Download or read book The Bookman s Tale written by Charlie Lovett and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-05-28 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mysterious portrait ignites an antiquarian bookseller’s search through time and the works of Shakespeare for his lost love. Charlie Lovett’s new book, The Lost Book of the Grail, is now available. Guaranteed to capture the hearts of everyone who truly loves books, The Bookman’s Tale is a former bookseller’s sparkling novel and a delightful exploration of one of literature’s most tantalizing mysteries with echoes of Shadow of the Wind and A.S. Byatt's Possession. Nine months after the death of his beloved wife Amanda left him shattered, Peter Byerly, a young antiquarian bookseller, relocates from North Carolina to the English countryside, hoping to outrun his grief and rediscover the joy he once took in collecting and restoring rare books. But upon opening an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries, he discovers a Victorian watercolor of a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Amanda. Peter becomes obsessed with learning the picture’s origins and braves a host of dangers to follow a trail of clues back across the centuries—all the way to Shakespeare’s time and a priceless literary artifact that could prove, once and for all, the truth about the Bard’s real identity.
Download or read book The Bookman s Wake written by John Dunning and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Denver cop-turned-bookdealer Cliff Janeway is lured by an enterprising fellow ex-policeman into going to Seattle to bring back a fugitive wanted for assault, burglary, and the possible theft of a priceless edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." The bail jumper turns out to be a vulnerable young woman calling herself Eleanor Rigby, who is also a gifted book finder. Janeway is intrigued by the woman -- and by the deadly history surrounding the rare volume. Hunted by people willing to kill for the antique tome, a terrified Eleanor escapes and disappears. To find her -- and save her -- Janeway must unravel the secrets of the book's past and its mysterious maker, for only then can he stop the hand of death from turning another page....
Download or read book First Impressions written by Charlie Lovett and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-10-16 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling literary mystery costarring Jane Austen from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Bookman’s Tale. Book lover and Austen enthusiast Sophie Collingwood has recently taken a job at an antiquarian bookshop in London when two different customers request a copy of the same obscure book: the second edition of A Little Book of Allegories by Richard Mansfield. Their queries draw Sophie into a mystery that will cast doubt on the true authorship of Pride and Prejudice—and ultimately threaten Sophie’s life. In a dual narrative that alternates between Sophie’s quest to uncover the truth—while choosing between two suitors—and a young Jane Austen’s touching friendship with the aging cleric Richard Mansfield, Lovett weaves a romantic, suspenseful, and utterly compelling novel about love in all its forms and the joys of a life lived in books.
Download or read book The Lost Book of the Grail written by Charlie Lovett and published by Text Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-20 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arthur Prescott finds respite from the drudgery of his professorship in the Barchester Cathedral Library, where he researches the Holy Grail and his long-delayed guidebook for the medieval cathedral. His tranquility is shattered by Bethany Davis, a young American academic who has come to digitise the library’s ancient manuscripts. But hostility turns to affection when Arthur discovers Bethany is a kindred spirit, a Grail fanatic. They begin a quest for the lost Book of Ewolda, which could reveal secrets about the cathedral and the Grail, and their connections to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. As Arthur and Bethany delve into the past, the secret history of England—from the Norman invasion to the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution and the Blitz—is revealed. A thrilling adventure for history lovers, The Lost Book of the Grail is also an ode to the joys of reading. Charlie Lovett is a writer, teacher and playwright whose books include the New York Times bestseller The Bookman’s Tale and First Impressions. He is a bibliophile and a former antiquarian bookseller. He and his wife split their time between North Carolina and the Cotswolds. ‘In his latest literary mystery, Lovett supplements his trademark meld of books, romance, and adventure with an element of (fairly English) humor and some nods in the direction of P.G. Wodehouse...There's lots of research too...but it's underpinned by a pleasing treasure hunt mixed with the romantic involvement of two genially mismatched figures. A solidly built, innocently bookish diversion with a distinct Masterpiece Theater flavor.’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Former antiquarian bookseller Lovett here does what he did so well in his debut, The Bookman’s Tale.’ Library Journal ‘The Lost Book of the Grail is for every book addict. Full of suspense, delightful twists and turns, this is a tale about friendship, love, and the purpose of life.’ Nina George, New York Times bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop ‘Vivid, engaging...A love story and a detective story filled with wonderful historic detail.’ Kate Alcott ‘A mystery, a history, a pleasure—and a treasure.’ Gregory Maguire ‘Lovett considers topics both contemporary and timeless: the relevance and future of physical libraries; the advantages and drawbacks of electronic documents; love, devotion and friendship; recollection and truth; setting priorities for life; and faith and belief...Lovett’s expertise in, respect for and love of old books is apparent on every page...Not only bibliophiles will be charmed by this thoroughly enjoyable tale.’ BookMooch ‘Merging medievalist erudition, literary sleuthing and romantic comedy, Charlie Lovett’s The Lost Book of the Grail is an entertaining romp the well-read will enjoy.’ Age ‘Lovett explores the nature of faith and doubt while unravelling the long history of the cathedral and its treasures...For bibliophiles, Grail enthusiasts and anyone who loves a good quest, Arthur’s story is a rich, erudite and entertaining adventure.’ Shelf Awareness ‘Charlie Lovett’s charming novel combines Arthurian legend, Christian beliefs, history and a love of books to produce a grown-up’s version of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code...An engaging concoction of mystery, ancient manuscripts, secret codes, literary sleuthing, the real meaning of faith and mild romance. It will enthral those readers who love books and history.’ Canberra Weekly ‘What a fascinating book by Charlie Lovett, author of The Bookman’s Tale. Its denouement sends tingles through the body...The plot meanders through a then-and-now of glorious old books and manuscripts, the thrills of discovery and agony of obstacles. It is eminently engaging.’ SA Weekend
Download or read book Lewis Carroll s Diaries written by Lewis Carroll and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Tale Dark Grimm written by Adam Gidwitz and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-10-28 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches. Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after.
Download or read book The Man who Walked Through Walls written by Marcel Ayme and published by Pushkin Press. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The excellent Monsieur Dutilleul has always been able to pass through walls, but has never seen the point of using his gift, given the general availability of doors. One day, however, his tyrannical boss drives him to desperate, creative measures — he develops a taste for intramural travel and becomes something of a super-villain. How will the unassuming clerk adjust to a glamorous life of crime? Aymé’s genius lies in imagining the practical unfolding of bizarre and difficult situations. In each story, anarchic comedy is arrested by moments of pathos, only to descend into anarchy and hilarity once more ...
Download or read book The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat And Other Clinical Tales written by Oliver Sacks and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1998 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores neurological disorders and their effects upon the minds and lives of those affected with an entertaining voice.
Download or read book I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-03 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
Download or read book Escaping Dreamland written by Charlie Lovett and published by Blackstone Publishing. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert Parrish’s childhood obsession with series books like the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift inspired him to become an author. Just as his debut novel becomes a bestseller, his relationship with his girlfriend, Rebecca, begins to fall apart. Robert realizes he must confront his secret demons by fulfilling a youthful promise to solve a mystery surrounding his favorite series—the Tremendous Trio. Guided by twelve tattered books and an unidentified but tantalizing fragment of a story, Robert journeys into the history of the books that changed his life, hoping they can help him once again. His odyssey takes him to 1906 Manhattan, a time of steamboats, boot blacks, and Fifth Avenue mansions, but every discovery he makes only leads to more questions. Robert’s quest intertwines with the stories of three young people trying to define their places in the world at the dawn of a new and exciting century. Magda, Gene, and Tom not only write the children’s books that Robert will one day love, together they explore the vibrant city on their doorstep, from the Polo Grounds to Coney Island’s Dreamland, drawing the reader into the Gilded Age as their own friendships deepen. The connections between the authors, their creations, and Robert’s redemptive journey make for a beautifully crafted novel that is an ode to the children’s series books of our past, to New York City, and above all, to the power of love and friendship.
