From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies—a magnificent history of the gene and a response to the defining question of the future: What becomes of being human when we learn to "read" and "write" our own genetic information?The extraordinary Siddhartha Mukherjee has a written a biography of the gene as deft, brilliant, and illuminating as his extraordinarily successful biography of cancer. Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices. Throughout the narrative, the story of Mukherjee's own family—with its tragic and bewildering history of mental illness—cuts like a bright, red line, reminding us of the many questions that hang over our ability to translate the... Views: 777
Amulet is a monologue, like Bolano's acclaimed debut in English, By Night in Chile. The speaker is Auxilio Lacouture, a Uruguayan woman who moved to Mexico in the 1960s, becoming the "Mother of Mexican Poetry," hanging out with the young poets in the cafes and bars of the University. She's tall, thin,brand blonde, and her favorite young poet in the 1970s is none other than Arturo Belano (Bolano's fictional stand-in throughout his books). As well as her young poets, Auxilio recalls three remarkable women; the melancholic young philosopher Elena, the exiled Catalan painter Remedios Varo, and Lilian Serpas, a poet who once slept with Che Guevara.brAnd in the course of her imaginary visit to the house of Remedios Varo,brAuxilio sees an uncanny landscape, a kind of chasm. This chasm reappears in a vision at the end of the book; an army of children is marching toward it, singing as they go. The children are the idealistic young Latin Americans who came to maturity in the '70s, and the last words of the novel are; "And that song is our amulet." Views: 777
Daredevil Dennis Lenahan has brought his act to the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi -- diving off an eighty-foot ladder into nine feet of water for the amusement of gamblers, gangsters, and luscious belles. His riskiest feat, however, was witnessing a Dixie-style mob execution while atop his diving platform. Robert Taylor saw the hit also. A blues-loving Detroit hustler touring the Southland in a black Jaguar, Taylor's got his own secret agenda re the "Cornbread Cosa Nostra," and he wants Dennis in on the game. But there's a lot more in Robert Taylor's pocket than a photo of his lynched great-grandfather. And high-diver Dennis could be about to take a long, fatal fall -- right into a mess of hoop skirts, Civil War play-acting ... and more trouble than he ever dreamed possible. Views: 775
Almost three decades after commencing his maritime epic with Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian is still at it.
The 20th episode, Blue at the Mizzen, is another swashbuckling adventure on the high seas, complete with romantic escapades from smoggy London to Sierra Leone, diplomacy, espionage, the intricacies of warfare, and imperial brinksmanship.
As always, these events are bound up in the ongoing friendship between two officers of the Royal Navy. Jack Aubrey is the naval captain, bold yet compassionate, innovative yet cautious, as fearless in war as he is bumbling in affairs of the heart and household.
His boon companion Stephen Maturin is the ship's surgeon - and additionally a spy for the British government, a wealthy Catalonian aristocrat, a doting Irish father, and an avid naturalist.
That may sound like a lot to keep track of. However, it's not necessary to carry around a scorecard or ship's roster while reading Blue at the Mizzen. The ostensible issue is whether Jack will finally be promoted to Admiral of the Blue. But long before he hears any word from the Napoleonic era's equivalent of Personnel, he loses half his crew to desertion, his ship undergoes a disastrous collision, and the entire company comes close to perishing in the ice-choked seas off Cape Horn.
Meanwhile, the widowed Maturin issues a surprising proposal of marriage to a beautiful, mud-bespattered fellow naturalist while trekking through an African mangrove swamp. (The two lovebirds happen to be searching for a rare variant of 'Caprimulgus longipennis', the long-tailed nightjar, which they hope to surprise in full mating plumage.)
Still, this is hardly a plot-driven novel. O'Brian takes time to get anywhere, and invariably enjoys the journey more than the arrival. So even as we get constant hints of the climax to come - Jack's spectacular naval action on behalf of the infant Republic of Chile - we don't mind hearing about the nuances of shipboard existence or the secret life of the white-faced tree duck.
