Питер Тейлор3.3 A richly observed, finely tuned novel about how a charming, elderly widower's remarriage is foiled by his meddlesome, unmarried, middle-aged children, told by that master story-teller, Peter Taylor, against the backdrop he has made so distinctive--the society of urban Tennessee.
Donald Barthelme3.0 "No other word for it: a charming book."—Peter S. Prescott, Newsweek
Simon, a middle-aged architect separated from his wife, is given the chance to live out a stereotypical male fantasy: freed from the travails of married life, he ends up living with three nubile lingerie models who use him as a sexual object.
Set in the 1980s, there's a further tension between Simon's desire to exploit this stereotypical fantasy and his (as well as the author's) desire to treat the women as human beings, despite the women's claims that Simon can't distinguish between their personalities.
Employing a variety of forms, Barthelme gracefully plays with this setup, creating a story that's not just funny—although it's definitely that—but actually quite melancholy, as Simon knows that the women's departure is inevitable, that this "paradise" will come to an end, and that he'll be left with only an empty house, booze, and regrets about chances not taken.
Norman Rush0.0 In this magnificent collection of stories, Rush produces indelible portraits of Euro-American ex-patriates at loose ends in the black African republic of Botswana. The author's characters are unforgettable, while their predicaments are funny, improbably logical, and almost affecting as Africa itself.
David K. Shipler0.0 The Jew, according to the Arab stereotype, is a brutal, violent coward; the Arab, to the prejudiced Jew, is a primitive creature of animal vengeance and cruel desires. In this monumental work, revised and more relevant than ever, David Shipler delves into the origins of the prejudices that have been intensified by war, terrorism, nationalism, and the failure of the peace process.
Cyra McFadden0.0 Chronicles the author's early life as the daughter of a rodeo announcer and a trick rider, whose tumultuous free-spirited relationship is set against the gritty backdrop of the Western rodeo circuit, despite marriage and divorce.
John McPhee0.0 Rising from the Plains is John McPhee’s third book on geology and geologists. Following Basin and Range and In Suspect Terrain, it continues to present a cross section of North America along the fortieth parallel—a series gathering under the overall title Annals of the Former World.
