochester's terrible secret. Antoinette is Rhys's imagining of that locked-up woman, who in the end burns up the house and herself. Wide Sargasso Sea follows her voyage into the dark, both from her point of view and Rochester's. It is a voyage charged with soul-destroying lust. "I watched her die many times," observes the new husband. "In my way, not in hers. In sunlight, in shadow, by moonlight, by candlelight. In the long afternoons when the house was empty."
Rhys struggled over the book, enduring rejections and revisions, wrestling to bring this ruined woman out of the ashes. The slim volume was finally published when she was 70 years old. The critical adulation that followed, she said, "has come too late." Jean Rhys died a few years later, but with Wide Sargasso Sea she left behind a great legacy, a work of strange, scary loveliness. There has not been a book like it before or since. Believe me, I've been searching. --Emily White [via]
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Willie Masters' Lonesome Wifeby William H. GassISBN 1564782123 (1-56478-212-3)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
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Wonder Boysby Michael ChabonISBN 1568952570 (1-56895-257-0)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wonder Boys'Book summary:Michael Chabon's Grady Tripp is one messed up college writing professor - his marriage is breaking up, his girlfriend (wife of the dean) is pregnant, his marijuana habit is taking over and his editor is just about out of a job. Tripp has published a few moderately successful novels but is strangling his creativity with introspection and marijuana - never finishing a 2,000-plus-page novel called Wonder Boys. When his editor and best friend, Terry Crabtree, comes to town and spreads chaos, Tripp goes along for the ride. Farcical misadventures dominate, from a picked-up transvestite to a wild ride in a stolen car that contains a tuba and the corpses of a dog and a boa constrictor. Chabon writes with a wry, vulnerable wit that cleaves open the minds of his wonderful characters while his clean prose keeps the madcap story going so well that you'll want it to never end. [via]
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Zorba the Greekby Nikos KazantzakisISBN 1568491786 (1-56849-178-6)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books, Incorporated
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