The Exhibitionist
The Exhibitionist

Author: Charlotte Mendelson

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2023-07-04

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1250286948

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THE TIMES (UK) NOVEL OF THE YEAR Named A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Sunday Times (UK) Charlotte Mendelson's The Exhibitionist is a "furiously funny" novel (Sunday Express, UK) about a marriage between two artists, Lucia and Ray, which begins to unravel over the course of one weekend. Meet the Hanrahan family, gathering for a momentous weekend as famous artist and notorious egoist Ray Hanrahan prepares for a new exhibition of his art–the first in many decades–and one he is sure will burnish his reputation for good. His three children will be there: eldest daughter Leah, always her father’s biggest champion; son Patrick, who has finally decided to strike out on his own; and daughter Jess, the youngest, who has her own momentous decision to make. And what of Lucia, Ray’s steadfast and selfless wife? She is an artist, too, but has always had to put her roles as wife and mother first. What will happen if she decides to change? For Lucia is hiding secrets of her own, and as the weekend unfolds and the exhibition approaches, she must finally make a choice about which desires to follow. The Exhibitionist is the latest, extraordinary novel from Charlotte Mendelson, a dazzling exploration of art, sacrifice, toxic family politics, queer desire, and personal freedom.

Shark Girl
Shark Girl

Author: Kelly Bingham

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Published: 2011-04-26

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0763654477

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A teenager struggles through physical loss to the start of acceptance in an absorbing, artful novel at once honest and insightful, wrenching and redemptive. (Age 12 and up) On a sunny day in June, at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then everything -- absolutely everything -- changed. Now she’s counting down the days until she returns to school with her fake arm, where she knows kids will whisper, "That’s her -- that’s Shark Girl," as she passes. In the meantime there are only questions: Why did this happen? Why her? What about her art? What about her life? In this striking first novel, Kelly Bingham uses poems, letters, telephone conversations, and newspaper clippings to look unflinchingly at what it’s like to lose part of yourself - and to summon the courage it takes to find yourself again.

Gourmet Rhapsody
Gourmet Rhapsody

Author: Muriel Barbery

Publisher: Europa Editions

Published: 2009-08-25

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 1609452216

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A French food critic faces his mortality in an “entertaining [and] witty” novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Newsday). In the heart of Paris, in the same posh building made famous in The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Pierre Arthens, the greatest food critic in the world, is dying. Revered by some and reviled by many, Monsieur Arthens has been lording it over the world’s most esteemed chefs for years, passing judgment on their creations, deciding their fates with a stroke of his pen, destroying and building reputations on a whim. But now, during his final hours, his mind has turned to simpler things. He is desperately searching for that singular flavor, that sublime something once sampled, never forgotten, the flavor par excellence. Indeed, this flamboyant and self-absorbed man desires only one thing before he dies: one last taste. Thus begins a charming voyage that traces the career of Monsieur Arthens from childhood to maturity across a celebration of all manner of culinary delights. Alternating with the voice of the supercilious Arthens is a chorus belonging to his acquaintances and familiars—relatives, lovers, a would-be protégé, even a cat. Each will have his or her say about M. Arthens, a man who has inspired only extreme emotions in people. Here, as in The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery’s story celebrates life’s simple pleasures and sublime moments while condemning the arrogance and vulgarity of power. “Lush and satisfying prose.” —Publishers Weekly

The Parasites
The Parasites

Author: Daphne Du Maurier

Publisher: Virago

Published: 2012-06-07

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1405518138

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FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA 'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Wickedly readable . . . every woman instinctively wants to read her' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ' Somehow more personal than Daphne du Maurier's other novels' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'When people play the game: Name three or four persons whom you would choose to have with you on a desert island - they never choose the Delaneys. They don't even choose us one by one as individuals. We have earned, not always fairly we consider, the reputation of being difficult guests . . . ' Maria, Niall and Celia have grown up in the shadow of their famous parents. Their father is a flamboyant singer and their mother is a talented dancer. Now pursuing their own creative dreams, all three siblings feel an undeniable bond, but it is Maria and Niall who share the secret of their parents' pasts. Alternately comic and poignant, The Parasites is based on the artistic milieu its author knew best and draws the reader effortlessly into that magical world.

The Glass Room
The Glass Room

Author: Simon Mawer

Publisher: Other Press, LLC

Published: 2009-10-27

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 1590513975

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Honeymooners Viktor and Liesel Landauer are filled with the optimism and cultural vibrancy of central Europe of the 1920s when they meet modernist architect Rainer von Abt. He builds for them a home to embody their exuberant faith in the future, and the Landauer House becomes an instant masterpiece. Viktor and Liesel, a rich Jewish mogul married to a thoughtful, modern gentile, pour all of their hopes for their marriage and budding family into their stunning new home, filling it with children, friends, and a generation of artists and thinkers eager to abandon old-world European style in favor of the new and the avant-garde. But as life intervenes, their new home also brings out their most passionate desires and darkest secrets. As Viktor searches for a warmer, less challenging comfort in the arms of another woman, and Liesel turns to her wild, mischievous friend Hana for excitement, the marriage begins to show signs of strain. The radiant honesty and idealism of 1930 quickly evaporate beneath the storm clouds of World War II. As Nazi troops enter the country, the family must leave their old life behind and attempt to escape to America before Viktor's Jewish roots draw Nazi attention, and before the family itself dissolves. As the Landauers struggle for survival abroad, their home slips from hand to hand, from Czech to Nazi to Soviet possession and finally back to the Czechoslovak state, with new inhabitants always falling under the fervent and unrelenting influence of the Glass Room. Its crystalline perfection exerts a gravitational pull on those who know it, inspiring them, freeing them, calling them back, until the Landauers themselves are finally drawn home to where their story began. Brimming with barely contained passion and cruelty, the precision of science, the wild variance of lust, the catharsis of confession, and the fear of failure - the Glass Room contains it all.

