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Author: Josep Pla
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1590176715
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 657
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Book Description
Josep Pla’s masterpiece, The Gray Notebook, is one of the most colorful and unusual works in modern literature. In 1918, when Pla was in Barcelona studying law, the Spanish flu broke out, the university shut down, and he went home to his parents in coastal Palafrugell. Aspiring to be a writer, not a lawyer, he resolved to hone his style by keeping a journal. In it he wrote about his family, local characters, visits to cafés; the quips, quarrels, ambitions, and amours of his friends; writers he liked and writers he didn’t; and the long contemplative walks he would take in the countryside under magnificent skies. Returning to Barcelona to complete his studies, Pla kept up his diary, scrutinizing life in the big city with the same unflagging zest and humor. Pla, one of the great Catalan writers, held on to this youthful journal for close to fifty years, reworking and adding to it, until he finally published The Gray Notebook as both the first volume and the capstone of his collected works. It is a beautiful, entrancing, delightful book—at once a distillation of the spirit of youth and the work of a lifetime.
Author: Josep Pla
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1590176715
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 657
Get Book Here
Book Description
Josep Pla’s masterpiece, The Gray Notebook, is one of the most colorful and unusual works in modern literature. In 1918, when Pla was in Barcelona studying law, the Spanish flu broke out, the university shut down, and he went home to his parents in coastal Palafrugell. Aspiring to be a writer, not a lawyer, he resolved to hone his style by keeping a journal. In it he wrote about his family, local characters, visits to cafés; the quips, quarrels, ambitions, and amours of his friends; writers he liked and writers he didn’t; and the long contemplative walks he would take in the countryside under magnificent skies. Returning to Barcelona to complete his studies, Pla kept up his diary, scrutinizing life in the big city with the same unflagging zest and humor. Pla, one of the great Catalan writers, held on to this youthful journal for close to fifty years, reworking and adding to it, until he finally published The Gray Notebook as both the first volume and the capstone of his collected works. It is a beautiful, entrancing, delightful book—at once a distillation of the spirit of youth and the work of a lifetime.
Author: Victor Serge
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1681372703
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 673
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Book Description
Available for the first time, Victor Serge's intimate account of the last decade of his life gives a vivid look into the Franco-Russian revolutionary's life, from his liberation from Stalin's Russia to his "Mexico Years," when he wrote his greatest works. In 1936, Victor Serge—poet, novelist, and revolutionary—left the Soviet Union for Paris, the rare opponent of Stalin to escape the Terror. In 1940, after the Nazis marched into Paris, Serge fled France for Mexico, where he would spend the rest of his life. His years in Mexico were marked by isolation, poverty, peril, and grief; his Notebooks, however, brim with resilience, curiosity, outrage, a passionate love of life, and superb writing. Serge paints haunting portraits of Osip Mandelstam, Stefan Zweig, and “the Old Man” Trotsky; argues with André Breton; and, awaiting his wife’s delayed arrival from Europe, writes her passionate love letters. He describes the sweep of the Mexican landscape, visits an erupting volcano, and immerses himself in the country’s history and culture. He looks back on his life and the fate of the Revolution. He broods on the course of the war and the world to come after. In the darkest of circumstances, he responds imaginatively, thinks critically, feels deeply, and finds reason to hope. Serge’s Notebooks were discovered in 2010 and appear here for the first time in their entirety in English. They are a a message in a bottle from one of the great spirits, and great writers, of our shipwrecked time.
