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Author: Pamela Petro
Publisher: Fourth Estate (GB)
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 326
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Book Description
In the years following the devastations of the first world war, a brilliant, young American couple, Kingsley and Lucy Porter, travelled to south-west France to document the abbeys and basilicas of the Romanesque period. Their extraordinary photographs revealed some of the most feverishly inventive stonescapes in Europe, stories chiselled from the Bible and nightmares: rams playing harps and devils eating men's brains; a female centaur pulling a mermaid's hair; women suckling snakes at their breasts. For the Porters, these were images of an imagined world that unlocked secrets of the eleventh century but, menacingly, cast a dark shadow over their marriage. In The Slow Breath of Stone, Pamela Petro rents a car and, using the Porter's photographs and Lucy's journal as her map, retraces their journey through the wild landscapes of the Rouergue. She visits the beautiful and disturbing sculptures of monsters and animals devouring prey that adorn the cathedrals of Cahors and Carcassonne, and she explores a limestone quarry from where these great slabs of stone were hewn a thousand years ago. She walks the routes of pilgrimages, testaments to the tenacity of human hope, meeting people along the way and savouring the local food and wine. Above all, she journeys deep into the strange relationship of the sexually incompatible Lucy and Kingsley, following them to Donegal where their marriage was to end tragically and mysteriously on the cliffs of Inishbofin. An absorbing travel book, a meditation on geology, photography, Romanesque art and the romance of physical decline, The Slow Breath of Stone throws a mirror on Europe of the Middle Ages and its hold on us today.
Author: Pamela Petro
Publisher: Fourth Estate (GB)
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Get Book Here
Book Description
In the years following the devastations of the first world war, a brilliant, young American couple, Kingsley and Lucy Porter, travelled to south-west France to document the abbeys and basilicas of the Romanesque period. Their extraordinary photographs revealed some of the most feverishly inventive stonescapes in Europe, stories chiselled from the Bible and nightmares: rams playing harps and devils eating men's brains; a female centaur pulling a mermaid's hair; women suckling snakes at their breasts. For the Porters, these were images of an imagined world that unlocked secrets of the eleventh century but, menacingly, cast a dark shadow over their marriage. In The Slow Breath of Stone, Pamela Petro rents a car and, using the Porter's photographs and Lucy's journal as her map, retraces their journey through the wild landscapes of the Rouergue. She visits the beautiful and disturbing sculptures of monsters and animals devouring prey that adorn the cathedrals of Cahors and Carcassonne, and she explores a limestone quarry from where these great slabs of stone were hewn a thousand years ago. She walks the routes of pilgrimages, testaments to the tenacity of human hope, meeting people along the way and savouring the local food and wine. Above all, she journeys deep into the strange relationship of the sexually incompatible Lucy and Kingsley, following them to Donegal where their marriage was to end tragically and mysteriously on the cliffs of Inishbofin. An absorbing travel book, a meditation on geology, photography, Romanesque art and the romance of physical decline, The Slow Breath of Stone throws a mirror on Europe of the Middle Ages and its hold on us today.
Author: James Nestor
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735213631
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020 Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR “A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe. Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.
Author: Pamela Petro
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1956763767
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
For readers of H Is for Hawk, an intimate memoir of belonging and loss and a mesmerizing travelogue through the landscapes and language of Wales Hiraeth is a Welsh word that's famously hard to translate. Literally, it can mean "long field" but generally translates into English, inadequately, as "homesickness." At heart, hiraeth suggests something like a bone-deep longing for an irretrievable place, person, or time—an acute awareness of the presence of absence. In The Long Field, Pamela Petro braids essential hiraeth stories of Wales with tales from her own life—as an American who found an ancient home in Wales, as a gay woman, as the survivor of a terrible AMTRAK train crash, and as the daughter of a parent with dementia. Through the pull and tangle of these stories and her travels throughout Wales, hiraeth takes on radical new meanings. There is traditional hiraeth of place and home, but also queer hiraeth; and hiraeth triggered by technology, immigration, ecological crises, and our new divisive politics. On this journey, the notion begins to morph from a uniquely Welsh experience to a universal human condition, from deep longing to the creative responses to loss that Petro sees as the genius of Welsh culture. It becomes a tool to understand ourselves in our time. A finalist for the Wales Book of the Year Award and named to the Telegraph's and Financial Times's Top 10 lists for travel writing, The Long Field is an unforgettable exploration of “the hidden contours of the human heart.”
Author: Anthony Doerr
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476746605
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 560
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Book Description
*NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti* Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the Resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge. Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).
Author: Lucy Costigan
Publisher: Merrion Press
ISBN: 1908928166
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271
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Book Description
Arthur Kingsley Porter, (1883 1933) renowned American, Harvard professor and owner of Glenveagh Castle, vanished without trace from Inishbofin Island, Co. Donegal, in 1933. No trace of the professor was ever found. Over the decades stories of Porter's disappearance turned into legend. A strong swimmer and always fond of the outdoors, was it likely that Porter had been drowned by misadventure or was foul play involved? Perhaps Porter took off alone to pursue new adventures? By the late 1920s Porter and his wife Lucy possessed every asset that most mortals can only dream of. But was there a dark secret that led the enigmatic professor to jump from the rocks on that fateful morning? The truth about the secret inner world of Arthur Kingsley Porter has only recently been revealed. In a historical thriller set in Ireland, America and Europe in the 1920s and 30s, Lucy Costigan conjures up the world of Irish cultural and rural life, examines Porter s friendship with the literary figure AE and Irish society luminaries, and celebrates the raw beauty of Glenveagh and Donegal.
