Troubled by an inability to find any meaning in his life, the 25-year-old narrator of this deceptively simple novel quits university and eventually arrives at his brother's New York apartment. In a bid to discover what life is all about, he writes lists. He becomes obsessed by time and whether it actually matters. He faxes his meteorologist friend. He endlessly bounces a ball against the wall. He befriends a small boy who lives next door. He yearns to get to the bottom of life and how best to live it. Funny, friendly, enigmatic and frequently poignant - superbly naive.
The second volume in Stig Sæterbakken's loosely connected "S Trilogy," Self-Control moves from the dark portrait of codependent marriage featured in the acclaimed Siamese to a world of solitary loneliness and repression. A middle-aged man, Andreas Feldt, feeling that he is unable to communicate with his adult daughter over the course of a friendly lunch, announces on an inexplicable whim that he is going to get a divorce. Though his daughter is initially shocked, she quickly assimilates this information and all returns to normal. Faced with this virtual invisibility--for no matter what actions he takes, the world seems to take no notice--Andreas is cut adrift from the certainties of his life and forced to navigate through a society where it seems virtually everyone is only one loss of self-control away from an explosion of dissatisfaction and rage.
A history designed for college students, the author's objective being an account sufficiently brief to offer no difficulty from the point of view of time, & yet detailed enough to be convenient as a work of reference. Considerable space is given to modern literature. "An indispensable book."--NEW REPUBLIC. "A big book on a big theme."--NEW YORK TIMES. "A real contribution."--YALE REVIEW.
'Askildsen's dry, absurd humour is not unlike that of Beckett... His short stories are packed with irony, and the dialogue is sharp and expressive' TLS Spare, taut and told with flashes of pitch-black humour, the short stories of Norwegian master Kjell Askildsen capture all the strangeness of modern existence. In this selection of tales, spanning the whole of his brilliant career, unnerving encounters occur, lonely individuals try to connect, families and relationships are fractured, and we are confronted by the fragility and absurdity of life. 'Full of compelling strangeness. Lives surge through a few brittle pages, suppressed loves and resentments threaten to erupt' Independent
Volume 1: General Cruising Information The original, most complete and most up-to-date guide for mariners to the coasts of Norway, Svalbard (Spitsbergen), and the west coast of Sweden. Continuously updated since 1978. Over 900 pages in five volumes. 1000 ports and anchorages. Tips on cruising northern destinations gathered by the authors during 35 years and 150,000 miles of North Atlantic cruising. Insider's perspective from Norwegian authors Hans Jakob and Eli gathered in 45 years of cruising Norway. Planning maps and over 1200 photographs. Includes a harbours and anchorages waypoint file for loading into your plotter or navigation software. This not a glossy picture book, but rather a guide filled with up-to-date information to help recreational mariners have a great cruise.
A single mother, Vibeke, and her son Jon, have just moved to a small, remote town in the north of Norway. It is the day before Jon's birthday, but Vibeke, preoccupied with concerns of her own, has forgotten this. With a man on her mind, she ventures to the local library and then a fairground, while Jon goes out to sell lottery tickets for his sports club. We follow the two characters on their separate journeys through a cold winter's night as Orstavik weaves together their two separate worlds - a sense of uneasiness grows.