Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre formed one of the most famous literary couples of the twentieth century. Their relationship took on the quality of legend and served as a model of openness and honesty for countless men and women. Sartre was revered during his lifetime as a paradigm of the modern philosophe and intellectual, but since de Beauvoir’s death in 1986, her literary reputation has threatened to eclipse Sartre’s. Her work The Second Sex is, by any standard, one of the most important and influential books of the twentieth century. When these private and revealing letters were published in France in 1990, they caused a storm of controversy. Here de Beauvoir tells Sartre everything, tracing the extraordinary complications of their triangular love life. These letters reveal de Beauvoir not only as manipulative and dependent, but also as vulnerable, passionate, jealous, and committed. This reissue of a New York Times Notable Book will inspire philosophers, writers, and lovers of literature for decades to come. Views: 1 008
From the Booker Prize-winning, bestselling author of Possession: a deeply affecting story of a singular family.
When children’s book author Olive Wellwood’s oldest son discovers a runaway named Philip sketching in the basement of a museum, she takes him into the storybook world of her family and friends. But the joyful bacchanals Olive hosts at her rambling country house—and the separate, private books she writes for each of her seven children—conceal more treachery and darkness than Philip has ever imagined. The Wellwoods’ personal struggles and hidden desires unravel against a breathtaking backdrop of the cliff-lined shores of England to Paris, Munich, and the trenches of the Somme, as the Edwardian period dissolves into World War I and Europe’s golden era comes to an end.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 1 008
Seriously bored with life, Tony decides to go looking for trouble. But when a strange and secretive family move in down the road, Tony begins to wonder whether trouble hasn't come looking for him. Views: 1 007
From Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; Chuck Klosterman IV; and Eating the Dinosaur, these essays are now available in this ebook collection for fans of Klosterman’s writing on film and television. Views: 1 007
Wes Crowley and Otis "Mac" McFadden are teenagers in Watson, a town north of Amarillo in the heart of the traditional Comanche homeland. An impressive group of Texas Rangers ride in to the local livery stable to swap horses. After he overhears the Ranger corporal's description of Iron Bear and his trespasses, and Mac decides on the spot he has to join the Rangers.The Rise of a Warrior is the first prequel and Book 1 in the Wes Crowley novel series. Although the titles eventually will be arranged chronologically, each is a stand-alone novel. In The Rise of a Warrior, Wes Crowley and Otis "Mac" McFadden are teenagers in Watson, Texas, a town some distance north of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle and the heart of Comancheria, the traditional Comanche homeland. An impressive group of Texas Rangers ride in to the local livery stable to swap horses. To convince the owner of the livery stable of the necessity of the trade, the ranking Ranger, Corporal Connolly, describes in detail what the Comanches are capable of when they raid. A few minutes later the Rangers ride out on fresh mounts. The corporal nods at Mac on their way out of town, and Mac decides on the spot he has to join the Rangers. Wes goes along for the ride. What else should a partner do? At what is eventually dubbed The Battle of Boquillas Draw, the Rangers take down one of the more dangerous renegade Comanche war chiefs and all but one of his raiding party. But that one is unique among the Comanches. He bears the sacred number in his name and is destined to become one of the greatest Comanche war chiefs ever known... at the ripe old age of fourteen. Come along to witness the advent of Wes and Mac as Texas Rangers, and the rise of a Comanche warrior, Four Crows. Views: 1 002
Story about a woman who has a complex past who comes back to her hometown to start over and rekindle the love she had for her childhood sweetheart. But the small town society doesn't leave her alone and the past comes back to haunt her. Views: 1 001
From the author of the bestselling Snow Falling on Cedars comes a compelling new novel about youth and idealism, adulthood and its compromises, and two powerfully different visions of what it means to live a good life. Views: 1 000
Magic takes many forms. The ancient Egyptians explained the night by suggesting that the goddess Nut swallowed the sun. The Vikings believed a rainbow was the gods' bridge to earth. These are magical, extraordinary tales. But there is another kind of magic, and it lies in the exhilaration of discovering the real answers to these questions. It is the magic of reality - science.