Author: François Bondy
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9781412822992
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386
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Book Description
A generation of outstanding European thinkers emerged out of the rubble of World War II. It was a group unparalleled in their probing of an age that had produced totalitarianism as a political norm, and the Holocaust as its supreme nightmarish achievement. Figures ranging from George Lichtheim, Ignazio Silone, Raymond Aron, Andrei Amalrik, among many others, found a home in Encounter. None stood taller or saw further than Franois Bondy of Zurich. In a moving tribute to his friend, Melvin J. Lasky, long- time editor of Encounter, writes, "Bondy was a breathtaking spectacle. I had known him to read and walk, to think and talk, all at once--and still make mental notes for his next article.... Early or late, seated or standing, awake or asleep, his incomparable spiritedness would always be darting from point to point, paying attention and idly wandering at once. Taken all in all, he still continues to represent for me perhaps a Henry Jamesian New Man." Bondy's essays themselves represent a broad sweep of major figures and events in the second half of the twentieth century. His spatial outreach went from Budapest to Tokyo and Paris. His political essays extended from George Kennan to Benito Mussolini. And his prime mtier, the cultural figures of Europe, covered Sartre, Kafka, Heidegger and Milosz. The analysis was uniformly fair minded but unstinting in its insights. Taken together, the variegated themes he raised in his work as a Zurich journalist, a Paris editor, and a European homme de letres sketch guidelines for an entrancing portrait of the intellectual as cosmopolitan. European Notebooks contains most of the articles that Bondy (1915-2003) wrote for Encounter under the stewardship of Stephen Spender, Irving Kristol, and then for the thirty years that Melvin Lasky served as editor. Bondy was that rare unattached intellectual, "free of every totalitarian temptation" and, as Lasky notes, unfailing in his devotion to the liberties and civilities of a humane social order. European Notebooks offers a window into a civilization that came to maturity during the period in which these essays were written. Melvin J. Lasky was the editor of Encounter from 1958 until 1990; before that he was the editor of Der Monat in Berlin, and served as foreign correspondent for the New York Times and The Reporter. He is the author of The Hungarian Revolution and Profanity, Obscenity and the Media.
Author: Margaret Rose Thornton
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300116823
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 868
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Book Description
Meticulously edited and annotated, Tennessee Williams's notebooks follow his growth as a writer from his undergraduate days to the publication and production of his most famous plays, from his drug addiction and drunkenness to the heights of his literary accomplishments.
Author: Colm Tóibín
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1035034409
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
Colm Tóibín's Homage to Barcelona celebrates one of Europe’s greatest cities – a cosmopolitan hub of vibrant architecture, art, culture and nightlife. It moves from the story of the city’s founding and its huge expansion in the nineteenth century to the lives of Gaudí, Miró, Picasso, Casals and Dalí. It also explores the history of Catalan nationalism, the tragedy of the Civil War, the Franco years and the transition from dictatorship to democracy which Colm Tóibín witnessed in the 1970s. Written with deep knowledge and affection, Homage to Barcelona is a sensuous and beguiling portrait of a unique Mediterranean port and an adopted home.
Author: Aviva Vaughn
Publisher: Everingham Press
ISBN: 1947420119
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 170
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Book Description
It was never going to be easy. Fire and ice have nothing on Angela Holguín and Soren Lund who first met as MBA students in exciting Barcelona. But their timing was off, until Destiny put them back in the same city: London; and their passion ignited.Now Distance has come between them with Soren in Barcelona and Angela in Los Angeles. And now that Angela has a handsome new business partner, the stakes are even higher. Things come to a head when Angela and her partner travel to Barcelona for business and it is there where she will have to decide between the opposing forces that beckon. Will Soren's offer of life in London pull her to Europe, or will her business-and the siren song of the sea-keep her rooted to Los Angeles? BECKONED: slow burn, second-chance romance inspired by food, travel, and Jane Austen. Over 300 reviews with 4.4+ average. Part 4 in a 6-part series. "Let me just say,this series has been my absolute favorite series I have read in 2018 so far. Aviva Vaughn set out to write a slow burn and vivid story, and she nailed it on the head! With inspiration from Jane Austen, she has reimagined the writing style of her in a way you will fall in love with from the get go. I fell in love with the places I have never been, and feel as if I have tasted the food.This would be a series I would love to see in a film or even a mini series on tv would be amazing." -Liz, 5-star review "I am saying now that this is probably one of the best series that I have read so far this