A Fairly Honourable Defeat
A Fairly Honourable Defeat

Author: Iris Murdoch

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2001-03-01

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 9780141186177

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An exploration of love and its excesses, missteps, and modest triumphs, from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea, The Sea In a dark comedy of errors, Iris Murdoch portrays the mischief wrought by Julius, a cynical intellectual who decides to demonstrate through a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties. As puppet master, Julius artfully plays on the human tendency to embrace drama and intrigue and to prefer the distraction of confrontations to the difficult effort of communicating openly and honestly. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Author: Elisa Valerie Thieme

Publisher:

Published: 2015-02-18

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 9783656899549

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Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,7, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DEL), course: British Studies, language: English, abstract: An analysis of genesis of Mendelson's writing with particular focus on her British-Jewish background. So far, the British-Jewish novelist Charlotte Mendelson has published four books, namely "Love in Idleness" (2001), "Daughters of Jerusalem" (2003), "When We Were Bad" (2007), and "Almost English" (2013), which could all be typified as intercultural coming-of-age novels. The main source of inspiration appears to be Mendelson's own multi-ethnic background. - She was born in London in 1972 and grew up in St John's College, Oxford, where her father taught public international law. But even though she is English-born and has a Cockney grandfather, Mendelson identifies herself as not in the least English since her paternal grandmother stemmed from "'Latvia and Poland'" (qtd. in Westbrook) and her maternal grandparents were "'Hungarian-speaking-Czech, Ruthenian for about 10 minutes [and also somewhat] Carpathian mountainy'" (qtd. in Edemariam) and came to England with "the last train out of Prague" (Mendelson) fleeing from the Nazis as Jewish refugees (cf. Mendelson). Especially her maternal grandparents are a lasting inspiration for Mendelson. Her "'Hungarian side is the side [she] like[s] showing off the most'" (qtd. in Westbrook) and is repeatedly referred to in interviews. Her hybrid background "has enabled [Mendelson] to become an essentially diasporic writer" (Cheyette, Diaspora and Multiculturalism 54) When reading Mendelson's novels in chronological order, it seems as if her writing has undergone some development. Recurring topics and tropes, such as living in a supposedly "cryptic" family microcosm and the difficulties of finding one's identity in circumstances that resemble "exile," are condensed, deepened, and shaped into more complex versions. Hence, her work seems to

Tree of Smoke
Tree of Smoke

Author: Denis Johnson

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2007-09-04

Total Pages: 638

ISBN-13: 9780374279127

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Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That’s me. This is the story of Skip Sands—spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong—and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature. Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson’s first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date. Tree of Smoke is the 2007 National Book Award Winner for Fiction.

Almost English
Almost English

Author: Charlotte Mendelson

Publisher: Mantle

Published: 2013-09-01

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1743512821

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Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2013 Home is a foreign country: they do things differently there. In a tiny flat in West London, sixteen-year-old Marina lives with her emotionally delicate mother, Laura, and three ancient Hungarian relatives. Imprisoned by her family's crushing expectations and their fierce unEnglish pride, by their strange traditions and stranger foods, she knows she must escape. But the place she runs to makes her feel even more of an outsider. At Combe Abbey, a traditional English public school for which her family have sacrificed everything, she realises she has made a terrible mistake. She is the awkward half-foreign girl who doesn't know how to fit in, flirt or even be. And as a semi-Hungarian Londoner, who is she? In the meantime, her mother Laura, an alien in this strange universe, has her own painful secrets to deal with, especially the return of the last man she'd expect back in her life. She isn't noticing that, at Combe Abbey, things are starting to go terribly wrong.

Greek Myths
Greek Myths

Author: Charlotte Higgins

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2022-01-11

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0593316266

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A brilliantly original, landmark retelling of Greek myths, recounted as if they were actual scenes being woven into textiles by the women who feature prominently in them—including Athena, Helen, Circe and Penelope “Greek myths were full of powerful witches, unpredictable gods and sword-wielding slayers. They were also extreme: about families who turn murderously on each other; impossible tasks set by cruel kings; love that goes wrong; wars and journeys and terrible loss. There was magic, there was shape-shifting, there were monsters, there were descents to the land of the dead. Humans and immortals inhabited the same world, which was sometimes perilous, sometimes exciting. “The stories were obviously fantastical. All the same, brothers really do war with each other. People tell the truth but aren’t believed. Wars destroy the innocent. Lovers are parted. Parents endure the grief of losing children. Women suffer violence at the hands of men. The cleverest of people can be blind to what is really going on. The law of the land can contradict what you know to be just. Mysterious diseases devastate cities. Floods and fire tear lives apart. “For the Greeks, the word muthos simply meant a traditional tale. In the twenty-first century, we have long left behind the political and religious framework in which these stories first circulated—but their power endures. Greek myths remain true for us because they excavate the very extremes of human experience: sudden, inexplicable catastrophe; radical reversals of fortune; and seemingly arbitrary events that transform lives. They deal, in short, in the hard, basic facts of the human condition.” —from the Introduction