The Sadness of Beautiful Things

The Sadness of Beautiful Things PDF Author: Simon Van Booy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525504869
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
An exquisite new collection of short stories from award-winning author Simon Van Booy. Over the past decade, Simon Van Booy has been listening to people’s stories. With these personal accounts as a starting point, he has crafted a powerful collection of short fiction that takes readers into the innermost lives of everyday people. From a family saved from ruin by a mysterious benefactor, to a downtrodden boxer who shows unexpected kindness to a mugger, these masterfully written tales reveal not only the precarious balance maintained between grief and happiness in our lives, but also how the echoes of personal tragedy can shape us for the better. “Van Booy’s stories are somehow like paintings the characters walk out of, and keep walking.” —Los Angeles Times "Simon Van Booy knows a great deal about the complex longings of the human heart." --Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

The Sadness of Beautiful Things

The Sadness of Beautiful Things PDF Author: Simon Van Booy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525504869
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
An exquisite new collection of short stories from award-winning author Simon Van Booy. Over the past decade, Simon Van Booy has been listening to people’s stories. With these personal accounts as a starting point, he has crafted a powerful collection of short fiction that takes readers into the innermost lives of everyday people. From a family saved from ruin by a mysterious benefactor, to a downtrodden boxer who shows unexpected kindness to a mugger, these masterfully written tales reveal not only the precarious balance maintained between grief and happiness in our lives, but also how the echoes of personal tragedy can shape us for the better. “Van Booy’s stories are somehow like paintings the characters walk out of, and keep walking.” —Los Angeles Times "Simon Van Booy knows a great deal about the complex longings of the human heart." --Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

The Sadness of Beautiful Things

The Sadness of Beautiful Things PDF Author: Simon Van Booy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143133047
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
An exquisite new collection of short stories from award-winning author Simon Van Booy. Over the past decade, Simon Van Booy has been listening to people’s stories. With these personal accounts as a starting point, he has crafted a powerful collection of short fiction that takes readers into the innermost lives of everyday people. From a family saved from ruin by a mysterious benefactor, to a downtrodden boxer who shows unexpected kindness to a mugger, these masterfully written tales reveal not only the precarious balance maintained between grief and happiness in our lives, but also how the echoes of personal tragedy can shape us for the better. “Van Booy’s stories are somehow like paintings the characters walk out of, and keep walking.” —Los Angeles Times "Simon Van Booy knows a great deal about the complex longings of the human heart." --Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears PDF Author: Dinaw Mengestu
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101217561
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Seventeen years ago, Sepha Stephanos fled the Ethiopian Revolution for a new start in the United States. Now he finds himself running a failing grocery store in a poor African-American section of Washington, D.C., his only companions two fellow African immigrants who share his bitter nostalgia and longing for his home continent. Years ago and worlds away Sepha could never have imagined a life of such isolation. As his environment begins to change, hope comes in the form of a friendship with new neighbors Judith and Naomi, a white woman and her biracial daughter. But when a series of racial incidents disturbs the community, Sepha may lose everything all over again. Watch a QuickTime interview with Dinaw Mengestu about this book.

Ten Beautiful Things

Ten Beautiful Things PDF Author: Molly Beth Griffin
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
ISBN: 1580899366
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
A heartfelt story of changing perspectives, set in the Midwest. Ten Beautiful Things gently explores loss, a new home, and finding beauty wherever you are. Lily and her grandmother search for ten beautiful things as they take a long car ride to Iowa and Lily's new home with Gran. At first, Lily sees nothing beautiful in the April slush and cloudy sky. Soon though, Lily can see beauty in unexpected places, from the smell of spring mud to a cloud shaped like a swan to a dilapidated barn. A furious rainstorm mirrors Lily's anxiety, but as it clears Lily discovers the tenth beautiful thing: Lily and Gran and their love for each other. Ten Beautiful Things leaves the exact cause of Lily's move ambiguous, making it perfect for anyone helping a child navigate change, whether it be the loss of a parent, entering or leaving a foster home, or moving.