Download or read book The Bookman written by Lavie Tidhar and published by Watkins Media Limited. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a 19th century unlike our own, the shadowy assassin known as the Bookman moves unseen. His weapons are books; his enemies are many. And when Orphan, a young man with a mysterious past, loses his love to the sinister machinations of the Bookman, Orphan would stop at nothing to bring her back from the dead. In The Bookman, World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar writes a love letter to books, and to the serial literature of the Victorian era: full of hair-breadth escapes and derring-dos, pirates and automatons, assassins and poets, a world in which real life authors mingle freely with their fictional creations – and where nothing is quite as it seems. New 2016 edition includes the novelette “Murder in the Cathedral”. Discover, truthfully, what actually happened when Orphan visited Paris. File Under: Steampunk [Alternate Victorian London | Reptilian royalty | Diabolical anarchists | Extraordinary adventure!]
Download or read book The Bookman s Promise written by John Dunning and published by Gallery Books. This book was released on 2011-11-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cliff Janeway is back! The Bookman's Promise marks the eagerly awaited return of Denver bookman-author John Dunning and the award-winning crime novel series that helped to turn the nation on to first-edition book collecting. First, it was Booked to Die, then The Bookman's Wake. Now John Dunning fans, old and new, will rejoice in The Bookman's Promise, a richly nuanced new Janeway novel that juxtaposes past and present as Denver ex-cop and bookman Cliff Janeway searches for a book and a killer. The quest begins when an old woman, Josephine Gallant, learns that Janeway has recently bought at auction a signed first edition by the legendary nineteenth-century explorer Richard Francis Burton. The book is a true classic, telling of Burton's journey (disguised as a Muslim) to the forbidden holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Boston auction house was a distinguished and trustworthy firm, but provenance is sometimes murky and Josephine says the book is rightfully hers. She believes that her grandfather, who was living in Baltimore more than eighty years ago, had a fabulous collection of Burton material, including a handwritten journal allegedly detailing Burton's undercover trip deep into the troubled American South in 1860. Josephine remembers the books from her childhood, but everything mysteriously disappeared shortly after her grandfather's death. With little time left in her own life, Josephine begs for Janeway's promise: he must find her grandfather's collection. It's a virtually impossible task, Janeway suspects, as the books will no doubt have been sold and separated over the years, but how can he say no to a dying woman? It seems that her grandfather, Charlie Warren, traveled south with Burton in the spring of 1860, just before the Civil War began. Was Burton a spy for Britain? What happened during the three months in Burton's travels for which there are no records? How did Charlie acquire his unique collection of Burton books? What will the journal, if it exists, reveal? When a friend is murdered, possibly because of a Burton book, Janeway knows he must find the answers. Someone today is willing to kill to keep the secrets of the past, and Janeway's search will lead him east: To Baltimore, to a Pulitzer Prize-winning author with a very stuffed shirt, and to a pair of unorthodox booksellers. It reaches a fiery conclusion at Fort Sumter off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. What's more, a young lawyer, Erin d'Angelo, and ex-librarian Koko Bujak, have their own reasons for wanting to find the journal. But can Janeway trust them? Rich with the insider's information on rare and collectible books that has made John Dunning famous, and with meticulously researched detail about a mesmerizing figure who may have played an unrecognized role in our Civil War, The Bookman's Promise is riveting entertainment from an extraordinarily gifted author who is as unique and special as the books he so clearly loves.