We're treated, for example, to this snippet about managed care, circa 1816: "Poll, Maggie and a horse-leech from the starboard watch have been administering enemas to the many, many cases of gross surfeit that have now replaced the frostbites, torsions, and debility of the recent past, the very recent past. Strong, fresh, seal-meat has not its equal for upsetting the seaman's metabolism: he is much better kept on biscuits, Essex cheese, and a very little well-seethed salt pork--kept on short commons."
And we're grateful! We can only hope that the elderly author will favor us with at least one more novel, so that his avid followers can avoid their own form of short commons. Life without Aubrey and Maturin would be a deprivation indeed. - Andrew Himes Views: 769
The memoir and first book from the author of the beloved New York Times bestseller Cutting for Stone.Nestled in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee, the town of Johnson City had always seemed exempt from the anxieties of modern American life. But when the local hospital treated its first AIDS patient, a crisis that had once seemed an "urban problem" had arrived in the town to stay. Working in Johnson City was Abraham Verghese, a young Indian doctor specializing in infectious diseases. Dr. Verghese became by necessity the local AIDS expert, soon besieged by a shocking number of male and female patients whose stories came to occupy his mind, and even take over his life. Verghese brought a singular perspective to Johnson City: as a doctor unique in his abilities; as an outsider who could talk to people suspicious of local practitioners; above all, as a writer of grace and compassion who saw that what was happening in this conservative community was both... Views: 768
A new age dawns in the kingdom of Eileanan, but not without resistance. Now the Righ, Lachlan the Winged, overturns his dead brother's decrees against witchcraft. But sixteen years of hatred and superstition have cloaked Eileanan in darkness. And though he has won the power of the Lodestar, Lachlan's rule is challenged by a mere babe--and a civil war erupts.
The flame-haired twins--Iseult the Scarred Warrior and Isabeau the apprentice-witch--must go their separate ways. Iseult to fight side by side with her husband, Lachlan. Isabeau to the Cursed Towers, to master her powers and to find the family she has never known.
One woman battling for a new reign, one woman learning the old ways, their separate threads will twist and turn into a tale of mayhem, mystery, and magic. Views: 768
A mesmerising novel set in the Louisiana heartland from award-winning author James Lee Burke. Views: 766
Born the runt of his litter and gambled away to a rusty old river man, the Newfoundland pup Seaman doesn’t imagine his life will be marked by any kind of glory. But when he meets Captain Meriwether Lewis, Seaman finds himself on a path that will make history. Lewis is setting off on his landmark search for the Northwest Passage, and he takes Seaman along. Sharing the curiosity and spirit of his new master, the intrepid dog proves himself a valuable companion at every turn. Part history, part science—and all adventure—this is the thrilling tale of America’s greatest journey of discovery.
Includes an author’s note and a reader’s guide. Views: 763
Jacob, aged 17, is abroad on his own for the time, visiting his grandfather's grave at the commemoration of the Second World War Battle of Arnhem in Holland. Jacob's life-changing experiences are interwoven with the extraordinary wartime story of passion and treachery that he learns from Geertrui, whose family is linked to Jacob's in a way he never suspected.
The Originals are the pioneers of fiction for young adults. From political awakening, war and unrequited love to addiction, teenage pregnancy and nuclear holocaust, The Originals confront big issues and articulate difficult truths. The collection includes: The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton, I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith, Postcards from No Man's Land - Aidan Chambers, After the First Death - Robert Cormier, Dear Nobody - Berlie Doherty, The Endless Steppe - Esther Hautzig, Buddy - Nigel Hinton, Across the Barricades - Joan Lingard, The Twelfth Day of July - Joan Lingard, No Turning Back - Beverley Naidoo, Z for Zachariah - Richard C. O'Brien, The Wave - Morton Rhue, The Red Pony - John Steinbeck, The Pearl - John Steinbeck, Stone Cold - Robert Swindells. Views: 762
From the bestselling author of "Generation X" and "Microserfs," comes the absurd and tender story of a hard-living movie producer and a former child beauty pageant contender whoonly find each other by losing themselves.