The Treachery of Beautiful Things

The Treachery of Beautiful Things PDF Author: Ruth Long
Publisher: Speak
ISBN: 0142426067
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
Seven years after the forest seemingly swallowed her brother whole, seventeen-year-old Jenny, whose story about Tom's disappearance has never been believed, sets out to finally say goodbye, but instead she is pulled into a mysterious world of faeries and other creatures where nothing is what it seems.

Everything Beautiful Began After

Everything Beautiful Began After PDF Author: Simon Van Booy
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062079492
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
“Apowerful meditation on the undying nature of love and the often cruel beauty ofone’s own fate. This is a novel you simply must read!” —Andre Dubus III, New York Times bestselling author of Townie From Simon Van Booy, the award-winning author of Love Begins in Winter and The Secret Lives of People in Love, comes a debut novel of longing and discovery amidst the ruins of Athens. With echoes of Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love and Charles Baxter’s The Feast of Love, Van Booy’s resonant tale of three isolated, disaffected adults discovering one another in Greece is the compelling product of an inquisitive, visionary talent. In the words of Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, “Simon Van Booy knows a great deal about the complex longings of the human heart.”

Gertie Milk and the Keeper of Lost Things

Gertie Milk and the Keeper of Lost Things PDF Author: Simon Van Booy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0448494582
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Award-winning author Simon Van Booy introduces readers to a magical, whimsical world, perfect for fans of Circus Mirandus and Serafina and the Black Cloak. When twelve-year-old Gertie Milk washes up on the island of Skuldark, she finds that all of her memories are gone. Home to helpful Slug Lamps, delicious moonberries, and a ferocious Guard Worm, the island is full of oddities, including a cozy cottage containing artifacts from every corner of history. It is there that Gertie discovers she has been chosen as the next Keeper of Lost Things, tasked with the mission of returning objects to history’s most important figures right when they need them most. With the help of a time machine disguised as a vintage sports car and the guidance of her fellow Keeper, Kolt, Gertie dodges an elephant army in ancient Alexandria, crashes a 1920s flapper party, and battles a ruthless Zhou Dynasty king. But soon, Gertie encounters an enemy that threatens everything the Keepers stand for: The Losers, villains who don't want to keep order but destroy it. Now, Gertie must uncover the truth of her own past if she wants to stop the Losers and set history back in place.

The Illusion of Separateness

The Illusion of Separateness PDF Author: Simon Van Booy
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062112260
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
“The uncanny beauty of Van Booy’s prose, and his ability to knife straight to the depths of a character’s heart, fill a reader with wonder.” — San Francisco Chronicle Award-winning author Simon Van Booy tells a harrowing and enchanting story of how one man’s act of mercy during World War II changed the lives of strangers, and how they each discover the astonishing truth of their connection. The characters in Van Booy's The Illusion of Separateness discover at their darkest moments of fear and isolation that they are not alone, that they were never alone, that every human being is a link in a chain we cannot see. This gripping novel—inspired by true events—tells the interwoven stories of a deformed German infantryman; a lonely British film director; a young, blind museum curator; two Jewish American newlyweds separated by war; and a caretaker at a retirement home for actors in Santa Monica. They move through the same world but fail to perceive their connections until, through seemingly random acts of selflessness, a veil is lifted to reveal the vital parts they have played in one another's lives, and the illusion of their separateness.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake PDF Author: Aimee Bender
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0099538261
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Being able to taste people's emotions in food may at first be horrifying. But young, unassuming Rose Edelstein grows up learning to harness her gift as she becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things PDF Author: Bryn Greenwood
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466885807
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
- A New York Times and USA Today bestseller - Book of the Month Club 2016 Book of the Year - Second Place Goodreads Best Fiction of 2016 A beautiful and provocative love story between two unlikely people and the hard-won relationship that elevates them above the Midwestern meth lab backdrop of their lives. As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It's safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house, until one night her star gazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold. By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery. When tragedy rips Wavy's family apart, a well-meaning aunt steps in, and what is beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world. A powerful novel you won’t soon forget, Bryn Greenwood's All the Ugly and Wonderful Things challenges all we know and believe about love. 31 Books Bringing the Heat this Summer —Bustle Top Ten Hottest Reads of 2016 —New York Daily News Best Books of 2016 —St. Louis Post Dispatch