Author: A. Mussbacher
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1039161448
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 367
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Book Description
In the aftermath of a brutal war spanning two decades, the Empire of Lamora finds itself on the brink of surrender. With a fragile ceasefire in place, the Lamoran empress ventures into enemy territory, guided by the renowned military hero, General Leona Almadzi. Yet, a sense of trepidation gnaws at the general, as she suspects that this act of diplomacy may be a carefully laid trap. While General Almadzi remains focused on safeguarding the empress, an opportunity presents itself to Leas Steele, the cunning mastermind behind the notorious Thieves' Guild. Seizing the chance to exploit the political turmoil, Leas aims to satisfy her own ambitions. Little do they know that their paths are about to intersect in the most unexpected way. An audacious assassination attempt shatters the ceremony, throwing both the general and the thief into a whirlwind of chaos. Bound together by circumstance, they become entangled in a web of deceit, murder, and betrayal. As Leas manipulates the situation to prevent General Almadzi from slipping away, the general uncovers a sinister plot that not only threatens her nation but also poses a grave danger to the world at large. Desperate for answers and driven by a shared desire for justice, General Almadzi reluctantly turns to Leas, recognizing that the thief may hold the key to unveiling the truth. Engaged in a perilous game of cat and mouse, the general must set aside her pride and outwit Leas to navigate a landscape fraught with danger. Yet, lurking behind their every move are forces far more formidable than either of them could have anticipated. As they grapple for control, they soon realize that the puppeteers pulling the strings are far too powerful to be subdued. Step into a world where honor clashes with cunning, and loyalties are tested against the backdrop of an ancient conflict. In this thrilling tale of mystery and suspense, General Leona Almadzi and Leas Steele will discover that the fate of nations and the destiny of their own lives hang in the balance. Will they uncover the truth in time, or will they succumb to the machinations of a hidden enemy? The answers lie within these pages, waiting for you to delve deeper into a realm where nothing is as it seems.
Author: John Chapman
Publisher: John Chapman
ISBN: 1476113572
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 465
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Book Description
Who are the Sky People and what is the Sky’s Eye? What do they have to do with the ancient document held by the Triplet family since 1099? What is the purpose of the mysterious stone, kept with the document? Why was the document written in thirteen different languages? Does the number thirteen provide a clue? When translated, what is the ultimate power the document speaks of? Sir Richard and his ‘family’ begin a quest for the answers. Unfortunately, he and his group aren't the only ones looking for this ultimate power. His opponents already have a two-day head start. Their journeys will lead them to the cradles of civilisation, but where does their journey start? What will they discover at the end? Why are James and Donna so important to this quest? What about the situation between Richard and Donna? Is he still lying to her? Did he send the threatening letter? Everyone, including Joyce believes Richard would be the logical choice. Richard swears he didn't send it, but if he didn't then who did? Who sought Joyce's help through a mysterious phone call to the Complex? Would Joyce regret the choice she made? Where does Kate fit in? Does she hide a secret of her own? Is Tom an ordinary little boy, or is he special like James and Donna? Why does he know so much about the Dine’é Yá? Who told him? Who is Candice Stuart and what important part will she play in James’s future?
Author: Ursula Hegi
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439144761
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 528
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Book Description
From the acclaimed author of Floating in My Mother’s Palm and Children and Fire, a stunning story about ordinary people living in extraordinary times—“epic, daring, magnificent, the product of a defining and mesmerizing vision” (Los Angeles Times). Trudi Montag is a Zwerg—a dwarf—short, undesirable, different, the voice of anyone who has ever tried to fit in. Eventually she learns that being different is a secret that all humans share—from her mother who flees into madness, to her friend Georg whose parents pretend he’s a girl, to the Jews Trudi harbors in her cellar. Ursula Hegi brings us a timeless and unforgettable story in Trudi and a small town, weaving together a profound tapestry of emotional power, humanity, and truth.
Author: Pamela Petro
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007445806
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 383
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Book Description
An absorbing travel book, a meditation on geology, photography, Romanesque art and the romance of physical decline, The Slow Breath of Stone throws a mirror on Europe of the Middle Ages and its hold on us today.
Author: K. J. Jackson
Publisher: K.J. Jackson
ISBN: 1940149037
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337
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Book Description
London, 1819 Marked for death, Lady Augustine Christopherson finds herself scouring the slums of London in a desperate search to find the men who killed her father, and are determined to dispose of her. To protect her family, to protect herself, she is determined to find the men before they find her. The last thing she wanted was an entanglement with a duke that threatens her very survival… Hardened long ago, the last thing the Duke of Dunway wanted was an entanglement with a chit of the ton. But in the flash of a pistol, his fate is altered as he finds himself honor-bound to protect Lady Augustine from, of all things, herself. The Hold Your Breath series begins. A thousand reasons to hold your breath, and one to let it go. Historical romance with strong women, undeniable men, and hold your breath adventure.
