Book type: fiction (5996)
5121.
The Shameful State by Sony Labou Tansi EN
Country: Africa / 
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Description:
Set in a fictitious African nation, this novel by the distinguished writer Sony Labou Tansi takes aim at the corruption, degeneracy, violence, and repression of political life in Africa. At the heart of The Shameful State is the story of Colonel Martillimi Lopez, the nation's president, whose eccentricity and whims epitomize the "shameful situation in which humanity has elected to live." Lopez stages a series of grotesque and barbaric events while his nation falls apart. Unable to resist the dictator's will, his desperate citizens are left with nothing but humiliation. The evocation of this de... continue
5122.
The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbøl EN
DenmarkDescription:
After her mother, a Shamer, is summoned to Dunark for a mission, ten-year-old Dina is forced to use her own special powers as she is caught up in an adventure of political intrigue and survival.
5123.
The Shape of Water (La Forma Dell'acqua) by Andrea Camilleri EN
ItalyDescription:
Silvio Lupanello, a big shot in the village of Vigta, is found dead in his car in a rough part of town frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano. With his mix of humor, cynicism, compassion, and love of good food, Montalbano goes into battle against the powerful and the corrupt who block his path to the real killer.
5124.
The Sharks by Jens Bjorneboe EN
NorwayDescription:
Set at the end of last century, The Sharks is a thrilling tale of mutiny and shipwreck, which bears comparison with Melville's Moby Dick or Conrad's Typhoon in its suspense and its evocation of the fascination of the sea. It is also the story of mankind's voyage into the twentieth century, suspended between the empty skies and the bottomless depths, dreadfully aware of its potential for self destruction but clinging to a belief in the preservation of a fragile humanity. The narrator, Peder Jensen, is both competent second mate and unworldly philosopher, whose brain 'lacks walls, a floor and a ... continue
5125.
Honduras5126.
The Shell : Memoirs of a Hidden Observer by Moustafa Khalifa EN
SyriaDescription:
The work of a moder-day Sozhenitsyn that exposes acts of violence and brutality committed by the Syrian regime. This compelling first novel is the astonishing story of a Syrian political prisoner of conscience—an atheist mistaken for a radical Islamist—who was locked up for 13 years without trial in one of the most notorious prisons in the Middle East. The novel takes the form of a diary which Musa keeps in his head and then writes down upon his release. In Tadmur prison, the mood is naturally bleak and yet often very beautifully captured. The narrator, a young graduate, is defiant and stoical... continue
5127.
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
This title is also available as a film_
Ireland5129.
AlbaniaDescription:
In the early fifteenth century, as winter falls away, the people of Albania know that their fate is sealed. They have refused to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire, and war is now inevitable. Soon enough dust kicked up by Turkish horses is spotted from a citadel. Brightly coloured banners, hastily constructed minarets and tens of thousands of men fill the plain below. From this moment on, the world is waiting to hear that the fortress has fallen.The Siege tells the enthralling story of the weeks and months that follow ' of the exhilaration and despair of the battlefield, the constantly shifting... continue
5130.
The Siege of Troy : A Novel by Theodor Kallifatides EN
GreeceDescription:
In this perceptive retelling of The Iliad, a young Greek teacher draws on the enduring power of myth to help her students cope with the terrors of Nazi occupation. Bombs fall over a Greek village during World War II, and a teacher takes her students to a cave for shelter. There she tells them about another war—when the Greeks besieged Troy. Day after day, she recounts how the Greeks suffer from thirst, heat, and homesickness, and how the opponents meet—army against army, man against man. Helmets are cleaved, heads fly, blood flows. And everything had begun when Prince Paris of Troy fell in lov... continue