The novel that set the stage for his modern classic, The Satanic Verses, Shame is Salman Rushdie’s phantasmagoric epic of an unnamed country that is “not quite Pakistan.” In this dazzling tale of an ongoing duel between the families of two men—one a celebrated wager of war, the other a debauched lover of pleasure—Rushdie brilliantly portrays a world caught between honor and humiliation —“shamelessness, shame: the roots of violence.” Shame is an astonishing story that grows more timely by the day.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 2 201
SUMMARY:
Chief Inspector Wexford is in China, visiting ancient tombs and palaces with a group of British tourists. After their return to England, one of his fellow tourists is found murdered. As he questions other members of the group, Wexford finds secrets of greed, treachery, theft, and adultery, leading the distressed inspector to ask not who is innocent, but who is least guilty . . . Views: 2 168
Norman Mailer’s dazzlingly rich, deeply evocative novel of ancient Egypt breathes life into the figures of a lost era: the eighteenth-dynasty Pharaoh Rameses and his wife, Queen Nefertiti; Menenhetet, their creature, lover, and victim; and the gods and mortals that surround them in intimate and telepathic communion. Mailer’s reincarnated protagonist is carried through the exquisite gardens of the royal harem, along the majestic flow of the Nile, and into the terrifying clash of battle. An extraordinary work of inventiveness, Ancient Evenings lives on in the mind long after the last page has been turned.
Praise for Ancient Evenings
*
“Astounding, beautifully written . . . a leap of imagination that crosses three millennia to Pharaonic Egypt.”—USA Today
“Mailer makes a miraculous present out of age-deep memories, bringing to life the rhythms, the images, the sensuousness of a lost time.”—The New York Times
*
“Mailer’s Egypt is a haunting and magical place. . . . The reader wallows in the scope, depth, the sheer magnitude and—yes—the fertility of his imagination.”—The Washington Post Book World
“An enormous pyramid of a novel [reminiscent of] Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow and Carlos Fuentes’s Terra Nostra*.”—Los Angeles Herald Examiner
*
Praise for Norman Mailer
“[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.”—The New York Times
“A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.”—The New Yorker
“Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure.”—The Washington Post
“A devastatingly alive and original creative mind.”—Life
“Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.”—The New York Review of Books
“The largest mind and imagination [in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book.”—Chicago Tribune
“Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.”—The Cincinnati Post** Views: 2 159
One by one the bizarre murders frustrate and torment Lt. Kinderman , the homicide detective from The Exorcist. A boy, crucified; a priest, decapitated; another priest slain; a nurse, slaughtered — all bear the Zodiac mark of the Gemini Killer.
BUT ... the Gemini Killer has been dead for 12 years — Lt. Kinderman stalks the brutal and elusive killer down the dark streets. Until ,finally, in desperation he dares to cross the boundary that separates the living from the dead. Views: 2 129
A MASTER OF THE MYSTERIOUSPierce was an austere and solitary figure, a magician who had dazzled and entranced audiences all over the world. Only one woman, Ryan, had guessed the pain that lay behind his art, the past he had chosen to conceal behind the flash and the glitter.His unhappy childhood had taught him to rely on nothing. Yet Ryan was determined to offer him the only truth she knew: Their love was no illusion. Views: 2 009
She came to him as a precious gift, a naked angel rolled in a rug. Once he gazed into her green eyes, saw her tangle of honey blonde hair, he was undone with passion.
Elizabeth would never surrender. He was a hated Montgomery -- she was a Chatworth -- and the blood war between their families raged on, a wildfire of rape, murder, and betrayal.
Elizabeth vowed to fight the handsome lord, to resist the burning desire in his eyes -- no matter how great the temptation. Views: 1 280
In #1 New York Times bestseller Iris Johansen’s riveting novel of danger and romantic adventure, a gutsy reporter and a rugged inventor battle the elements, outlaws, and their own primal attraction in the scorching Mexican desert.
