Once upon a time that was called 1828, before all the living things on the land and the fishes in the sea were destroyed, there was a man named William Buelow Gould, a convict in Van Dieman's Land who fell in love with a black woman and discovered too late that to love is not safe. Silly Billy Gould, invader of Australia, liar, murderer, forger, fantasist, condemned to live in the most brutal penal colony in the British Empire, and there ordered to paint a book of fish. Once upon a time, miraculous things happened... Views: 760
Tey's first book; the sad story of a young man's downward path in the difficult post-WWI years in England. Views: 760
When the story was first translated from Danish and published in England in the mid-nineteenth century, the Little Match Girl's dying visions of lights and a grandmother in heaven were often interpreted as metaphors of religious salvation. In "Matchless", Maguire adds a different dimension to the story, intertwining the match girl's tale with that of a young boy, Frederik, whose own yearnings are the catalyst for a better future for himself and his family. Maguire uses his storytelling magic to rekindle Andersen's original intentions, and to suggest transcendence, the permanence of spirit, and the continuity that links the living and the dead. Views: 760
A short story about a young man sitting at home babysitting a little kid who is sick.A story told by Astor Court the building in New York City that Mia lives. Mia is an imaginative and grown-up fifth-grader. One snowy day she offered to help her neighbor, an old lady, Mrs. Goldenrod who was struggling, carry her shopping bags home. Mrs. Goldenrod invited Mia in for tea and they learned delightful things about one another. While Mia was there she became fascinated by a statue of a black dog. That statue was Mister Pepper and was given to Mrs. Goldenrod by an actress friend. Mister Pepper was to be given as a gift to the courtyard garden. Mia left to take her dog Bubbles for a walk. When Mia and Bubbles returned the found Angelina in the courtyard garden deciding the placement of Mister Pepper. Angelina, who was Mrs. Goldenrod's niece had taught Mia so much about animals. Angelina gave Mia a magic red collar and instructed Mia to place it around Mister Pepper's neck. Then Mister Pepper could tell Mia and Bubbles his secret.The day of the annual courtyard barbeque Mia did as Angelina had instructed. She and Bubbles learned why Mister Pepper was now of stone. He was happy in the garden where he "wants everyone to think of him as a friend - the friend who will be waiting for them no matter what. "The building, Astor Court ends the story saying that Mrs. Goldenrod was right in that if people would be polite to their friend as well as their enemies, the world would bea better place. And he would like to add - "polite to the things of the world that don't breathe or move. One never knows how a little polite attention can make all the difference to that brick, or furniture, or statue..." Views: 760
A tormented writer, unable to exorcise the demons of his past...an all-American town, plagued by horrific secrets...a beautiful woman, brutally murdered by a twisted killer thought long dead - or by an even more terrifying copycat? Views: 760
Steve Martin has always been one of the most intelligent of comedians (you won't find Adam Sandler writing a play about Einstein and Picasso anytime soon), but this intelligence is manifested in gymnastically absurdist flights of fancy, rather than the politically informed riffs typical of performers like Lenny Bruce. Pure Drivel is a collection of pieces, most of them written for the New Yorker, that demonstrate Martin's playful way with words and his unerring ability to create a feeling of serendipitous improvisation even on the printed page. Here's a passage from a piece that announces a shortage of periods in the Times Roman font:
"Most vulnerable are writers who work in short, choppy sentences," said a spokesperson for Times Roman, who continued, "We are trying to remedy the situation and have suggested alternatives, like umlauts, since we have plenty of umlauts--and, in fact, have more umlauts than we could possibly use in a lifetime! Don't forget, umlauts can really spice up a page with their delicate symmetry--resting often midway in a word, letters spilling on either side--and not only indicate the pronunciation of a word but also contribute to a writer's greater glory because they're fancy, not to mention that they even look like periods, indeed, are indistinguishable from periods, and will lead casual readers to believe that the article actually contains periods!"
