|
Showing 1 - 25 of
30 matches in All Departments
A Washington Post Best Nonfiction Book of the Year In the spirit of
Fierce Attachments and The End of Your Life Book Club, acclaimed
novelist Brian Morton delivers a "superb" (Maureen Corrigan, Fresh
Air), darkly funny memoir of his mother's vibrant life and the many
ways in which their tight, tumultuous relationship was refashioned
in her twilight years. Tasha Morton is a force of nature: a
brilliant educator who's left her mark on generations of
students--and also a whirlwind of a mother, intrusive, chaotic,
oppressively devoted, and irrepressible. For decades, her son Brian
has kept her at a self-protective distance, but when her health
begins to fail, he knows it's time to assume responsibility for her
care. Even so, he's not prepared for what awaits him, as her
refusal to accept her own fragility leads to a series of epic
outbursts and altercations that are sometimes frightening,
sometimes wildly comic, and sometimes both. Clear-eyed, "deeply
stirring" (Dani Shapiro, The New York Times Book Review), and
brimming with dark humor, Tasha is both a vivid account of an
unforgettable woman and a stark look at the impossible task of
caring for an elderly parent in a country whose unofficial motto is
"you're on your own."
Dmitri Shostakovich was the most popular Soviet composer of his
generation. Internationally esteemed, he is widely considered to
have been the last great classical symphonist, and his reputation
has continued to increase since his death in 1975. Shostakovich
wrote his First Symphony aged only nineteen and soon embarked on a
dual career as concert pianist and composer. His early
avant-gardism was to result in the triumph of his 1934 opera Lady
Macbeth of Mtsensk. Though at first highly praised by Stalin,
Shostakovich would later suffer from a complex and brutalising
relationship with the Soviet dictator and the governments that
followed him. In spite of this persecution, his Seventh Symphony
was embraced as a potent symbol of Russian resistance to the
invading Nazi army in both the USSR and the West. Though his later
years were marked by ill health, his rate of composition remained
prolific. His music became increasingly popular with audiences as
he established himself as the most popular composer of serious art
music in the middle years of the twentieth century.
A Washington Post Best Nonfiction Book of the Year In the spirit of
Fierce Attachments and The End of Your Life Book Club, acclaimed
novelist Brian Morton delivers a "superb" (Maureen Corrigan, Fresh
Air), darkly funny memoir of his mother's vibrant life and the many
ways in which their tight, tumultuous relationship was refashioned
in her twilight years. Tasha Morton is a force of nature: a
brilliant educator who's left her mark on generations of
students--and also a whirlwind of a mother, intrusive, chaotic,
oppressively devoted, and irrepressible. For decades, her son Brian
has kept her at a self-protective distance, but when her health
begins to fail, he knows it's time to assume responsibility for her
care. Even so, he's not prepared for what awaits him, as her
refusal to accept her own fragility leads to a series of epic
outbursts and altercations that are sometimes frightening,
sometimes wildly comic, and sometimes both. Clear-eyed, "deeply
stirring" (Dani Shapiro, The New York Times Book Review), and
brimming with dark humor, Tasha is both a vivid account of an
unforgettable woman and a stark look at the impossible task of
caring for an elderly parent in a country whose unofficial motto is
"you're on your own."
This title is about Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). It is September
1919 - a meeting hall in a small mid-Western city. A thin man is
speaking to a sceptical audience about peace. He has already met
the city fathers and has been warned that 'out here' what happens
in Europe means very little. Even the late war scarcely impinged on
the place, though it had been recognised that it hadn't been
altogether good for trade and one or two local boys had died on the
fields of France in the very last days of the conflict. The speaker
was obviously impassioned, with a preacher's cadence to his voice,
and particularly so when he promoted the idea of an international
League of Nations to guarantee future peace and ensure that the war
into which America had been lured in 1917 really was 'a war to end
all wars'.It is noticed that the man is sweating and pale and that
he pauses frequently to dab his lips. The price of his campaign for
peace - and peace conducted with principle - seems to be a terrible
struggle between strong belief on the one hand and failing reserves
on the other. Woodrow Wilson will live for another five years, but
his battle to convince America to join the League is lost and much
of the vigour that marked his time as President of his country, as
president of Princeton University, even as an enthusiastic college
football coach, was left behind in the Hall of Mirrors at
Versailles. This book will look at the life of Wilson, from his
early years during the American Civil War, through his academic and
political career and America's involvement in the First World War,
to Wilson's role at Versailles, including the construction of his
Fourteen Points, his principles for the reformation of Europe, and
the consequences of Versailles for America and on later conflicts.