Waking up in an L.A. hospital, John Johnson is amazed that it was the flu and not an overdose of five different drugs mixed with cognac that nearly killed him.As a producer of high-adrenaline action flicks, he's led a decadent and dangerous life, purchasing his way through every conceivable variant of sex. But each variation seems to take him one notch away from a capacity forlove, and while movie-making was once a way for him to create worlds of sensation, it now bores him. After his near-death experience, John decides to walk away from his life.
Susan Colgate is anunbankable former tv star and child beauty pageant contender. Forced to marry a heavy metal singer in need of a Green Card after her parents squander her sitcom earnings, she becomes the alpha road rat. But when the band'spopularity dwindles, the marriage dissolves. Flying back to Los Angeles in Economy, Susan's plane crashes and only she survives. As she walks away from the disaster virtually unscathed, Susan, too, decides to disappear.
John and Susan are two souls searching for love across the bizarre, celebrity-obsessed landscape of LA, and are driven, almost fatefully, toward each other. Hilarious, fast-pacedand ultimately heart-wrenching, "Miss Wyoming" is about people who, after throwing off their self-made identities, begin the fearful search for a love that exposes allvulnerabilities. "From the Trade Paperback edition." Views: 761
“Docemente, ao voltar para casa, comecei a recompor o rosto febril de monsieur Reynaud ao mesmo tempo que meditava sobre o soluço do desconhecido monsieur Vallejo. Imagem recorrente, refleti; nos últimos meses era difícil para mim não associar a doença e até a beleza à lembrança de monsieur Reynaud. Era quase meia-noite e eu havia passado o resto da noitada num café do bairro de Passy em companhia de um velho conhecido, alfaiate aposentado que consagrava grande parte do seu tempo ao estudo do mesmerismo. Já não chovia. De alguma maneira, pensei, as pessoas que nos servem de ponte até os pacientes revelam o estado mais profundo destes. Os intermediários como radiografias.”
Franz Mesmer, um médico do século XVIII, desenvolveu um método de tratamento de doenças humanas servindo-se do magnetismo animal - uma técnica precursora da hipnose que ficou mais conhecida pelo conto Revelação mesmérica, de Edgar Allan Poe. Um dos discípulos do mesmerismo, Pierre Pain, é o protagonista deste romance de Roberto Bolaño, escrito no início dos anos 1980.
Na Paris do entreguerras, Pain é contratado por madame Reynaud para ajudar um sul-americano chamado Vallejo, que sofre de um soluço incurável. Outros médicos avaliaram o homem e nada descobriram.
No entanto, logo o protagonista se encontra envolvido em uma conspiração muito maior do que imaginava. Perseguido por dois homens misteriosos que ele julga serem espanhóis, o mesmerista embarca em uma viagem alucinante pelas ruas de Paris, deparando com artistas de vanguarda, filmes raros de ficção científica e complexos labirintos dignos da imaginação de Jorge Luis Borges.
Monsieur Pain, um dos primeiros romances escritos por Bolaño, é uma peça rara em sua obra: um livro atmosférico, repleto de temas caros à literatura de gênero, como o ocultismo, a busca detetivesca e a confusão entre sonho e realidade. Enquanto Pain se deixa levar pelo mistério, as fronteiras entre o que é real e o que é imaginação se dissolvem.
A revelação final, óbvia para os leitores familiarizados com poesia latino-americana, de que o paciente com soluço se trata do famoso poeta peruano César Vallejo, adiciona ainda mais camadas interpretativas a esta estranha história. As circunstâncias da morte de Vallejo, por sinal, continuam enigmáticas até hoje. Por fim, o epílogo adianta uma técnica narrativa que seria depois consagrada por Bolaño: muitas vozes buscando documentar a vida de pessoas, algumas reais, outras fictícias. Views: 758
