Nine strokes from an old country church toll out the death ofan unknown man and call Lord Peter Wimsey to one of his mostbaffling cases. Set in the strange, flat fen-country of EastAnglia, this is a classic tale of suspense by a master ofmystery.
Book De*ion Remember when flying was glamorous and sexy, even fun? Whenairline food was gourmet, everyone dressed up for a flight, andstewardesses catered to our every need-at least in ourimaginations? This classic memoir by two audaciously outspokenyoung ladies, who lived and loved the free-spirited stewardesslife, jets you back to those golden days of air travel-from thecaptain who's as subtle as a 747 when he's on the make to thepassenger who mistakes the overhead luggage rack for an upperberth; from the names of celebrities who were a pleasure to serve(and some surprising notables on the "bad guy" list) to the originsof some naughty stereotypes-Spaniards "are" the best lovers, actorsthe most foul-mouthed. This huge bestseller, a First Class jet-agejournal, offers a hilarious gold mine of outrageous anecdotes fromthe high-flying and amorous lives of those busty, lusty,adventuresome young women of the swinging '60s known as"stews." About Author Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones were name
A treasury of Lewis’s thought, gathered from all of his morethan forty books and his uncollected essays, on subjects as variedas sin, hell and heaven, the Trinity, and love and sex. Edited andwith a Preface by Clyde S. Kilby.
This bestseller covers a single momentous year during Nins lifein Paris, when she met Henry Miller and his wife, June. Closer towhat many sexually adventuresome women experience than almostanything Ive ever read....I found it a very erotic book andprofoundly liberating (Alice Walker). The source of a major motionpicture from Universal. Preface by Rupert Pole; Index.
“Philip Roth has become an American Master,a writercertainlyin出e upper rank of artistic achievement.1ikeJohn Coltrane in musicor Jackson Pollock in artThe prolific Roth is athe height of hisconsiderablepowers,and his work transcends much of hiscontem—poraries’output in psychological insight,pure intelli—genceand even readability,”
Hans Christian Andersen was the profoundly imaginative writerand storyteller who revolutionized literature for children. He gaveus the now standard versions of some traditional fairy tales - withan anarchic twist - but many of his most famous tales sprangdirectly from his imagination. The thirty stories here range fromexuberant early works such as "The Tinderbox" and "The Emperor'sNew Clothes" through poignant masterpieces such as "The LittleMermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling," to more subversive later talessuch as "The Ice maiden" and "The Wood Nymph."
Look at the Birdie is a collection of fourteen short storiesfrom one of the most original writers in American fiction. Thisseries of perfectly rendered vignettes, never before published inKurt Vonnegut’s lifetime, reveals a warm, wise, and funny portraitof life in post–World War II America—a world where squabblingcouples, high school geniuses, misfit office workers, andsmall-town lotharios struggle to adapt to changing technology,moral ambiguity, and unprecedented affluence. Featuring a Forewordby author and longtime Vonnegut confidant Sidney Offit, Look at theBirdie is an unexpected gift for readers who thought thatVonnegut’s voice had been stilled forever—and serves as a terrificintroduction to his short fiction for anyone who has yet toexperience his genius.
"The Tin Drum," one of the great novels of the twentiethcentury, was published in Ralph Manheim's outstanding translationin 1959. It became a runaway bestseller and catapulted its youngauthor to the forefront of world literature.To mark the fiftiethanniversary of the original publication, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,along with Grass's publishers all over the world, is bringing out anew translation of this classic novel. Breon Mitchell, an acclaimedtranslator and scholar, has drawn from many sources: a wealth ofdetailed scholarship, a wide range of newly available referenceworks, and the author himself. The result is a translation that ismore faithful to Grass's style and rhythm, restores omissions, andreflects more fully the complexity of the original work.After fiftyyears, "The Tin Drum" has, if anything, gained in power andrelevance. All of Grass's amazing evocations are still there, andstill amazing: Oskar Matzerath, the indomitable drummer; hisgrandmother, Anna Koljaiczek; his mother, Agnes; Alfred M
Narrated by a fifteen-year-old girl with a ruthless regard fortruth, The Last Life is a beautifully told novel of lies andghosts, love and honor. Set in colonial Algeria, and in the southof France and New England, it is the tale of the LaBasse family,whose quiet integrity is shattered by the shots from agrandfather's rifle. As their world suddenly begins to crumble,long-hidden shame emerges: a son abandoned by the family before hewas even born, a mother whose identity is not what she has claimed,a father whose act of defiance brings Hotel Bellevue-the familybusiness-to its knees. Messud skillfully and inexorably describeshow the stories we tell ourselves, and the lies to which we cling,can turn on us in a moment. It is a work of stunning power from awriter to watch.
In the form of warm, relaxed letters to a close friend, Lewismeditates on many puzzling questions concerning the intimatedialogue between man and God. Lewis also considers practical andmetaphysical aspects of private prayer, petitionary prayer, theLords Prayer, and other forms of prayer. A beautifully executed anddeeply moving book (Saturday Review).
