Cultural genre books (281)


201.

The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee by Stewart Lee Allen EN

0 Ratings
Description:
"Absolutely riveting . . . Essential reading for foodies, java-junkies, anthropologists, and anyone else interested in funny, sardonically told adventure stories." —Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential Full of humor and historical insights, The Devil’s Cup is not only ahistory of coffee, but a travelogue of a risk-taking brew-seeker. In this captivating book, Stewart Lee Allen treks three-quarters of the way around the world on a caffeinated quest to answer these profound questions: Did the advent of coffee give birth to an enlightened western civilization? Is coffee the substance ... continue

202.

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat EN

0 Ratings
Description:
We meet him late in life: a quiet man, a good father and husband, a fixture in his Brooklyn neighborhood, a landlord and barber with a terrifying scar across his face. As the book unfolds, moving seamlessly between Haiti in the 1960s and New York City today, we enter the lives of those around him, and learn that he has also kept a vital, dangerous secret. Edwidge Danticat’s brilliant exploration of the “dew breaker”--or torturer--s an unforgettable story of love, remorse, and hope; of personal and political rebellions; and of the compromises we make to move beyond the most intimate brushes wit... continue

203.

The Eighth Life : (for Brilka) The International Bestseller by Nino Haratischvili EN

Rating: 4 (6 votes)
Country: Asia / Georgia flag Georgia
Description:
AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘That night Stasia took an oath, swearing to learn the recipe by heart and destroy the paper. And when she was lying in her bed again, recalling the taste with all her senses, she was sure that this secret recipe could heal wounds, avert catastrophes, and bring people happiness. But she was wrong.’ At the start of the twentieth century, on the edge of the Russian Empire, a family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity and caution. A caution which is justified: this is a recipe for ecstasy that... continue

204.

The Enigma of Arrival by V. S. Naipaul EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
The Nobel Prize-winning author distills his wide experience of countries and peoples into a moving account of the rites of passage endured by all people and all communities undergoing change or decay. • "Naipaul's finest work." —Chicago Tribune "A subtly incisive self-reckoning." —The Washington Post Book World The story of a writer’s singular journey – from one place to another, and from one state of mind to another. At the midpoint of the century, the narrator leaves the British colony of Trinidad and comes to the ancient countryside of England. And from within the story of this journey – of... continue

205.

The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu by Augusto Higa Oshiro EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: South America / Peru flag Peru
Description:
Reminiscent of Kurasawa’s film Ikiru, Enlightenment explores the interior mindscape of a Japanese-Peruvian man and his luminous unraveling Katzuo Nakamatsu is having a recurring dream. He’s strolling down the glinting avenues of Lima, branches crowning overhead, when he hears someone snickering from the shadows. He wanders away in concentric circles, as if along a spider web, and wakes in a sweaty torment. Nakamatsu sleepwalks his way toward sublime disintegration. Katzuo is at sea after being forced out of his job as a literature professor without warning. He retreats into flânerie, musing wi... continue

206.

The Fugitives by Jamal Mahjoub EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
Moving from Khartoum, Sudan, to Washington, D.C., and then across the US in a road trip unlike any other, this is a book about music, friendship and the desire for home

207.

The Garden of Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Turkey flag Turkey
Description:
A surreal, utterly unique Turkish novel about a human chess game.

208.

The Girl in the Moon Circle by Sia Figiel EN

Rating: 1 (1 vote)
Country: Oceania / Samoa flag Samoa
Description:
Western Samoan novel in English.

209.

The Golden Legend by Nadeem Aslam EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Pakistan flag Pakistan
Description:
Originally published: London: Faber and Faber, 2017.

210.

The Gray Earth by Galsan Tschinag EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Mongolia flag Mongolia
Description:
The acclaimed Mongolian author of The Blue Sky continues his autobiographical trilogy as a young shepherd leaves his ancestral home for boarding school. This powerful, sweeping novel continues the saga of Dshurukawaa, the Tuvan shepherd boy introduced in The Blue Sky. Torn between the onset of visions and pressure from his family to attend a state boarding school, the adolescent attempts to mediate the pull of spirituality and pragmatism, old ways and new. Taken from his ancestral home, he reunites with his siblings at a boarding school, where his brother also serves as principal. Soon he come... continue