Download or read book Z A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald written by Therese Fowler and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-03-26 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "When I saw that Amazon Prime was unveiling its original pilot for Z, a biographical series based on Therese Anne Fowler's novel about Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, I raised a wary eyebrow. . . But I was wrong, oh me of little faith. . . I]t's an enveloping period piece, perfectly cast, and I would like to see the pilot green-lighted into a series so that we can see this romance go up like a rocket with one loud champagne pop and strew debris across mansion lawns and luxury hotel lobbies in its transcontinental path." --Vanity Fair I wish I could tell everyone who thinks we're ruined, Look closer...and you'll see something extraordinary, mystifying, something real and true. We have never been what we seemed. When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the "ungettable" Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner's, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick's Cathedral and take the rest as it comes. What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined attention and success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time. Everyone wants to meet the dashing young author of the scandalous novel--and his witty, perhaps even more scandalous wife. Zelda bobs her hair, adopts daring new fashions, and revels in this wild new world. Each place they go becomes a playground: New York City, Long Island, Hollywood, Paris, and the French Riviera--where they join the endless party of the glamorous, sometimes doomed Lost Generation that includes Ernest Hemingway, Sara and Gerald Murphy, and Gertrude Stein. Everything seems new and possible. Troubles, at first, seem to fade like morning mist. But not even Jay Gatsby's parties go on forever. Who is Zelda, other than the wife of a famous--sometimes infamous--husband? How can she forge her own identity while fighting her demons and Scott's, too? With brilliant insight and imagination, Therese Anne Fowler's New York Times bestseller brings us Zelda's irresistible story as she herself might have told it.
Download or read book A Squirrel s Tale written by Richard Fowler and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flaps, slots, and a movable paper squirrel enable young readers to help a hungry squirrel look for the nuts he stored to help him through the winter.
Download or read book The Sign of the Book written by John Dunning and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2005-03-08 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author John Dunning comes a riveting Cliff Janeway Bookman novel, combining captivating book lore with page-turning suspense. Occasionally, Denver bookman Cliff Janeway has one of those perfect days—he sells a couple of good books and he buys something even better—perhaps a tough-to-find Steinbeck in mint condition. Even the jacket is fine. Working from his store on seedy Colfax Avenue, Janeway doesn't have enough of those days, but he's not complaining. Things are looking up because of his new partner and friend, lawyer Erin d'Angelo. So when Erin asks Janeway for a favor, it's hard to say no. She wants him to go over the mountain to the small town of Paradise where a former good friend, Laura Marshall, is in jail, accused of killing her husband. What happened at the Marshalls' remote mountain home? Did Laura kill Bobby, or is she trying to protect her oldest son? And where were the three children when the shooting occurred? What did they see? Rich with the intricacies of book collecting that only an expert like John Dunning can offer, The Sign of the Book is a beautifully crafted, enthralling novel of suspense from the consummate bookman himself.
Download or read book The Swallowed Man written by Edward Carey and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-01-26 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE “A strange and tender parable . . . All of Edward Carey's work is profound and delightful.” —Max Porter, author of Lanny The ingenious storyteller Edward Carey returns to reimagine a time-honored fable: the story of an impatient father, a rebellious son, and a watery path to forgiveness for the young man known as Pinocchio In the small Tuscan town of Collodi, a lonely woodcarver longs for the companionship of a son. One day, “as if the wood commanded me,” Giuseppe—better known as Geppetto—carves for himself a pinewood boy, a marionette he hopes to take on tour worldwide. But when his handsome new creation comes magically to life, Geppetto screams . . . and the boy, Pinocchio, leaps from his arms and escapes into the night. Though he returns the next day, the wily boy torments his father, challenging his authority and making up stories—whereupon his nose, the very nose his father carved, grows before his eyes like an antler. When the boy disappears after one last fight, the father follows a rumor to the coast and out into the sea, where he is swallowed by a great fish—and consumed by guilt. He hunkers in the creature’s belly awaiting the day when he will reconcile with the son he drove away. With all the charm, atmosphere, and emotional depth for which Edward Carey is known—and featuring his trademark fantastical illustrations—The Swallowed Man is a parable of parenthood, loss, and letting go, from a creative mind on a par with Gregory Maguire, Neil Gaiman, and Tim Burton.
Download or read book The Play of Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon written by and published by Heinemann. This book was released on 1993 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
