A richly detailed, darkly hilarious novel of a family held together and torn apart by its narcissistic matriarch To those in her Cape Cod town, Mother is an exemplar of piety, frugality, and hard work. To her husband and seven children, she is the selfish, petty tyrant of Mother Land. She excels at playing her offspring against each other. Her favorite, Angela, died in childbirth; only Angela really understands her, she tells the others. The others include the officious lawyer, Fred; the uproarious professor, Floyd; a pair of inseparable sisters whose devotion to Mother has consumed their lives; and JP, the narrator, a successful writer whose work she disparages. As she lives well past the age of 100, her brood struggles with and among themselves to shed her viselike hold on them. Mother Land is a piercing portrait of how a parent's narcissism impacts a family. While the particulars of this tale are unique, Theroux encapsulates with acute clarity and... Views: 41
People, not abstract ideas, make history, and nowhere is this more revealed than in A. N. Wilson's superb portrait of the Victorians, in which hundreds of different lives have been pieced together to tell a story - one which is still unfinished in our own day. The 'global village' is a Victorian village and many of the ideas we take for granted, for good or ill, originated with these extraordinary, self-confident people. What really animated their spirit, and how did they remake the world in their view? In an entertaining and often dramatic narrative, A. N. Wilson shows us remarkable people in the very act of creating the Victorian age. Views: 41
After years of living in exile, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia in 1994 and published a series of eight powerfully paired stories. These groundbreaking stories— interconnected and juxtaposed using an experimental method Solzhenitsyn referred to as “binary”—join Solzhenitsyn’s already available work as some of the most powerful literature of the twentieth century.With Soviet and post-Soviet life as their focus, they weave and shift inside their shared setting, illuminating the Russian experience under the Soviet regime. In “The Upcoming Generation,” a professor promotes a dull but proletarian student purely out of good will. Years later, the same professor finds himself arrested and, in a striking twist of fate, his student becomes his interrogator. In “Nastenka,” two young women with the same name lead routine, ordered lives—until the Revolution exacts radical change on them both.The most eloquent and acclaimed opponent of government oppression, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, and his work continues to receive international acclaim. Available for the first time in English, Apricot Jam: And Other Stories is a striking example of Solzhenitsyn’s singular style and only further solidifies his place as a true literary giant.ReviewPraise for Apricot Jam"A haunting meditation on [Solzenhitsyn's] lifetime’s dominant theme . . . Solzhenitsyn writes in bracing prose, eschewing artifice." —Financial Times"The best stories in this collection stand among Solzhenitsyn’s best work, and present a depth seldom found in the short story form . . . these latest stories are a significant contribution to his work available in English." —Full-Stop.net"Via fiction he interrogates history, and reveals truth." —RIA NovostiAbout the AuthorAleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his writings, particularly The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, he helped to make the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system. Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974 and returned to Russia in 1994. He died on August 2, 2008. Views: 41
Called "spellbinding" (Scientific American) and "thrilling...a future classic of popular science" (PW), the up close, inside story of the greatest space exploration project of our time, New Horizons' mission to Pluto, as shared with David Grinspoon by mission leader Alan Stern and other key players.On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than 3 billion miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing its instruments on the long mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto system, and then, just as quickly, continued on its journey out into the beyond.Nothing like this has occurred in a generation—a raw exploration of new worlds unparalleled since NASA's Voyager missions to Uranus and Neptune—and nothing quite like it is planned to happen ever again. The photos that New Horizons sent back to Earth graced the front pages of newspapers on all 7 continents,... Views: 41
Written in the thirteenth century, Njal's Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law's inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept up in a tide of violence beyond their control. It is populated by memorable and complex characters like Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a powerful warrior with an aversion to killing, and the not-so-villainous Mord Valgardsson. Full of dreams, strange prophecies, violent power struggles, and fragile peace agreements, Njal's Saga tells the compelling story of a fifty-year blood feud that, despite its distance from us in time and place, is driven by passions familiar to us all. This Penguin Classics edition includes an introduction, chronology, index of characters, plot summary, explanatory notes, maps, and suggestions for further reading.Translated and edited by Robert Cook. Views: 41
A story of Leo Beck's unexpected deliverance into a dark, surreal, and supernatural world that has been hidden within man's own history since before recorded time. For the most part, he hates it. Views: 41
Heartache—the best place to heal Erin Finley heads home to Heartache, Tennesee, after the perfect guy turns out to be anything but. She throws herself into running a vintage store with her sister and surrounding herself with the comforts of her small town. Then one rainy night, TV producer Remy Weldon shows up and almost sweeps her off her feet! Remy sees more in Erin than she sees in herself. Quirky, beautiful and capable, he needs her for his antiques show—and for himself. Because Erin is the first star Remy's found in the very dark night that has become his life. And she might just be able to lead him into the dawn…Review"A sweet tale about the power of love healing wounds and giving second chances. Both Erin and Remy have been badly hurt, and both learn to open their hearts and love again." Romantic Times, 4 starsFrom the AuthorI hope you enjoy my second trip to Heartache, Tennessee, the town I introduced in my first Harlequin Superromance, PROMISES UNDER THE PEACH TREE. I fell in love with the Finley family and all the characters I met in their hometown. It's a world that continues to build in NIGHTS UNDER THE TENNESSEE STARS where we meet Mack's sister Erin and the stranger who finds shelter in her store one spring evening. Up next, look for DANCES UNDER THE HARVEST MOON coming to Superromance in October 2015 and, as always, thank you so much for reading. Hearing from readers makes my work a pleasure! Joanne Rock Views: 41
