Download or read book The Man Who Spoke Snakish written by Andrus Kivirähk and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The runaway Estonian bestseller tells the imaginative and moving story of a boy tasked with preserving ancient traditions in the face of modernity. Set in a fantastical version of medieval Estonia, The Man Who Spoke Snakish follows a young boy, Leemet, who lives with his hunter-gatherer family in the forest and is the last speaker of the ancient tongue of snakish, a language that allows its speakers to command all animals. But the forest is gradually emptying as more and more people leave to settle in villages, where they break their backs tilling the land to grow wheat for their “bread” (which Leemet has been told tastes horrible) and where they pray to a god very different from the spirits worshipped in the forest’s sacred grove. With lothario bears who wordlessly seduce women, a giant louse with a penchant for swimming, a legendary flying frog, and a young charismatic viper named Ints, The Man Who Spoke Snakish is a totally inventive novel for readers of David Mitchell, Sjón, and Terry Pratchett.
Download or read book Goodness and the Literary Imagination written by Toni Morrison and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What exactly is goodness? Where is it found in the literary imagination? Toni Morrison, one of American letters’ greatest voices, pondered these perplexing questions in her celebrated Ingersoll Lecture, delivered at Harvard University in 2012 and published now for the first time in book form. Perhaps because it is overshadowed by the more easily defined evil, goodness often escapes our attention. Recalling many literary examples, from Ahab to Coetzee’s Michael K, Morrison seeks the essence of goodness and ponders its significant place in her writing. She considers the concept in relation to unforgettable characters from her own works of fiction and arrives at conclusions that are both eloquent and edifying. In a lively interview conducted for this book, Morrison further elaborates on her lecture’s ideas, discussing goodness not only in literature but in society and history—particularly black history, which has responded to centuries of brutality with profound creativity. Morrison’s essay is followed by a series of responses by scholars in the fields of religion, ethics, history, and literature to her thoughts on goodness and evil, mercy and love, racism and self-destruction, language and liberation, together with close examination of literary and theoretical expressions from her works. Each of these contributions, written by a scholar of religion, considers the legacy of slavery and how it continues to shape our memories, our complicities, our outcries, our lives, our communities, our literature, and our faith. In addition, the contributors engage the religious orientation in Morrison’s novels so that readers who encounter her many memorable characters such as Sula, Beloved, or Frank Money will learn and appreciate how Morrison’s notions of goodness and mercy also reflect her understanding of the sacred and the human spirit.
Download or read book Apothecary Melchior and the Mystery of St Olaf s Church written by Indrek Hargla and published by Peter Owen Publishers. This book was released on 2016-01-21 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first in a series of books that have taken Europe by storm and are soon to be filmed, featuring a chemist-turned-sleuth who battles ignorance and superstition—as well as killers—in a beautiful setting and in a gripping and mysterious era of historyThe Apothecary Melchior series plunges the reader into 15th-century Tallinn when Estonia is at the edge of Christian lands and the last foothold before the East: a town of foreign merchants and engineers, dominated by the mighty castle of Toompea and the construction of St Olaf's Church, soon to become the tallest building in the world. Apothecary Melchior is a divisive figure in the town: respected for his arcane knowledge and scientific curiosity but also slightly feared for his mystical witch-doctor aura. When a mysterious murder occurs in the castle, Melchior is called in to help find the killer and reveals a talent for detection. But Tallinn has a serial killer in its midst, and Melchior is tested to the limit in a plot with as many twists and turns as the turreted castle itself. Melchior uncovers a mystery surrounding St Olaf's and a secret society that has been controlling the town for years, uncovering truths about the town that may spell danger.
Download or read book Tender Morsels written by Margo Lanagan and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2008-10-14 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tender Morsels is a dark and vivid story, set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, a world given to her in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters grow up in this soft place, protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But the real world cannot be denied forever—magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of Liga’s refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?
