Download or read book The Famous Magician Storybook ND Series written by César Aira and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A writer is offered a devil’s bargain: will he give up reading books in exchange for total world domination? A certain writer ("past sixty, enjoying 'a certain renown'") strolls through the old book market in a Buenos Aires park: "My Sunday walk through the market, repeated over so many years, was part of my general fantasizing about books." Unfortunately, he is suffering from writer's block. However, that proves to be the least of our hero's problems. In the market, he fails to avoid the insufferable boor Ovando—"a complete loser" but a "man supremely full of himself: Conceit was never less justified." And yet, is Ovando a master magician? Can he turn sugar cubes into pure gold? And can our protagonist decline the offer Ovando proposes granting him absolute power if the writer never in his life reads another book? And is his publisher also a great magician? And the writer's wife? Only César Aira could have cooked up this witch's potion (and only he would plop in phantom Mont Blanc pens as well as fearsome crocodiles from the banks of the Nile)—a brew bubbling over with the question: where does literature end and magic begin?
Download or read book Spadework for a Palace Storybook ND Series written by László Krasznahorkai and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A joyful ode—in a single soaring, crazy sentence—to the interconnectedness of great (and mad) minds Spadework for a Palace bears the subtitle “Entering the Madness of Others” and offers an epigraph: “Reality is no obstacle.” Indeed. This high-octane obsessive rant vaults over all obstacles, fueled by the idées fixe of a “gray little librarian” with fallen arches whose name—mr herman melvill—is merely one of the coincidences binding him to his lodestar Herman Melville (“I too resided on East 26th Street . . . I, too, had worked for a while at the Customs Office”), which itself is just one aspect of his also being “constantly conscious of his connectedness” to Lebbeus Woods, to the rock that is Manhattan, to the “drunkard Lowry” and his Lunar Caustic, to Bartok. And with this consciousness of connection he is not only gaining true knowledge of Melville, but also tracing the paths to “a Serene Paradise of Knowledge.” Driven to save that Palace (a higher library he also serves), he loses his job and his wife leaves him, but “people must be told the truth: there is no dualism in existence.” And his dream will be “realized, for I am not giving up: I am merely a day-laborer, a spade-worker on this dream, a herman melvill, a librarian from the lending desk, currently an inmate at Bellevue, but at the same time—may I say this?—actually a Keeper of the Palace."
Download or read book Birthday written by César Aira and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Birthday is among the very best of Aira—it will surprise readers new to his work, and will deeply satisfy his many fans Before you know it you are no longer young, and by the way, while you were thinking about other things, the world was changing—and then, just as suddenly you realize that you are fifty years old. Aira had anticipated his fiftieth—a time when he would not so much recall years past as look forward to what lies ahead—but the birthday came and went without much ado. It was only months later, while having a somewhat banal conversation with his wife about the phases of the moon, that he realized how little he really knows about his life. In Birthday Aira searches for the events that were significant to him during his first fifty years. Between anecdotes ,and memories, the author ponders the origins of his personal truths, and meditates on literature meant as much for the writer as for the reader, on ignorance, knowledge, and death. Finally, Birthday is a little sad, in a serene, crystal-clear kind of way, which makes it even more irresistible.
Download or read book The English Understand Wool Storybook ND Series written by Helen DeWitt and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A modern amorality play about a 17-year-old girl, the wilder shores of connoisseurship, and the power of false friends Maman was exigeante—there is no English word–and I had the benefit of her training. Others may not be so fortunate. If some other young girl, with two million dollars at stake, finds this of use I shall count myself justified. Raised in Marrakech by a French mother and English father, a 17-year-old girl has learned above all to avoid mauvais ton ("bad taste" loses something in the translation). One should not ask servants to wait on one during Ramadan: they must have paid leave while one spends the holy month abroad. One must play the piano; if staying at Claridge’s, one must regrettably install a Clavinova in the suite, so that the necessary hours of practice will not be inflicted on fellow guests. One should cultivate weavers of tweed in the Outer Hebrides but have the cloth made up in London; one should buy linen in Ireland but have it made up by a Thai seamstress in Paris (whose genius has been supported by purchase of suitable premises). All this and much more she has learned, governed by a parent of ferociously lofty standards. But at 17, during the annual Ramadan travels, she finds all assumptions overturned. Will she be able to fend for herself? Will the dictates of good taste suffice when she must deal, singlehanded, with the sharks of New York?