year! I cannot wait for more!!Again the authors writing is just superb, the detail, the descriptions, they are just beautiful and I still feel like I am right there along with thesecharacters." -Katie, 5-star review "This lady has completely captured me with this series, at first I was intrigued to see how an American author would write about the UK and she definitely did it justice, and I fell in Love with a brilliant read and found a absolutely amazing author that has become one of my top ten. This is definitely a series you want to read." -Claire, 5-star review "Every now and then you're faced with a book that makes you think of how little sleep you actually need to function the next morning, for me part four of the Beckoned series is that book. I haven't been quiet about how much I love Angela's story up until this point and just when I think Aviva Vaughn has reached max potential the next book in the series blows me away even more." -Felicia., 5-star review "The wholestory/series has been fascinating and captivating- with Ms. Vaughn upping the ante with each instalment, each book slightly eclipsing the last. I was enthralled through each and every book in a way I never expected to be going into this series." -Angela, 5-star review "All I can say is that I loved how everything came together in the end even though I did not expect this at all. Be prepared for some emotional scenes that may draw out the ugly cry. Aviva has definitely stepped it up in this part of the series. I highly recommend this great series." -Michelle, 5-star review "Somehow, I love each new book more than the last! This story is romantic, charming, touching and heart wrenching. I completely devoured this book in one sitting, I just love these characters so much. Each time I start a book by Aviva I have to prepare myself for the emotional story I know will take place." -Kaitlyn, 5-star review "Wow. What an amazing conclusion to Angela's story! There are hardly words to describe how beautifully Aviva Vaughn describes every bit of scenery, life and the people in these books. She weaves a heart-clenching ending to a wonderful story! Do yourself a favor and read the entire series! This book lends a certain theme that really stuck with me, and while I won't say what that is, I found it to be just what Angela needed in her life to be truly happy as well as something I really needed to read. This book is so much more than a romance book; it really teaches you about doing what makes you happy and love your life. Angela is truly a character I feel many women could look up to and respect. Many thanks to Aviva Vaughn for sharing this story with the world! LOVED IT! FIVE STARS!!" -Emily, 5-star review "I find it so hard to write a review about this series because I just want to shout out about everything that happens. Yet at the same time I don't because everyone needs to experience it for themselves to get the full effect of these stories.There has never been a point during all these books that I could honestly say I knew what was going to happen. This series will grip you and take you on such a journey that you will not be able to atop reading until, like me, you have devoured them all. I cannot recommend this series highly enough." -Kerry, 5-star review FROM THE AUTHOR Dearest Reader, I wrote BECKONED for many reasons, but first and foremost, I wrote it to feature the kind of people I know: diverse, smart, complicated men and women. My heroines are strong and educated, and my heroes are polite and respectful. As an avid reader, I wanted to see characters that looked like me and my friends and reflect the world I want to see. I also wanted to write a beautiful book. I consider BECKONED to be a modern story told in an old-fashion way with lots of metaphors and beautiful phrases, and where the sex is explicit but also elegant. So if you are a Word Nerd like me, then you will love BECKONED! If you choose to embark on this journey with me, you--and your taste buds--will get to visit London, Barcelona, Bath, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and Copenhagen. It will be a fun--and delicious--ride! There are even recipes in some of the books as well as soundtracks to give you a multi-sensory experience. BECKONED is a single story in six parts and should be read in order. The intimacy is steamy, but it is slooooooow burn and is distributed throughout the books because of how the couples' relationships change and deepen. Birthing BECKONED has truly been a labor of love, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! BUCKLE UP and enjoy the journey. Wishing you love and romance, ~Aviva
Author: Colm Toibin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 147670449X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
A highly acclaimed novel from the author of Brooklyn and an “immensely gifted and accomplished writer” (The Washington Post), about an Irishwoman who creates a new life in post-war Spain. In 1950, Katherine Proctor leaves Ireland for Barcelona, determined to escape her family and become a painter. There she meets Miguel, an anarchist veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and begins to build a life with him. But Katherine cannot escape her past, as Michael Graves, a fellow Irish émigré in Spain, forces her to reexamine all her relationships: to her lover, her art, and the homeland she only thought she knew. The South is a novel of classic themes—of art and exile, and of the seemingly irreconcilable yearnings for love and freedom—to which Colm Tóibín brings a new, passionate sensitivity.
