Cultural genre books (245)


111.

Moccasin Square Gardens : Short Stories by Richard Van Camp EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
The characters of Moccasin Square Gardens inhabit Denendeh, the land of the people north of the sixtieth parallel. These stories are filled with in-laws, outlaws and common-laws. Get ready for illegal wrestling moves ("The Camel Clutch"), pinky promises, a doctored casino, extraterrestrials or "Sky People," love, lust and prayers for peace. While this is Van Camp's most hilarious short story collection, it's also haunted by the lurking presence of the Wheetago, human-devouring monsters of legend that have returned due to global warming and the greed of humanity. The stories in Moccasin Square ... continue

112.

Musicophilia : Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks EN

Rating: 4 (7 votes)
Description:
Revised and Expanded With the same trademark compassion and erudition he brought to The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls “musical misalignments.” Among them: a man struck by lightning who suddenly desires to become a pianist at the age of forty-two; an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans; and a man whose memo... continue

113.

My Antonia by Willa Cather EN

0 Ratings
Description:
"My Antonia(1918) depicts the pioneering period of European settlement on the tall-grass prairie of the American midwest, with its beautiful yet terrifying landscape, rich ethnic mix of immigrants and native-born Americans, and communities who share life's joys and sorrows"-- back cover.

114.

My Country, My Life : Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace by Ehud Barak EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Israel flag Israel
Description:
In the summer of 2000, the most decorated soldier in Israel's history - Ehud Barak - set himself a challenge as daunting as any he had faced on the battlefield: to secure a final peace with the Palestinians. He would propose two states for two peoples, with a shared capital in Jerusalem. He knew the risks of failure. But he also knew the risks of not trying: letting slip perhaps the last chance for a generation to secure genuine peace. It was a moment of truth. It was one of many in a life intertwined, from the start, with that of Israel. Born on a kibbutz, Barak became commander of Israel's e... continue

115.

My Monticello : Fiction by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her neighborhood by a white militia. A university professor studying racism by conducting a secret social experiment on his own son. A single mother desperate to buy her first home even as the world hurtles toward catastrophe. Each fighting to survive in America. Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, “My Monticello,” tells of a diverse group of Charlotte... continue

116.

Naïve. Super by Erlend Loe EN

0 Ratings
Country: Europe / Norway flag Norway
Description:
Troubled by an inability to find any meaning in his life, the 25-year-old narrator of Naive. Super quits university in an attempt to discover a raison d'etre. He recounts a series of anecdotes, which culminate in a trip to stay with his brother in New York. He writes lists. He becomes obsessed by time and whether it actually matters. He befriends a small boy who lives next door. He yearns to get to the bottom of life and how best to live it.

117.

Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
Set in a Native community in Maine, Night of the Living Rez is a riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy. In twelve striking, luminescent stories, author Morgan Talty—with searing humor, abiding compassion, and deep insight—breathes life into tales of family and a community as they struggle with a painful past and an uncertain future. A boy unearths a jar that holds an old curse, which sets into motion his family’s unraveling; a man, while trying to swindle some pot from a de... continue

118.

No Funeral for Nazia by Taha Kehar EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Pakistan flag Pakistan
Description:
A witty and theatrical South Asian mystery novel set over the course of one single electrifying night, exploring the unfinished business death leaves in its wake. Nazia Sami is a celebrated author, but perhaps her greatest plot twist is yet to be produced. In her final days, she wields a pen one last time as she fills her diary with instructions for her sister and writes six letters to be delivered after her death. There is to be no funeral for Nazia. Instead, only six invitees are invited to a party, one of whom is a mystery guest. Over the course of an extraordinary evening, secrets are reve... continue

119.

No Presents Please by Jayant Kaikini EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / India flag India
Description:
No Presents Please is a vivid evocation of city life, exploring the sub-locales and spatial identities of Mumbai and the struggles of small-town migrants. Jayant Kaikini's gaze takes in the people living on the margins - a bus driver who, when denied annual leave, steals the bus to travel home; a slum dweller who catches cats and sells them for pharmaceutical testing; a father at his wit's end who takes his mischievous son to a reform institution. From Irani cafes to chawls, old cinema halls to local trains, the author seeks out and illuminates moments and feelings of existential anxiety, path... continue

120.

Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Country: Europe / Russia flag Russia
Description:
A collection of powerful stories by one of the masters of Russian literature, illustrating Fyodor Dostoyevsky's thoughts on political philosophy, religion and above all, humanity. From the primitive peasant who kills without understanding that he is destroying a human life, to the anxious antihero of Notes From Underground—a man who both craves and despises affection—this volume and its often-tormented characters showcase Dostoyevsky’s evolving outlook on man’s fate. The compelling works presented here were written at distinct periods in the author’s life, at decisive moments in his groping fo... continue