Download or read book Early Light Storybook ND Series written by Osamu Dazai and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early Light gathers three tales by Osamu Dazai, author of the wildly popular No Longer Human Early Light offers three very different aspects of Osamu Dazai's genius: the title story relates his misadventures as a drinker and a family man in the terrible fire bombings of Tokyo at the end of WWII. Having lost their own home, he and his wife flee with a new baby boy and their little girl to relatives in Kofu, only to be bombed out anew. "Everything's gone," the father explains to his daughter: "Mr. Rabbit, our shoes, the Ogigari house, the Chino house, they all burned up," "Yeah, they all burned up," she said, still smiling. "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji," another autobiographical tale, is much more comic: Dazai finds himself unable to escape the famous views, the beauty once immortalized by Hokusai and now reduced to a cliche. In the end, young girls torment him by pressing him into taking their photo before the famous peak: "Goodbye," he hisses through his teeth, "Mount Fuji. Thanks for everything. Click." And the final story is "Villon's Wife," a small masterpiece, which relates the awakening to power of a drunkard's wife. She transforms herself into a woman not to be defeated by anything, not by her husband being a thief, a megalomaniacal writer, and a wastrel. Single-handedly, she saves the day by concluding that "There's nothing wrong with being a monster, is there? As long as we can stay alive."
Download or read book The Woman Who Killed the Fish Storybook ND Series written by Clarice Lispector and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four beguiling tales for children of all ages. A surprising new facet of Clarice Lispector’s genius “That woman who killed the fish unfortunately is me,” begins the title story, but “if it were my fault, I’d own up to you, since I don’t lie to boys and girls. I only lie sometimes to a certain type of grownup because there’s no other way.” Enumerating all the animals she’s loved—cats, dogs, lizards, chickens, monkeys—Clarice finally asks: “Do you forgive me?” “The Mystery of the Thinking Rabbit” is a detective story which explains that bunnies think with their noses: for a single idea a bunny might “scrunch up his nose fifteen thousand times” (he may not be too bright, but “he’s not foolish at all when it comes to making babies”). The third tale, “Almost True,” is a shaggy dog yarn narrated by a pooch who is very worried about a wicked witch: “I am a dog named Ulisses and my owner is Clarice.” The wonderful last story, “Laura’s Intimate Life” stars “the nicest hen I’ve ever seen.” Laura is “quite dumb,” but she has her “little thoughts and feelings. Not a lot, but she’s definitely got them. Just knowing she’s not completely dumb makes her feel all chatty and giddy. She thinks that she thinks.” A one-eyed visitor from Jupiter arrives and vows Laura will never be eaten: she’s been worrying, because “humans are a weird sort of person” who can love hens and eat them, too. Such throwaway wisdom abounds: “Don’t even get me started.” These delightful, high-hearted stories, written for her own boys, have charm to burn—and are a treat for every Lispector reader.
Download or read book The Literary Conference New Directions Pearls written by César Aira and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2010-05-25 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New in the New Directions Pearls series: an extremely rich mad scientist attempts to clone a leading genius in a bid to take over the world. César is a translator who’s fallen on very hard times due to the global economic downturn; he is also an author, and a mad scientist hell-bent on world domination. On a visit to the beach he intuitively solves an ancient riddle, finds a pirate’s treasure, and becomes a very wealthy man. Even so, César’s bid for world domination comes first and so he attends a literary conference to be near the man whose clone he hopes will lead an army to victory: the world-renowned Mexican author, Carlos Fuentes. A comic science fiction fantasy of the first order, The Literary Conference is the perfect vehicle for César Aira’s take over of literature in the 21st century.
Download or read book Three Streets Storybook ND Series written by Yoko Tawada and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yoko Tawada—winner of the National Book Award—presents three terrific new ghost stories, each named after a street in Berlin The always astonishing Yoko Tawada here takes a walk on the supernatural side of the street. In "Kollwitzstrasse," as the narrator muses on former East Berlin's new bourgeois health food stores, so popular with wealthy young people, a ghost boy begs her to buy him the old-fashioned sweets he craves. She worries that sugar's still sugar—but why lecture him, since he's already dead? Then white feathers fall from her head and she seems to be turning into a crane . . . Pure white kittens and a great Russian poet haunt "Majakowskiring": the narrator who reveres Mayakovsky's work is delighted to meet his ghost. And finally, in "Pushkin Allee," a huge Soviet-era memorial of soldiers comes to life—and, "for a scene of carnage everything was awfully well-ordered." Each of these stories opens up into new dimensions the work of this magisterial writer.
Download or read book The Magician s Show Box written by Lydia Maria Child and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2018-01-28 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original.