From esteemed New Yorker writer Mark Singer comes thiscautionary tale of the Penn Square Bank, the oil and gas broker inan Oklahoma City shopping mall whose collapse in 1982 staggeredAmerica's banking industry. Recounting the whole spectacular storyand its colorful characters, Singer makes brilliantly (andhilariously) clear what actually happened and why it had to happenin boom-time Oklahoma. Nowhere else did money flow in quite thesame spontaneous fashion. " A] tale of wonderful verve" (New YorkTimes), Funny Money comes to life through Singer's vivid prose andcontinues to resonate in today's culture of corporatecorruption.
Paul Theroux, the author of the train travel classics "TheGreat Railway Bazaar" and "The Old Patagonian Express", takes tothe rails once again in this account of his epic journey throughChina. He hops aboard as part of a tour group in London and setsout for China's border. He then spends a year traversing thecountry, where he pieces together a fascinating snapshot of aunique moment in history. From the barren deserts of Xinjiang tothe ice forests of Manchuria, from the dense metropolises ofShanghai, Beijing, and Canton to the dry hills of Tibet, Therouxoffers an unforgettable portrait of a magnificent land and anextraordinary people.
In one of his finest achievements, Nobel Prize winner SaulBellow presents a multifaceted portrait of a modern-day hero, a manstruggling with the complexity of existence and longing forredemption. Introduction by Philip Roth
Tertuliano Maximo Afonso is a divorced, depressed historyteacher. To lift his spirits, a colleague suggests he rent acertain video. Tertuliano watches the film, unimpressed. But duringthe night, when he is awakened by noises in his apartment, he goesinto the living room to find that the VCR is replaying the video.He watches in astonishment as a man who looks exactly like him-or,more specifically, exactly like he did five years before,mustachioed and fuller in the face-appears on the screen. He sleepsbadly. Against his better judgment, Tertuliano decides to pursuehis double. As he roots out the man's identity, what begins as awhimsical story becomes a "wonderfully twisted meditation onidentity and individuality" (The Boston Globe). Saramago displayshis remarkable talent in this haunting tale of appearance versusreality.
In 1925, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his beloved toydog on the beach. To console him, his father, J.R.R. Tolkien,improvised a story about Rover, a real dog who is magicallytransformed into a toy and is forced to seek out the wizard whowronged him in order to be returned to normal. This charming tale,peopled by a sand-sorcerer and a terrible dragon, by the king ofthe sea and the Man-in-the-Moon, endured several drafts over theyears. Now, more than seventy years later, the adventures of Roverare published for the first time. Rich in wit and wordplay,Roverandom is edited and introduced by Christina Scull and Wayne G.Hammond and illustrated with Tolkien's own delightful drawings.
A lifesaving handbook for parents of children who areoccasionally, or too often, "out of control" Includes a bound-intwenty-minute DVD featuring Dr. Kazdin and his staff illustratingkey concepts of the Kazdin Method Most child-behavior books arefilled with advice that sounds reasonable, fits with what parentsalready believe about child-rearing, and is--as Dr. Kazdin proves--guaranteed to fail. The Kazdin Method for Parenting the DefiantChild makes available to parents for the first time Dr. Kazdin'sproven program--one backed up by some of the most long-term andrespected research devoted to any therapy for children.Kazdinshatters decades' worth of accumulated myths about tantrums,time-outs, punishments fitting the crime, and much more.With thepracticality of Ferber and the warmth of Brazelton, Kazdin leadsparents through every step of the Kazdin Method in action--how touse tone of voice, when and how to touch, how to lead your child ina "practice" session, how to adjust your approach for different-agechildren
From the early Soviet period, the impassioned short fictionof the great Russian-Jewish writer One of the most powerful short-story writers of the twentiethcentury, Isaac Babel expressed his sense of inner conflict throughdisturbing tales that explored the contradictions of Russiansociety. Whether reflecting on anti-Semitism in stories such as“Story of My Dovecote” and “First Love,” or depicting Jewishgangsters in his native Odessa, Babel’s eye for the comical laidbare the ironies of history. His masterpiece, “Red Cavalry,” set inthe Soviet-Polish war, is one of the classics of modern fiction. Byturns flamboyant and restrained, this collection of Babel’sbest-known stories vividly expresses the horrors of his age. “Amazing not only as literature but as biography.” —RichardBernstein, The New York Times “Marvelously subtle, tragic, and often comic.” —James Wood, The New Republic
The autobiographical novel of a journey from the Britishcolony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England.
city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which sparesno one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital,but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealingfood rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to thisnightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with nomother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barrenstreets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundingsare harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation anda vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century,Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayalof man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimatelyexhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will tosurvive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize forLiterature.
One of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also anaccomplished writer of shorter fiction. This volume includes twelveof his finest short stories many of which feature characters fromhis epic series of novels the Comedie Humaine. Compelling tales ofacute social and psychological insight, they fully demonstrate themastery of suspense and revelation that were the hallmarks ofBalzac's genius. In The Atheist's Mass, we learn the true reasonfor a distinguished atheist surgeon's attendance at religiousservices; La Grande Breteche describes the horrific truth behindthe locked doors of a decaying country mansion, while The Red Innrelates a brutal tale of murder and betrayal. A fascinatingcounterpoint to the renowned novels, all the stories collected herestand by themselves as mesmerizing works by one of the finestwriters of nineteenth-century France.