This provocative collection of short stories charts the growth of a generation from the liberating irreverence of the late 1970s to the dilemmas of responsibility and fidelity of the 1990s. The stories resonate with Hanif Kureishi's dead-on observations of human passion and folly, his brilliant depiction of seedy locales and magical characters, and his original, wicked sense of humor.
A beautifully packaged edition of one of García Márquez's most beloved novels, with never-before-seen color illustrations by the Chilean artist Luisa Rivera and an interior design created by the author's son, Gonzalo García Barcha. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs—yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
Blue Love Tessa Ross tries to fight her attraction to bad boy Lucas Links. He is hot, arrogant, and has a sexual past that most boys his age could only dream of, (If they even knew they could dream of such things). Lucas, the star quarterback seems to have it all, super star athletic abilities, expensive clothes, cars, and women who literally stop just to watch him walk by. On the outside he appears to have it all. Tessa is a young woman who lives her life always doing what is right to make everyone else happy. She tries desperately to hold herself accountable to the demanding expectations of her family and everyone around her. Is Tessa as innocent as she appears? Is Lucas just a spoiled young man who seems to have what every male, and female wants? A troubled home life exposed. Past flings fight for his attention. While the only girl who Lucas ever dated connives to win him back using the only thing she knew held him to begin with. Does her desperation destroy a love he never knew existed before Tessa? A love bound not by his past or hidden secrets. A love of truth and depth. A love that knew no end regardless of tragic circumstance. Blue Love is not your typical love story. It is a journey through your past or a story of one close to you. It's our story.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE WINNER • With music pulsing on every page, this startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption “features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn't, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human” (The Chicago Tribune). One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. “Pitch perfect.... Darkly, rippingly funny.... Egan possesses a satirist’s eye and a romance novelist’s heart.” —The New York Times Book Review
"Hanif Kureishi is a proper Englishman. Almost." So observes biographer Kenneth Kaleta. Well known for his films My Beautiful Laundrette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, the Anglo-Asian screenwriter, essayist, and novelist has become one of the leading portrayers of Britain's multicultural society. His work raises important questions of personal and national identity as it probes the experience of growing up in one culture with roots in another, very different one. This book is the first critical biography of Hanif Kureishi. Kenneth Kaleta interviewed Kureishi over several years and enjoyed unlimited access to all of his working papers, journals, and personal files. From this rich cache of material, he opens a fascinating window onto Kureishi's creative process, tracing such works as My Beautiful Laundrette, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, The Buddha of Suburbia, London Kills Me, The Black Album, and Love in a Blue Time from their genesis to their public reception. Writing for Kureishi fans as well as film and cultural studies scholars, Kaleta pieces together a vivid mosaic of the postcolonial, hybrid British culture that has nourished Kureishi and his work.
As seen on The TODAY Show! Break out of that rut and fall in love with your life again by joining stand-up comic, SiriusXM host, and mom of six Jennifer Fulwiler in finding your blue flame. Every one of us has a blue flame--a special skill, a personal passion, a gift or talent. But when caught up in life's busyness, it's too easy to make a habit of suppressing our most joyful contributions to the world. As Jennifer learned, the secret to a life you love isn't necessarily jumping the track, quitting your job, or hustling to make your dream your full-time reality. Rather, it's about doing more of what makes you come alive in your actual life. Your Blue Flame is your upbeat playbook to rekindling your energy, sparking those meaningful "first loves" back to life again, and discovering the unique way each one of us can make the world a better, brighter place. With Jennifer's wit and straight-forward, practical insights, this helpful guide will show you: How to channel your blue flame's contagious energy Why your blue flame is both personally fulfilling and a sacred duty to others Tips and tricks to boldly make time for your passions How to rethink dreaming big for your actual life No matter where you are in life, you'll be inspired with stories of others who found their flames, like the couple who packed up their three kids and moved to a farm, the woman who discovered a passion for letter-writing at age ninety-five, and of course Jennifer's own story of self-producing her own stand-up comedy tour after being turned down by the entertainment industry establishment. It's been said that the glory of God is the soul fully alive. It's time to start chasing our spark, and Your Blue Flame will show you how.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A powerful memoir of a love that leads two people to find a courageous way to part—and a woman’s struggle to go forward in the face of loss—that “enriches the reader’s life with urgency and gratitude” (The Washington Post) “A pleasure to read . . . Rarely has a memoir about death been so full of life. . . . Bloom has a talent for mixing the prosaic and profound, the slapstick and the serious.”—USA Today ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease. Forced to confront the truth of the diagnosis and its impact on the future he had envisioned, Brian was determined to die on his feet, not live on his knees. Supporting each other in their last journey together, Brian and Amy made the unimaginably difficult and painful decision to go to Dignitas, an organization based in Switzerland that empowers a person to end their own life with dignity and peace. In this heartbreaking and surprising memoir, Bloom sheds light on a part of life we so often shy away from discussing—its ending. Written in Bloom’s captivating, insightful voice and with her trademark wit and candor, In Love is an unforgettable portrait of a beautiful marriage, and a boundary-defying love.
A friends to lovers age-gap romance. Court: Here's a thing I learned a long time ago... guys and girls don't think about relationships the same way. Especially in college. So, when I caught the girl sitting next to me on the plane reading a magazine article on how to get out of the friend zone, I did something I never do - I got involved. One look into her electric blue eyes and the darkness inside of me faded. Light and hope radiated from her like a neon sign. Guys like me know how to get the girl, but we rarely get to keep them. Bianca: Girls like me fade into the background. Nice, quiet, smart girls without the latest trendy clothes. My friendship with Court started as an opportunity to get inside the male mind, but it turned into so much more. His touch sent current coursing through my veins. His kiss jolted my heart. But here is something I learned a long time ago... you can't force people to love you back. No matter how much you long for them.
You are crossing the Atlantic on a liner with your boyfriend who may or may not be planning to propose. You are fleeing the past - your ex-lover Arthur, the man who helped you dupe the vulnerable into believing loved ones were trying to make contact from beyond the grave. But there's a secret you've kept from Arthur, a deception about the two of you that threatens to emerge when you discover Arthur's presence on the boat.
In this luminous narrative inspired by the fascinating real case of “the Blue People of Kentucky,” Isla Morley probes questions of identity, love, and family in her breathtaking new novel. In 1937, there are recesses in Appalachia no outsiders have ever explored. Two government-sponsored documentarians from Cincinnati, Ohio—a writer and photographer—are dispatched to penetrate this wilderness and record what they find for President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. For photographer Clay Havens, the assignment is his last chance to reboot his flagging career. So when he and his journalist partner are warned away from the remote Spooklight Holler outside of town, they set off eagerly in search of a headline story. What they see will haunt Clay into his old age: Jubilee Buford, a woman whose skin is a shocking and unmistakable shade of blue. From this happenstance meeting between a woman isolated from society and persecuted her whole life, and a man accustomed to keeping himself at lens distance from others, comes a mesmerizing story in which the dark shades of betrayal, prejudice, fear, and guilt, are refracted along with the incandescent hues of passion and courage. Panning across the rich rural aesthetic of eastern Kentucky, The Last Blue is a captivating love story and an intimate portrait of what it is like to be truly one of a kind.
