Book picks similar to
Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses by Harold Bloom
fiction
the-west
school-reads
lit-criticism
Submarine U93
Charles Gilson - 2012
You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
The Lost Island - Free Preview (first 11 chapters): A Gideon Crew Novel
Douglas Preston - 2014
When his mysterious employer, Eli Glinn, gives him an eyebrow-raising mission, he has no reason to refuse. Gideon's task: steal a page from the priceless Book of Kells, now on display in New York City and protected by unbreakable security. Accomplishing the impossible, Gideon steals the parchment--only to learn that hidden beneath the gorgeously illuminated image is a treasure map dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks. As they ponder the strange map, they realize that the treasure it leads to is no ordinary fortune. It is something far more precious: an amazing discovery that could perhaps even save Gideon's life.Together with his new partner, Amy, Gideon follows a trail of cryptic clues to an unknown island in a remote corner of the Caribbean Sea. There, off the hostile and desolate Mosquito Coast, the pair realize the extraordinary treasure they are hunting conceals an even greater shock-a revelation so profound that it may benefit the entire human race . . . if Gideon and Amy can survive.
The Master Executioner
Loren D. Estleman - 2001
Everything he does, he does impeccably. He is a profound student of his art, completely versed in its traditions over the centuries. He is a student of ropes and their properties, a master of the latest scientific knowledge about the human neck, a careful calculator of weights and drops, and an exacting observer of results.For more than a quarter of a century he has worked to create a reputation as a man peerless in his craft: the master executioner.Yet he is utterly alone: His devotion to his work costs him his marriage. Suddenly, one day, a piece of his past catches him unawares, and Oscar comes to a moment of devastating truth and for the first time knows himself.
The Boo
Pat Conroy - 1970
Colonel Nugent Corvoisie, better known as "The Boo," was the Lt. Commandant in charge of discipline at the military college. He was both loved and feared by his "lambs." The book is a collection of stories explaining life at The Citadel and interactions between the cadets and The Boo (Conroy twice nearly got dismissed from the school for infractions but remained a staunch fan of The Boo). Col. Corvoisie was the model for "The Bear" in Conroy's later novel "The Lords of Discipline."
The Milagro Beanfield War
John Nichols - 1974
Carefully (and also illegally), he tapped into the main irrigation channel. And so began-though few knew it at the time-the Milagro beanfield war. But like everything else in the dirt-poor town of Milagro, it would be a patchwork war, fought more by tactical retreats than by battlefield victories. Gradually, the small farmers and sheepmen begin to rally to Joe's beanfield as the symbol of their lost rights and their lost lands. And downstate in the capital, the Anglo water barons and power brokers huddle in urgent conference, intent on destroying that symbol before it destroys their multimillion-dollar land-development schemes. The tale of Milagro's rising is wildly comic and lovingly ter, a vivid portrayal of a town that, half-stumbling and partly prodded, gropes its way toward its own stubborn salvation.
The Blue Notebook
James A. Levine - 2009
James Levine’s The Blue Notebook is that kind of book. It is the story of Batuk, an Indian girl who is taken to Mumbai from the countryside and sold into prostitution by her father; the blue notebook is her diary, in which she recalls her early childhood, records her life on the Common Street, and makes up beautiful and fantastic tales about a silver-eyed leopard and a poor boy who fells a giant with a single gold coin. How did Levine, a British-born doctor at the Mayo Clinic, manage to conjure the voice of a fifteen-year-old female Indian prostitute? It all began, he told me, when, as part of his medical research, he was interviewing homeless children on a street in Mumbai known as the Street of Cages, where child prostitutes work. A young woman writing in a notebook outside her cage caught Levine’s attention. The powerful image of a young prostitute engaged in the act of writing haunted him, and he himself began to write.The Blue Notebook brings us into the life of a young woman for whom stories are not just entertainment but a means of survival. Even as the novel humanizes and addresses the devastating global issue of child prostitution, it also delivers an inspiring message about the uplifting power of words and reading–a message that is so important to hold on to, especially in difficult times. Dr. Levine is donating all his U.S. proceeds from this book to help exploited children. Batuk’s story can make a difference.Sincerely,Celina SpiegelPublisher
Summary: All The Lights We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: A Quick & Detailed Summary
Anthony Doerr - 2015
This is his second novel (after his novel, About Grace, which he wrote in 2004), which was published in 2014 and was critically well received, as The New York Times considered for it to be one of the bestseller novels in 2014, earning Doerr Pulitzer’s Prize For Fiction in 2015. All the Light We Cannot See is a breathtaking, psychological love-war-drama novel, set both in pre-World War II and during World War II time. The story revolves around several characters, but the most important ones are Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a young girl who lives with her father, and young man named Werner Pfennig, a poor man whose life changes drastically after one day he discovers a broken radio receiver. The lives of the two intersect in a predictable yet very tense manner, and here comes the author’s ‘love-drama’ part, which Doer presents the readers in war-surrounded environment. The other ‘most important’ part of the novel is the mystery of something that is called ‘Sea of Flames’, a one hundred and thirty-two carat gold stone, which is connected with the legend that whoever carries it will be granted protection from death. This article serves as a deep analysis of the two main characters, their relationship, the possibility of such relationship to be developed in a surrounding that is life-threatening and dangerous, and an in-depth description of World War II era and its atmosphere. Here Is A Preview Of What You Will Get: In All The Lights We Cannot See , you will get a detailed summary of the novel In All The Lights We Cannot See , you will get some fun multiple choice quizes, along with answers to help you learn about the novel.