Although some of these pieces flirted with topicality when they first appeared, Martin is most successful when he leaves the real world behind and gives his wit free rein. This collection preserves the best (so far) of his glorious improvisations. --Simon Leake Views: 760
Page The Heir Winter Sport A Baker\'s Dozen Getting Married Home Affairs Other People\'s Houses Burlesques Merely Players The Men Who Succeed Views: 760
A blockbuster tale from the 1960s--available again after an absence of 15 years--"The Love Machine" tells the story of TV-network titan Robin Stone, "around whom women flutter like so many moths . . . and his rise and fall as he makes the international sex scene, drinks unlimited quantities, and checks out the latest Nielsens" (Newsweek). Views: 760
Ben and Fee MacTavish and the rest of the School Ship Tobermory crew head down under to take part in a tall ships race, but after a good start the Tobermory drops out to rescue a local boy, Will, stranded on the rocks. When the ship’s dog Henry disappears, Will helps Ben, Fee and their friends find him. But as the trail leads them deeper into the Outback, they begin to realize that a missing dog is the least of their problems. Views: 760
Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison’s spellbinding new novel is a Faulknerian symphony of passion and hatred, power and perversity, color and class that spans three generations of black women in a fading beach town.
In life, Bill Cosey enjoyed the affections of many women, who would do almost anything to gain his favor. In death his hold on them may be even stronger. Wife, daughter, granddaughter, employee, mistress: As Morrison’s protagonists stake their furious claim on Cosey’s memory and estate, using everything from intrigue to outright violence, she creates a work that is shrewd, funny, erotic, and heartwrenching.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 760
The novel Dawn of Reckoning, was first published in London in 1925. In 1932, it was published in New York under the title Rage in Heaven. In 1941, it was adapted in the movie 'A Rage in Heaven', a psychological thriller about the destructive power of jealousy which was directed by W. S. Van.
In this story, Phillip Monrell and his former college roommate Ward Andrews arrive at the Monrell home, where they meet Phillip's mother's secretary Stella Bergen. They are both strongly attracted to her but she ends up marrying the idle Phillip.
Phillip is put in charge of the family steel mill, but is not suited for the job. He begins to exhibit signs of mental illness, particularly abnormal jealousy of any competition for his wife's affections. Despite this, he hires Ward to be the chief engineer at the mill. Eventually, Phillip's paranoid suspicion that Ward and Stella love each other drives him to try to kill his rival at work. Ward confronts him and quits. Stella, convinced that her husband is insane, leaves him and meets Ward. Phillip phones them and promises to grant her a divorce if Ward will talk with him in person. Despite Stella's misgivings, Ward agrees to see him. However, Phillip provokes a loud argument and Ward leaves. Afterwards, the madman kills himself, carefully framing Ward for the crime. Ward is arrested, convicted of murder and sentenced to be executed. A frantic Stella is unable to convince anyone of his innocence. The day before the execution, she is visited by Dr. Rameau, a psychiatrist who had been treating Phillip. He is convinced that Phillip committed suicide and that he would have left some message bragging about it. They go to the Monrell mansion and start searching. Mrs. Monrell reveals that her son kept diaries; then, Clark, the butler, recalls that he mailed a package to Paris. They take a flight to France and find the book, which saves Ward from execution.
James Hilton, the son of John Hilton (a schoolmaster) and Elizabeth (a schoolmistress before her marriage) was born on September 9, 1900 in Leigh, Lancashire. He attended the George Monoux School in London before attending Leys School, Cambridge, where he studied and contributed to the school magazine from 1915 to 1918. While he was still an undergraduate at Christ’s College, Cambridge, his first novel, Catherine Herself, was published in 1920. In 1921 he became a freelance journalist, wrote articles, book reviews and a number of his novels which had no commercial success until the publication of And Now Goodbye in 1931. In 1933 he wrote Lost Horizon which won the Hawthornden Prize in 1934. In 1933 he wrote the story of Goodbye, Mr. Chip! which was an immediate success both in Britain and America and by early 1934 Hilton was a best-selling author. There was an insatiable appetite to read his work and all of his earlier novels including 'The Dawn of Reckoning' were reprinted on popular demand.