Download or read book The Magician s Hat written by Malcolm Mitchell and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A magician introduces children to the fantastical powers of books in this delightful and encouraging read by a Super Bowl champion and literacy crusader. This is not your typical afternoon at the library—a magician invites kids to reach into his hat to pull out whatever they find when they dig down deep. Soon—poof!—each child comes away with something better than they could’ve imagined—a book that helps them become whatever they want to be, and makes their dreams come true through pages and words, and the adventures that follow. But each child can’t help but wonder, What’s really making the magic happen? Praise for The Magician’s Hat “Malcolm Mitchell is changing the world through the power of reading.” —Dav Pilkey, bestselling creator of the Dog Man and Captain Underpants series “The Magician’s Hat will cast its spell on you!” —Jeff Kinney, bestselling author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series “New England Patriot and literacy advocate Mitchell proves to have a touch of magic as an author as well as on the field . . . Perhaps youngsters who think they are more interested in football than reading will take the message to heart.” —Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book How I Met My Monster written by Amanda Noll and published by Flashlight Press. This book was released on 2019-11-03 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One night, when Ethan reaches under his bed for a toy truck, he finds this note instead: "Monsters! Meet here for final test." Ethan is sure his parents are trying to trick him into staying under the covers, until he sees five colorful sets of eyes blinking at him from beneath the bed. Soon, a colorful parade of quirky, squeaky little monsters compete to become Ethan's monster. But only the little green monster, Gabe, has the perfect blend of stomach-rumbling and snorting needed to get Ethan into bed and keep him there so he falls asleep—which as everyone knows, is the real reason for monsters under beds. With its perfect balance of giggles and shivers, this silly-spooky prequel to the award-winning I Need My Monster and Hey, That's MY Monster! will keep young readers entertained.
Download or read book The Magician s Show Box and Other Stories written by Maria Child Lydia Maria Child and published by IndyPublish.com. This book was released on 2005-12-01 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Road to the City written by Natalia Ginzburg and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-04 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A magnificently stark book—within the smallness of one poor, muddled, provincial life, Natalia Ginzburg finds enormous pain and loss An almost unbearably intimate novella, The Road to the City concentrates on a young woman barely awake to life, who fumbles through her days: she is fickle yet kind, greedy yet abashed, stupidly ambitious yet loving too—she is a mass of confusion. She’s in a bleak space, lit with the hard clarity of a Pasolini film. Her family is no help: her father is largely absent; her mother is miserable; her sister’s unhappily promiscuous; her brothers are in a separate masculine world. Only her cousin Nini seems to see her. She falls into disgrace and then “marries up,” but without any joy, blind to what was beautiful right before her own eyes. The Road to the City was Ginzburg’s very first work, originally published under a pseudonym. “I think it might be her best book,” her translator Gini Alhadeff remarked: “And apparently she thought so, too, at the end of her life, when assembling a complete anthology of her work for Mondadori.
Download or read book Young Houdini written by Simon Nicholson and published by . This book was released on 2015-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's most famous magician. But before his name became legend, who was young Harry Houdini? New York City, 1886. Harry Houdini is just a penniless street urchin dabbling with a few escape tricks. But when a well-known magician goes missing in mysterious circumstances, Harry and his friends, Arthur and Billie, are sucked into a deadly adventure. Now Harry must put all his extraordinary skills into action - not just to solve the mystery - but to stay alive. Because when he fallsinto the clutches of some of Manhattan's most dangerous villains, his spectacular escapes won't be for show - they'll be a matter of life and death!
Download or read book The Magician s Show Box and Other Stories Dodo Press written by Lydia Maria Child and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work from the 19th Century American abolitionist and women's rights activist.
Download or read book The Trouble with Abracadabra written by Michael Dahl and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mysterious magician at the Abracadabra Hotel needs help from Charlie and Tyler.
Download or read book Night of the New Magicians written by Mary Pope Osborne and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2009-03-20 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system! Merlin sends Jack and Annie on a mysterious mission to Paris, France, over a 100 years ago. There they must find four magicians and give them an urgent message from Merlin himself. When Jack and Annie land in Paris, they make their way to the 1889 World’s Fair. Below the Eiffel Tower, built especially for the fair, there are thousands of exhibits from all over the world. But how will Jack and Annie find the magicians in the crowds of people? And who are the magicians anyway? Jack and Annie are about to find out in another adventure filled with history, magic, and amazing surprises! Formerly numbered as Magic Tree House #35, the title of this book is now Magic Tree House Merlin Mission #7: Night of the New Magicians. Did you know that there’s a Magic Tree House book for every kid? Magic Tree House: Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books Merlin Missions: More challenging adventures for the experienced reader Super Edition: A longer and more dangerous adventure Fact Trackers: Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures Have more fun with Jack and Annie at MagicTreeHouse.com!