Download or read book Oskar and the Things written by Andrus Kivirahk and published by . This book was released on 2022-09-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One summer, when both his parents are away for work, Oskar is sent to the countryside to live with his grandma. A dreary prospect turns into disaster when Oskar realises he left his mobile phone back at home. What will he do all summer now? Lonely and bored, Oskar crafts a phone out of a block of wood he finds in the shed and uses it to pretend to call things. To his surprise, the things reply! He speaks to a tough-talking iron, a poetising bin, a bloodthirsty wardrobe, a red balloon that gets tangled in the crown of a birch tree, and many more. Oskar finds himself in high demand, helping the things solve their problems and achieve their dreams. Oskar and the Things is a charming book about the power of the imagination and friendship, by Estonia's leading children's writer, Andrus Kivirähk. With a lively translation by Adam Cullen, and the original illustrations by Anne Pikkov, it is the perfect gift for an introverted child with a rich inner life.
Download or read book John Saturnall s Feast written by Lawrence Norfolk and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the remote village of Buckland, a mob chants of witchcraft. It is 1625, and John and his mother are running for their lives. Taking refuge among the trees of Buccla's Wood, John's mother opens her book and begins to tell her son of an ancient Feast kept in secret down the generations. Little does he know that one day, to keep hold of all that he holds most dear, he most realize his mother's vision - he must serve the Saturnall Feast.
Download or read book The Man Who Came Early written by Poul William Anderson and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-04-15 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How rarely science-fiction writers succeed in creating a wholly alien culture may be judged from any adequate study of an earthly culture of a time or place which does not form part of our direct heritage. S.F's aliens may have pseudopods or supersdentific gadgets, but rarely so wholly different a frame of reference as man himself has achieved in other eras. Here F&SFs favorite Scandinavian skald takes us to Iceland near the end of the tenth century and convincingly depicts a truly "alien" way of life and teaches us the tragic truth that the role of a twentieth-century timetraveler to a "primitive" culture need not necessarily be that of Prometheus the Fire-Bringer.
Download or read book The Adventure of the Speckled Band written by Arthur Conan Doyle and published by Modernista. This book was released on 2024-01-23 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: »The Adventure of the Speckled Band« is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, about the brilliant Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in 1892. SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE [1859-1930], was a Scottish physician and author, best known for his stories about the groundbreaking master detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle wrote a total of 56 short stories and four novels about Sherlock Holmes and his constant companion Dr. Watson.
Download or read book When the Doves Disappeared written by Sofi Oksanen and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the acclaimed author of Purge (“a stirring and humane work of art” —The New Republic) comes a riveting, chillingly relevant new novel of occupation, resistance, and collaboration in Eastern Europe. 1941: In Communist-ruled, war-ravaged Estonia, two men are fleeing from the Red Army—Roland, a fiercely principled freedom fighter, and his slippery cousin Edgar. When the Germans arrive, Roland goes into hiding; Edgar abandons his unhappy wife, Juudit, and takes on a new identity as a loyal supporter of the Nazi regime . . . 1963: Estonia is again under Communist control, independence even further out of reach behind the Iron Curtain. Edgar is now a Soviet apparatchik, desperate to hide the secrets of his past life and stay close to those in power. But his fate remains entangled with Roland’s, and with Juudit, who may hold the key to uncovering the truth . . . Great acts of deception and heroism collide in this masterful story of surveillance, passion, and betrayal, as Sofi Oksanen brings to life the frailty—and the resilience—of humanity under the shadow of tyranny. This eBook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.
Download or read book The Beauty of History written by Luik, Viivi and published by . This book was released on 2016-03-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel of poetic intensity, set in 1968 Latvia as news of the Prague Spring washes across Europe.