Richard Cook and Brian Morton's Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of
the Music in 1001 Best Albums is an indispensible guide to the
recordings that every fan should know. Richard Cook and Brian
Morton's Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings is firmly established as
the world's leading guide to the music. In this book, Brian Morton
has picked out 1001 essential recordings from their acclaimed
guide, adding new information, revising and reassessing each entry,
and showing how these key pieces tell the history of the music -
and with it the history of the twentieth century. These are the
essential albums that that all true jazz fans should own, or - at
the very least - have listened to, from Kind of Blue to
lesser-known classics and more surprising choices. Full of
fascinating updated biographical information, new quotes and
interviews and, of course, highly opinionated and wittily trenchant
critical reviews, the result is an endlessly browsable companion
that will prove required reading for aficionados and jazz novices
alike. 'One of the great books of recorded jazz; the other guides
don't come close' Irish Times 'It's the kind of book that you'll
yank off the shelf to look up a quick fact and still be reading two
hours later' Fortune 'The leader in its field ... If you own only
one book on jazz, it really should be this one' International
Record Review 'Indispensable and incomparable' NME Brian Morton is
a freelance writer and broadcaster who for many years presented
Radio 3's jazz magazine Impressions and In Tune. Richard Cook
(1957-2007) was formerly editor of The Wire and edited Jazz Review.
He contributed to many other publications, including the New
Statesman and his books included Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopaedia
and It's About That Time: Miles Davis on Record.
This was to obtain more information about the newly-established
reserve (the only one in Hong Kong) and the changes that had taken
place on the seabed in the southern waters since they were dredged
between 1992-1995, respectively, and, in the latter case, to see if
there had been any subsequent benthic recovery.
Adam Weller is a moderately successful novelist, past his prime,
but squiring around a much younger woman and still longing for
greater fame and glory. His former wife, Eleanor, is unhappily
playing the role of the overweight, discarded woman. Their daughter
Maud has just begun a frankly sexual affair that unexpectedly
becomes life-changing. Into each of these lives the past intrudes
in a way that will test them to their core. With perfect pitch and
a rare empathy, Brian Morton is equally adept at portraying the
life of the mind and how it plays out in the world, brilliantly
tracing the border between honor and violation. Here Morton tells
his strongest story yet--a story about love, friendship, literary
treachery, and what each of us owes to the past.
Leonard Schiller is a novelist in his seventies, a second-string
but respectable talent who produced only a small handful of books.
Heather Wolfe is an attractive graduate student in her twenties.
She read Schiller's novels when she was growing up and they changed
her life. When the ambitious Heather decides to write her master's
thesis about Schiller's work and sets out to meet him--convinced
she can bring Schiller back into the literary world's
spotlight--the unexpected consequences of their meeting alter
everything in Schiller's ordered life. What follows is a
quasi-romantic friendship and intellectual engagement that
investigates the meaning of art, fame, and personal connection.
"Nothing less than a triumph" ("The New York Times Book Review"),
"Starting Out in the Evening" is Brian Morton's most widely
acclaimed novel to date.
Isaac and Nora haven't seen each other in five years, yet when Nora
phones Isaac late one night, he knows who it is before she's spoken
a word. Isaac, a photographer, is relinquishing his artistic
career, while Nora, a writer, is seeking to rededicate herself to
hers.
Fueled by their rediscovered love, Nora is soon on fire with the
best work she's ever done, until she realizes that the story she's
writing has turned into a fictionalized portrait of Isaac, exposing
his frailties and compromises and sure to be viewed by him as a
betrayal. How do we remain faithful to our calling if it estranges
us from the people we love? How do we remain in love after we have
seen the very worst of our loved ones? These are some of the
questions explored in a novel that critics are calling "an absolute
pleasure" (The Seattle Times).
|
You may like...
Crooked Seeds
Karen Jennings
Paperback
R340
R249
Discovery Miles 2 490
|