The six stories in this volume are the result of some three or four years of occasional work. The dates of their writing are far apart, their origins are various. None of them are connected directly with personal experiences. In all of them the facts are inherently true, by which I mean that they are not only possible but that they have actually happened. For instance, the last story in the volume, the one I call Pathetic, whose first title is Il Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an almost verbatim transcript of the tale told me by a very charming old gentleman whom I met in Italy. I don’t mean to say it is only that. Anybody can see that it is something more than a verbatim report, but where he left off and where I began must be left to the acute discrimination of the reader who may be interested in the problem. I don’t mean to say that the problem is worth the trouble. What I am certain of, however, is that it is not to be solved, for I am not at all clear about it myself by this time. All I can say is that the personality of the narrator was extremely suggestive quite apart from the story he was telling me. I heard a few years ago that he had died far away from his beloved Naples where that “abominable adventure” did really happen to him. Views: 183
Everyone wants to know how I proposed to Claire. Well, it’s complicated... Views: 183
From the bestselling social commentator and cultural historian, a fascinating exploration of one of humanity's oldest traditions: the celebration of communal joy
In the acclaimed "Blood Rites," Barbara Ehrenreich delved into the origins of our species' attraction to war. Here, she explores the opposite impulse, one that has been so effectively suppressed that we lack even a term for it: the desire for collective joy, historically expressed in ecstatic revels of feasting, costuming, and dancing.
Ehrenreich uncovers the origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture. Although sixteenth-century Europeans viewed mass festivities as foreign and "savage," Ehrenreich shows that they were indigenous to the West, from the ancient Greeks' worship of Dionysus to the medieval practice of Christianity as a "danced religion." Ultimately, church officials drove the festivities into the streets, the prelude to widespread reformation: Protestants criminalized carnival, Wahhabist Muslims battled ecstatic Sufism, European colonizers wiped out native dance rites. The elites' fear that such gatherings would undermine social hierarchies was justified: the festive tradition inspired French revolutionary crowds and uprisings from the Caribbean to the American plains. Yet outbreaks of group revelry persist, as Ehrenreich shows, pointing to the 1960s rock-and-roll rebellion and the more recent "carnivalization" of sports.
Original, exhilarating, and deeply optimistic, "Dancing in the Streets" concludes that we are innately social beings, impelled to share our joy and therefore able to envision, even create, a more peaceable future. Views: 183
A fever dream of a novel—strangely funny, entirely unconventional—Valerie conjures the life, mind, and art of American firebrand Valerie SolanasIn April 1988, Valerie Solanas—the writer, radical feminist, author of the SCUM Manifesto and would-be assassin of Andy Warhol—was discovered dead at fifty-two in her hotel room, in a grimy corner of San Francisco, alone, penniless, and surrounded by the typed pages of her last writings. In Valerie, a nameless narrator revisits the room where Solanas died, the courtroom where she was tried and convicted of attempting to murder Andy Warhol, the Georgia wastelands where she spent her childhood and was repeatedly raped by her father and beaten by her alcoholic grandfather, and the mental hospitals where she was shut away. A leading feminist in Sweden and one of the most acclaimed writers in Scandinavia, Sara Stridsberg here blurs the boundaries between history and... Views: 182
"The Firefly of France" is a protagonist pulled into events innocently, but manage to triumph against the odds. The book is about a 30-year-old man, Devereux Bayne, who is staying at a hotel in New York City. He will be leaving for Bordeaux the next morning. He plans on helping France in their war with the Germans prior to WWI by driving an ambulance. Mr. Bayne quickly gets caught up in some mysterious circumstances with a burglar, a beautiful young lady, smuggled papers in code and a menacing stranger. Views: 182
Hotshot maritime lawyer Jonathan Brooks may finally be in over his head. He can't find evidence that his client's ship was rammed by a U.S. Navy vessel — evidence he needs to win his trial and help his client escape bankruptcy. But after Jonathan's courtroom tactics expose a Navy captain lying under oath, the case takes a series of shocking turns, dredging up haunting memories of Jonathan's deceased brother. He soon realizes that the trial masks a vastly more sinister plot veiled by the shadowy past of the Cold War. To uncover it, he's forced to risk everything — and everyone — he holds dear. Lives and corporate empires hang in the balance as he embarks on a hunt for the truth, which will lead him through the sultry alleys of New Orleans to remote Scandinavian villages, and deep into Moscow's dark corridors of power. Praise for TRANQUILITY HOUSE ... "An intriguing tale of power, corruption and hidden truths ..." — Dana Kaye,... Views: 181
"A dramatic short story of justice both old and new from the New York Times–bestselling author of Cold Wind.
The West is not the way it’s portrayed in the movies. But when a man from the East brings trouble for Nate Romanowski and his friend Joe Pickett, a little frontier-style justice may be just what’s called for. An exciting new addition to the series that People hails for “combining harrowing adrenaline rushes with complex morality, humor, and a landscape described so vibrantly it seems to have a life all its own.” Views: 181
Autumn, 1541. Following the uncovering of a plot against his throne in Yorkshire, King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to overawe his rebellious subjects there. Accompanied by a thousand soldiers, the cream of the nobility, and his fifth wife Catherine Howard, the King is to attend an extravagant submission of the local gentry at York.Already in the city are lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak. As well as assisting with legal work processing petitions to the King, Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a special mission - to ensure the welfare of an important but dangerous conspirator being returned to London for interrogation.But the murder of a local glazier involves Shardlake in deeper mysteries, connected not only to the prisoner in York Castle but to the royal family itself. As the Great Progress arrives in the city, Shardlake and Barak stumble upon a cache of secret papers that holds danger for the King's throne, and a chain of events unfolds that will lead Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age. Views: 180
Oliver Optic was a Massachusetts politician who spent some time as a House member in Congress, but he also wrote a number of works that remain popular among kids of all ages. Views: 180
A.M. Williamson is best known for her fiction, many of which were co-written with her husband. A number of Williamson\'s works center around motoring and were written in the early days of the sport. Views: 180
Every sailorman grumbles about the sea, said the night-watchman, thoughtfully. It\'s human nature to grumble, and I s\'pose they keep on grumbling and sticking to it because there ain\'t much else they can do. There\'s not many shore-going berths that a sailorman is fit for, and those that they are—such as a night-watchman\'s, for instance—wants such a good character that there\'s few as are to equal it. Sometimes they get things to do ashore. I knew one man that took up butchering, and \'e did very well at it till the police took him up. Views: 178
"L'Abbé Constantin" is a comedy in three acts, taking place against the background of the Franco-Prussian War. The Abbé is curate of a small church supported by the income of a nearby estate. The estate has passed into the hands of an American owner, whom the Abbé presumes will be Protestant and uninclined to support his church. Views: 177
Mary Freeman was a prominent American author in the late 19th century, and historical novels like Pembroke are still in print today. Views: 175
SUMMARY:
What would you do if you slept through the apocalypse? What if everything you knew about disaster survival came from old B-movies? What would you do if society as you know it suddenly became The Oblivion Society? After an accidental nuclear war reduces civilization to a smoldering ruin, grocery clerk Vivian Gray joins a comically inept bunch of twentysomething survivors, and together they try to ride out Armageddon on little more than scavenged junk food and half-remembered pop culture. When the contaminated atmosphere unleashes a menagerie of deadly atomic mutants, Vivian and her friends take to the interstate for a madcap cross-country road trip toward a distant sanctuary that may not, in the strictest sense of the word, exist. But can they get to safety before the toxins get to them? Views: 174