Author: Patricia Highsmith
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1324091002
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 1413
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Book Description
New York Times • Times Critics Top Books of 2021 The Times (of London) • Best Books of the Year Excerpted in The New Yorker Profiled in The Los Angeles Times Publishing for the centenary of her birth, Patricia Highsmith’s diaries “offer the most complete picture ever published” of the canonical author (New York Times). Relegated to the genre of mystery during her lifetime, Patricia Highsmith is now recognized as one of “our greatest modernist writers” (Gore Vidal). Beloved by fans who were unaware of the real psychological turmoil behind her prose, the famously secretive Highsmith refused to authorize a biography, instead sequestering herself in her Switzerland home in her final years. Posthumously, her devoted editor Anna von Planta discovered her diaries and notebooks in 1995, tucked in a closet—with tantalizing instructions to be read. For years thereafter, von Planta meticulously culled from over eight thousand pages to help reveal the inscrutable figure behind the legendary pen. Beginning with her junior year at Barnard in 1941, Highsmith ritualistically kept a diary and notebook—the former to catalog her day, the latter to brainstorm stories and hone her craft. This volume weaves diary and notebook simultaneously, exhibiting precisely how Highsmith’s personal affairs seeped into her fiction—and the sheer darkness of her own imagination. Charming yet teetering on the egotistical, young “Pat” lays bare her dizzying social life in 1940s Greenwich Village, barhopping with Judy Holliday and Jane Bowles, among others. Alongside Flannery O’Conner and Chester Himes, she attended—at the recommendation of Truman Capote—the Yaddo artist colony in 1948, where she drafted Strangers on a Train. Published in 1950 and soon adapted by Alfred Hitchcock, this debut novel brought recognition and brief financial security, but left a heartsick Highsmith agonizing: “What is the life I choose?” Providing extraordinary insights into gender and sexuality in mid-twentieth-century America, Highsmith’s diaries convey her euphoria writing The Price of Salt (1951). Yet her sophomore novel would have to be published under a pseudonym, so as not to tarnish her reputation. Indeed, no one could anticipate commercial reception for a novel depicting love between two women in the McCarthy era. Seeking relief from America, Highsmith catalogs her peripatetic years in Europe, subsisting on cigarettes and growing more bigoted and satirical with age. After a stay in Positano with a new lover, she reflects in her notebooks on being an expat, and gleefully conjures the unforgettable The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955); it would be this sociopathic antihero who would finally solidify her true fame. At once lovable, detestable, and mesmerizing, Highsmith put her turbulent life to paper for five decades, acutely aware there must be “a few usable things in literature.” A memoir as significant in our own century as Sylvia Plath’s journals and Simone de Beauvoir’s writings were to another time, Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks is an historic work that chronicles a woman’s rise against the conventional tide to unparalleled literary prominence.
Author: Joan Sales
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1681371812
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 465
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Book Description
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF 2017 A classic Catalan work about love, family, and class during the Spanish Civil war. Spain, 1937. Posted to the Aragonese front, Lieutenant Lluís Ruscalleda eschews the drunken antics of his comrades and goes in search of intrigue. But the lady of Castel de Olivo—a beautiful widow with a shadowy past—puts a high price on her affections. In Barcelona, Trini Milmany struggles to raise Lluís’s son on her own, letters from the front her only solace. With bombs falling as fast as the city’s morale, she leaves to spend the winter with Lluís’s brigade on a quiet section of the line. But even on “dead” fronts the guns do not stay silent for long. Trini’s decision will put her family’s fate in the hands of Juli Soleràs, an old friend and a traitor of easy conscience, a philosopher-cynic locked in an eternal struggle with himself. Joan Sales, a combatant in the Spanish Civil War, distilled his experiences into a timeless story of thwarted love, lost youth, and crushed illusions. A thrilling epic that has drawn comparison with the work of Dostoyevsky and Stendhal, Uncertain Glory is a homegrown counterpart to classics such as Homage to Catalonia and For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Author: Simon Kuper
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593297733
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 433
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Book Description
With rare and unrivaled access, bestselling coauthor of Soccernomics and longtime Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper tells the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful club in the world—and how that era is now ending FC Barcelona is not just the world’s highest grossing sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organizations on the planet. At last count, it had approximately 214 million social media followers, more than any other sports club except Real Madrid CF—and by one earlier measure, more than all thirty-two NFL teams combined. It has more in common with multinational megacompanies like Netflix or small nation-states than it does with most soccer teams. No wonder its motto is “More than a club.” But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona went from a regional team to a global powerhouse, becoming a model of sustained excellence and beautiful soccer, and a consistent winner of championships. Simon Kuper unravels exactly how this transformation took place, paying special attention to the club’s two biggest stars, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi, who is arguably the greatest soccer player of all time. Messi joined Barça at age thirteen and, more than anyone, has been the engine and standard-bearer of Barcelona’s glory. But his era is coming to an end—and with it, a once-in-a-lifetime golden run. This book charts Barça’s rise and fall. Like many world-beating organizations, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets, granting few outsiders access to the Camp Nou, its legendary home stadium. But after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given access to the inner sanctum and the people behind the scenes who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top. Erudite, personal, and capturing all the latest upheavals, his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond soccer to understand FC Barcelona as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon.