Lillian and Dash
Sam Toperoff - 2013
Hammett and Hellman’s relationship evolves during major artistic and political epochs—Hollywood’s heyday, the New York literary scene, the Spanish Civil War, McCarthyism, and both world wars—and each movement is captured with subjectivity and credible insight. Populated with writers, drinkers, filmmakers, and revolutionaries, Lillian and Dash chronicles the unusual affair of two prominent and headstrong figures.
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
Chandler Duke - 2015
The Soviets control the west coast. The British have The Colonies. The Confederacy is a powder keg in the middle. A terrorist attack in dystopian Atlanta lights the fuse. A Captain in the KKK grows disillusioned with his country. A widow who won’t grieve grows disillusioned with herself. A slave working at a weapons factory reaches his limits. A British invasion of Black Panthers. A Russian spy hides in plain sight. A President cashes in his chips. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy tells the story of an America on the brink- of war, of identity, of starting over. From the Author:I recently did a full edit and polish of my novel and am republishing it on Amazon as of 2/22/16. Based on reader feedback and reviews, I hired a professional editor to address any issues of syntax, grammar and other small typos/mistakes. So if you have any complaints, at least it will be because you hated the story and not the grammar. Thanks for reading!
Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature
Angus Fletcher - 2021
And the writers we revere—from Homer, Shakespeare, Austen, and others—each made a unique technical breakthrough that can be viewed as both a narrative and neuroscientific advancement. Literature’s great invention was to address problems we could not solve: not how to start a fire or build a boat, but how to live and love; how to maintain courage in the face of death; how to account for the fact that we exist at all. Wonderworks reviews the blueprints for twenty-five of the most significant developments in the history of literature. These inventions can be scientifically shown to alleviate grief, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, numbness, depression, pessimism, and ennui, while sparking creativity, courage, love, empathy, hope, joy, and positive change. They can be found throughout literature—from ancient Chinese lyrics to Shakespeare’s plays, poetry to nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and crime novels to slave narratives. A “refreshing and remarkable” (Jay Parini, author of Borges and Me: An Encounter) exploration of the new literary field of story science, Wonderworks teaches you everything you wish you learned in your English class, and “contains many instances of critical insight....What’s most interesting about this compendium is its understanding of imaginative representation as a technology” (The New York Times).
My Dream of You
Nuala O'Faolain - 2001
A globetrotting Irish travel writer, Kathleen de Burca is used to living--and loving--on the run. On the brink of fifty, she decides to leave her job and rethink her life. Intrigued by a divorce case dating back to the days of the Potato Famine, she tries hand at writing about it. The case, called "The Talbot Affair," detailed the clandestine liaison between the wife of a British landlord and an Irish servant in Ireland in the 1850s. After a bitter thirty-year absence, Kathleen returns to Ireland, the land of her troubled childhood and turbulent heritage, in search of answers to her questions about desire and lasting love.
Rand's Atlas Shrugged
Andrew Bernstein - 2000
The latest generation of titles in this series also features glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.CliffsNotes on Atlas Shrugged is your guide to author Ayn Rand's masterpiece, an impassioned defense of the freedom of man's mind. She shows that without the independent mind, our society would collapse into primitive savagery.Delve into the post-World War II historical context of Atlas Shrugged and the modern implications of its conclusions. Other features that help you study includeCharacter analyses of major playersA character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the charactersCritical essaysA review section that tests your knowledgeA Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Internet sitesClassic literature or modern modern-day treasure you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides."
Frankenstein: A Guide to Reading and Reflecting
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - 2021
Frankenstein. The Scarlet Letter. You’re familiar with these pillars of classic literature. You have seen plenty of Frankenstein costumes, watched the film adaptations, and may even be able to rattle off a few quotes, but do you really know how to read these books? Do you know anything about the authors who wrote them, and what the authors were trying to teach readers through their stories? Do you know how to read them as a Christian? Taking into account your old worldview, as well as that of the author? In this beautiful cloth-over-board edition bestselling author, literature professor, and avid reader Karen Swallow Prior will guide you through Frankenstein. She will not only navigate you through the pitfalls that trap readers today, but show you how to read it in light of the gospel, and to the glory of God. This edition includes a thorough introduction to the author, context, and overview of the work (without any spoilers for first-time readers), the full original text, as well as footnotes and reflection questions throughout to help the reader attain a fuller grasp of Frankenstein. The full series currently includes: Heart of Darkness, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre, and Frankenstein. Make sure to keep an eye out for the next classics in the series.