In 1935, Hilton married his English wife, Alice Brown, and left for the film capital Hollywood. Many of his books became world-wide hit movies, most notably Lost Horizon (1937), Goodbye Mr Chips (1939) and Random Harvest (1942). Hilton became established as a scriptwriter and contributed to the Greer Garson wartime classic Mrs. Miniver. He was a popular figure in Hollywood and counted Frank Capra, Ronald Coleman and Greer Garson amongst his friends and won the Best Screenplay Oscar for Mrs. Miniver in 1942. His first marriage ended in divorce in 1937 and he married Galina Kopineck, a young starlet. This marriage also proved volatile and Hilton divorced her eight years later. He continued to write best-selling novels during and after the Second World War including Random Harvest, So Well Remembered and Time and Time Again. On December 20, 1954 Hilton died in hospital in Long Beach, California of liver cancer. Views: 759
A hilarious spoof on the classic country-house murder mystery, from the Russian masters of sci-fi—never before translated
When Inspector Peter Glebsky arrives at the remote ski chalet on vacation, the last thing he intends to do is get involved in any police work. He’s there to ski, drink brandy, and loaf around in blissful solitude.
But he hadn’t counted on the other vacationers, an eccentric bunch including a famous hypnotist, a physicist with a penchant for gymnastic feats, a sulky teenager of indeterminate gender, and the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. Moses. And as the chalet fills up, strange things start happening—things that seem to indicate the presence of another, unseen guest. Is there a ghost on the premises? A prankster? Something more sinister? And then an avalanche blocks the mountain pass, and they’re stuck.
Which is just about when they find the corpse. Meaning that Glebksy’s vacation is over and he’s embarked on the most unusual investigation he’s ever been involved with. In fact, the further he looks into it, the more Glebsky realizes that the victim may not even be human.
In this late novel from the legendary Russian sci-fi duo—here in its first-ever English translation—the Strugatskys gleefully upend the plot of many a Hercule Poirot mystery—and the result is much funnier, and much stranger, than anything Agatha Christie ever wrote. Views: 759
A mythological masterpiece about dedication and the disintegration of romantic affection
In this magnificent epic poem, John Gardner renders his interpretation of the ancient story of Jason and Medeia. Confined in the palace of King Creon, and longing to return to his rightful kingdom Iolcus, Jason asks his wife, the sorceress Medeia, to use her powers of enchantment to destroy the tryrant King Pelias. Out of love she acquiesces, only to find that upon her return Jason has replaced her with King Creon’s beautiful daughter, Glauce.
An ancient myth fraught with devotion and betrayal, deception and ambition, Jason and Medeia is one of the greatest classical legends, and Gardner’s masterful retelling is yet another achievement for this highly acclaimed author. Views: 758
Glen was surprised to hear his father had three wills. But what he read in them taught him more about his father, his life and about himself. This is a tale about being a father, a son and a brother - and the bonds that bind for life.1969. The Rolling Stones perform a free concert in London’s Hyde Park. Flying high on grass and LSD, Peter, Barnard, Bree, and Tristan rock along with nearly a quarter million people as The Stones make history. With them is Pandora, the once-famous fashion model whose downward spiral into addiction made international headlines, now clinging desperately to the belief that only a power greater than herself can restore her to sanity.After the concert, these five friends decide to take a weekend jaunt to the country to visit Hampton Close, a crumbling old country house Peter recently inherited from his Great Uncle, Basil Townsend. A former protégé of Aleister Crowley, Basil Townsend was once one of Britain’s most notorious practitioners of the Black Arts. But inside a locked room at Hampton Close, an ancient evil from a distant land lies festering in the warm, wet darkness, waiting…waiting…waiting… Views: 758