Packed with inspiring explanations of space, time and evolution, laced with humour and clever thought experiments, The Magic of Reality explores a stunningly wide range of natural phenomena. What is stuff made of? How old is the universe? What causes tsunamis? Who was the first man, or woman? This is a page-turning, inspirational detective story that not only mines all the sciences for its clues but primes the reader to think like a scientist too.
Richard Dawkins elucidates the wonders of the natural world to all ages with his inimitable clarity and exuberance in a text that will enlighten and inform for generations to come. Views: 997
A powerful secret. A dangerous path.
Rigg is well trained at keeping secrets. Only his father knows the truth about Rigg's strange talent for seeing the paths of people's pasts. But when his father dies, Rigg is stunned to learn just how many secrets Father had kept from him--secrets about Rigg's own past, his identity, and his destiny. And when Rigg discovers that he has the power not only to see the past, but also to change it, his future suddenly becomes anything but certain.
Rigg’s birthright sets him on a path that leaves him caught between two factions, one that wants him crowned and one that wants him dead. He will be forced to question everything he thinks he knows, choose who to trust, and push the limits of his talent…or forfeit control of his destiny. Views: 996
A wild ride to the dark side of Americana The Curse of Lono is to Hawaii what Fear and Loathing was to Las Vegas: the crazy tales of a journalist's ""coverage"" of a news event that ends up being a wild ride to the dark side of Americana. Originally published in 1983, Curse features all of the zany, hallucinogenic wordplay and feral artwork for which the Hunter S. Thompson/Ralph Steadman duo became known and loved. This curious book, considered an oddity among Hunter's oeuvre, was long out of print, prompting collectors to search high and low for an original copy. TASCHEN's signed, limited edition sold out before the book even hit the stores, but this unlimited version, in a different, smaller format, makes The Curse of Lono accessible to everyone. Views: 994
Keita Ali is on the run.
Desperate to flee Zantoroland, a mountainous island that produces the fastest marathoners in the world, Keita Ali signs on with notorious marathon agent Anton Hamm, who provides him with a chance to run the Boston marathon in return for a huge cut of the winning purse.
But when Keita fails to place among the top finishers, rather than being sent back to his own country, he goes into hiding in Freedom State—a wealthy nation that has elected a government bent on deporting the refugees living within its borders in the community of AfricTown. Keita can only be safe if he keeps moving and eludes Hamm and the officials who would deport him to his own country, where he will face almost certain death.
This is the new underground. A place where tens of thousands of people deemed to be “illegal” live below the radar of the police and government officials.
As Keita surfaces from time to time to earn cash prizes by running local road races, he has to assess whether the people he meets are friends or enemies: John Falconer, a gifted student intent on making a documentary about AfricTown; Ivernia Beech, an elderly woman who is at risk of being forced into an assisted living facility; Rocco Stanton, a recreational marathoner who is the Immigration Minister; Lula DiStefano, self-declared Queen of AfricTown and Madame of the community’s infamous brothel; and Viola Hill, one of the only black reporters in the country, who is investigating the possibility of corruption linking the highest officials in Freedom State and Zantoroland.
Keita’s very existence in Freedom State is illegal. As he trains in secret, eluding capture, the stakes keep getting higher. Soon, he is running not only for his life, but his sister’s life, too.
Fast-moving and compelling, The Illegal addresses the fate of an undocumented refugee who struggles to survive in a nation that does not want him. Views: 994
“America’s funniest science writer” (Washington Post) takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of—or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists—who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts.
Like all of Roach’s books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies. Views: 993
An intellectual thriller putting forth the supposition that Christ did not rise from the dead. It questions what effect this revelation would have on the individual believer, on the Church as a whole and on the political stability of the world. Read has also written "A Season in the West". Views: 991
Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author of World War Z, is the first official Minecraft novel. In the tradition of iconic stories like Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island, Minecraft: The Island will tell the story of a new hero stranded in the world of Minecraft, who must survive the harsh, unfamiliar environment and unravel the secrets of the island.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 990