Kelly McKenna is a photojournalist with a renegade reputation—and a fearless streak that lands her in an experimental hot air balloon, flying over the Rio Grande with the infamous Nick O’Brien. She wants to capture the real man behind the brilliant inventor, but to do that she needs to survive a crash landing in a lawless land and the ruthless bandits who take them hostage. As they conspire to escape their captors, Nick’s fierce protective instinct ignites a deep, primitive desire.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and Nick’s working on a plan to get them out of harm’s way. But he never anticipated the desperation he feels to keep Kelly safe. Out here, they need each other to survive. But if they make it back to the real world in one piece, will the bond forged in crisis be strong enough to last a lifetime?
From the Paperback edition. Views: 1 194
‘Even the most cautious of travelers would, I think, be thrilled at the idea of visiting a remote tropical island. There seems to be something about tropical islands that stirs the blood of even the most unadventurous souls.’
Lying in the Indian Ocean, the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar – where millions of years of evolutionary isolation created a flora and fauna unique in the world - provide the exotic setting for Gerald Durrell’s expeditionary rescue work with animals. In his personal and delightful way he entertains, educates and makes a dramatic appeal to us all about the distressing state of these beautiful and endangered species around the world and shows us the serious consequences to life and its future on this earth. This exciting journey also inspired an international television series based on the author’s rescue and breeding operations. Views: 1 190
Photographer Joe LaBrava specialises in capturing the soul of Miami's street life & since he used to do dirty jobs for the government, he understands his subject very well. So when his friend Maury enlists his help to sort out a problem with an ex-film star, Joe is more than happy to help. Views: 1 172
These mad immortal stories, now surfaced from the literary underground, have addicted legions of American readers, even though the high literary establishment continues to ignore them. In Europe, however (particularly in Germany, Italy, and France where he is published by the great publishing houses), he is critically recognized as one of America's greatest living realist writers.
Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany in 1920 and brought to America at the age of two. Eighteen or twenty books of prose and poetry, Bukowski, after publishing prose in Story and Portfolio, stopped writing for ten years. He arrived in the charity ward of the Los Angeles County General Hospital, hemorrhaging as a climax to a ten year drinking bout. Some say he didn't die. After leaving the hospital he got a typewriter and began writing again—this time, poetry. He later returned to prose and gained some fame with his column, Notes of a Dirty Old Man. After 14 years in the Post Office he resigned at age 50, he says, to keep from going insane. He now claims to be unemployable and eats typewriter ribbons. Views: 1 164
In Anne Lamott’s wise and witty novel, the growing pains of motherhood are portrayed with rare humor and honesty. If Elizabeth Ferguson had her way, she’d spend her days savoring good books, cooking great meals, and waiting for the love of her life to walk in the door. But it’s not a man she’s waiting for, it’s her daughter, Rosie—her wild-haired, smart-mouthed, and wise-beyond-her-years alter ego. With Rosie around, the days aren’t quite so long, but Elizabeth can’t keep the realities of the world at bay, and try as she might, she can’t shield Rosie from its dangers or mysteries. As Rosie grows older and more curious, Elizabeth must find a way to nurture her extraordinary daughter—even if it means growing up herself. Views: 1 136
There is trouble in Xanth again. The Gap Dragon had escaped and was ravaging across the land, the forget-spell was causing mass amnesia, three-year-old Ivy was headed right for a hungry dragon. Could things get any worse? Probably....
From the Paperback edition. Views: 1 130
With the fate of the planet hanging in the balance, retired naval officer and Naval Academy graduate Neil Loken steers a trimaran and her passengers to the literal end of the earth in this taut thriller about a small group of friends escaping a nuclear holocaust. Views: 1 126
In the traditional folktale of Sleeping Beauty, the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind s unconscious. Now Anne Rice s retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the prince reawakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty s complete and total enslavement to him.
Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience." Views: 1 124