Download or read book Birmingham 35 Miles written by James Braziel and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2008-02-26 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this haunting and poignant debut novel, James Braziel tells an unforgettable story of love, family, and survival across a world that has already begun to die.… When the ozone layer opened and the sun relentlessly scorched the land, there was nothing left but to hope. Mathew Harrison had always heard of a better life as close as Birmingham, only thirty-five miles away—zones of blue sky, wet grass, and clean breathable air. But to him it’s a myth, a place guarded by soldiers, off limits to all but the lucky few. Meanwhile Mat works alongside his father, mining only the red clay that the once fertile Alabama soil can offer. Now, with the killing deserts on the move again and the woman he loves on a Greyhound heading north, Mat has a travel visa and every reason to leave. But his roots in this lifeless soil inexplicably hold him firmly to the past. Torn between hope and resignation, with time running out, Mat must make a fateful choice between a new life and the one that isn’t ready to let him go.
Download or read book Open Water written by Caleb Azumah Nelson and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD A NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION 5 UNDER 35 WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION “Open Water is tender poetry, a love song to Black art and thought, an exploration of intimacy and vulnerability between two young artists learning to be soft with each other in a world that hardens against Black people.”—Yaa Gyasi, author of Homegoing In a crowded London pub, two young people meet. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists—he a photographer, she a dancer—and both are trying to make their mark in a world that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence, and over the course of a year they find their relationship tested by forces beyond their control. Narrated with deep intimacy, Open Water is at once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity that asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body; to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength; to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, and blistering emotional intelligence, Caleb Azumah Nelson gives a profoundly sensitive portrait of romantic love in all its feverish waves and comforting beauty. This is one of the most essential debut novels of recent years, heralding the arrival of a stellar and prodigious young talent.
Download or read book The Misadventures of the New Satan written by Anton Hansen Tammsaare and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Bellini Card written by Jason Goodwin and published by Sarah Crichton Books. This book was released on 2010-03-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigator Yashim travels to Venice in the latest installment of the Edgar® Award–winning author Jason Goodwin's captivating historical mystery series Jason Goodwin's first Yashim mystery, The Janissary Tree, brought home the Edgar® Award for Best Novel. His follow-up, The Snake Stone, more than lived up to expectations and was hailed by Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times Book Review as "a magic carpet ride to the most exotic place on earth." Now, in The Bellini Card, Jason Goodwin takes us back into his "intelligent, gorgeous and evocative" (The Independent on Sunday) world, as dazzling as a hall of mirrors and utterly compelling. Istanbul, 1840: the new sultan, Abdülmecid, has heard a rumor that Bellini's vanished masterpiece, a portrait of Mehmet the Conqueror, may have resurfaced in Venice. Yashim, our eunuch detective, is promptly asked to investigate, but -- aware that the sultan's advisers are against any extravagant repurchase of the painting -- decides to deploy his disempowered Polish ambassador friend, Palewski, to visit Venice in his stead. Palewski arrives in disguise in down-and-out Venice, where a killer is at large as dealers, faded aristocrats, and other unknown factions seek to uncover the whereabouts of the missing Bellini. But is it the Bellini itself that endangers all, or something associated with its original loss? And why is it that all the killer's victims are somehow tied to the alluring Contessa d'Aspi d'Istria? Will the Austrians unmask Palewski, or will the killer find him first? Only Yashim can uncover the truth behind the manifold mysteries.
Download or read book The Great Exorcism written by Arthur Crane and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great Exorcism by Arthur. Crane, first published in 1915, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.
Download or read book The Countess of Pembroke s Arcadia written by Philip Sidney and published by . This book was released on 1898 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Last Book Smuggler written by Birute Putrius and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Part folktale, part thriller, THE LAST BOOK SMUGGLER tells the story of Ada and her grandfather Viktoras, an old book smuggler tired of his forty-year battle to keep his language alive despite the attempts of the Russian Empire to destroy it. Into their world steps Jonas, a young man in love with Ada and ready to join the underground book smugglers. But there is a traitor in their midst who must stop them or lose everything. Based on the author's grandfather, who was a book smuggler, the novel deftly captures the politics and dangers of the times while bringing to life an engaging and quirky family, with an element of the supernatural."--Amazon.com.
