Book picks similar to
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The Long Shadow
B.M. Bower - 2011
You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
Here It Is! The Route 66 Map Series
James William Ross - 2005
This is the 2006 Edition of the original, acclaimed Route 66 Map Series by Mother Road historians Jerry McClanahan and Jim Ross. In print continuously since 1994, the Route 66 Map Series remains the #1 choice for roadies worldwide when it comes to functionality and precise, accurate, turn-by-turn driving directions. Designed for today’s tourists, this packaged set of eight roadmaps, one for each Route 66 state, provides an easy to follow “through route” aimed at keeping you on track and maximizing your Mother Road experience. Designed with a “treasure map” theme and generously illustrated with original art, points of interest and historical text, the Route 66 Map Series is the most trusted guide material available and the only “must have” you will need as you explore America’s legendary highway, regardless of where you begin or what direction you travel.
Duck Hunting
Aleksandr Vampilov - 1980
He has come to detest his boring job and the petty superior he must defer to; his marriage is falling apart; he feels betrayed by his friends, he disdains the young student who offers him the passion and sense of wonder he once derived from his wife; and he seems concerned only with his annual hunting trip which, he hopes, will restore a purpose and identity to his life. But events continue to frustrate him: his wife aborts the child who might have saved their relationship; the new apartment they have wrested from the grudging bureaucracy seems more a tomb than a home; and ultimately, suicide appears to be Zilov's only alternative. But, in the end, emboldened by vodka and defying the persistent bad weather, Zilov does go hunting for the will to live is stronger than the desire to give up, and hope remains, even in the gray sameness of an existence gone stale.
The Voice of the Poet: Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath - 1999
A first in audiobook publishing--a series that uses the written word to enhance the listening experience--poetry to be read as well as heard. Each audiobook includes rare archival recordings on cassette and a book with the text of the poetry, a bibliography, and a commentary by J. D. McClatchy, the poet and critic, who is the editor of The Yale Review.
Pokojnik
Branislav Nušić - 1982
Pavle leaves town to think things over. Weeks later, a deformed corpse is found washed up on the banks of the Danube and is identifed to be that of Pavle. The case is judged a suicide. Three years later, Pavle, now "the deceased," unexpectedly returns. He discovers that his heirs have not only plundered his estate, but also refuse to recognize him as being "legally" alive, and they unite to keep him "dead" to maintain the status quo. This is the first English translation of a masterful and darkly comic play that will enter its rightful place as a world classic. The fluid and natural translation lends itself to theatrical production. Comically absurd, filled with existential angst, it was ahead of its time in 1937. At once vaudevillian and modernist, it is distinguished by clever plotting and stinging dialogue. The play stands as a lasting and caustic satire of human greed, strangely consonant with todays society.
The Escape: A Leaf For Freedom
William Wells Brown - 2000
The first published play by an African American writer, The Escape explored the complexities of American culture at a time when tensions between North and South were about to explode into the Civil War. This new volume presents the first-edition text of Brown’s play and features an extensive introduction that establishes the work’s continuing significance.The Escape centers on the attempted sexual violation of a slave and involves many characters of mixed race, through which Brown commented on such themes as moral decay, white racism, and black self-determination. Rich in action and faithful in dialect, it raises issues relating not only to race but also to gender by including concepts of black and white masculinity and the culture of southern white and enslaved women. It portrays a world in which slavery provided a convenient means of distinguishing between the white North and the white South, allowing northerners to express moral sentiments without recognizing or addressing the racial prejudice pervasive among whites in both regions.John Ernest’s introductory essay balances the play's historical and literary contexts, including information on Brown and his career, as well as on slavery, abolitionism, and sectional politics. It also discusses the legends and realities of the Underground Railroad, examines the role of antebellum performance art—including blackface minstrelsy and stage versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin—in the construction of race and national identity, and provides an introduction to theories of identity as performance.A century and a half after its initial appearance, The Escape remains essential reading for students of African American literature. Ernest's keen analysis of this classic play will enrich readers’ appreciation of both the drama itself and the era in which it appeared.The Editor: John Ernest is an associate professor of English at the University of New Hampshire and author of Resistance and Reformation in Nineteenth-Century African-American Literature: Brown, Wilson, Jacobs, Delany, Douglass, and Harper.
The Heiress (DPS Acting Edition)
Ruth Goetz - 1951
Catherine's lack of worldliness prevents her from realizing that the young man proposing to her is not entirely drawn to her by her charm. Catherine's father, a successful doctor, sees through the fortune hunter and forbids the marriage, but his daughter proposes an elopement that fails to materialize because the young man knows most of her expected fortune will go elsewhere if he marries her. Catherine retires into a little world of her own. But the fortune hunter turns up once more and again proposes to her. For a moment, Catherine leads him to believe that she will accept him, but when he calls by appointment, she locks the door, blows out all the lights and allows him to realize that she will not be fooled for the second time.
Chicago
Fred Ebb - 1981
In roaring twenties Chicago, chorine Roxie Hart murders a faithless lover and convinces her hapless husband Amos to take the rap...until he finds out he's been duped and turns on Roxie. Convicted and sent to death row, Roxie and another Merry Murderess Velma Kelly, vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the American Dream fame, fortune and acquittal. This sharp edged satire features a dazzling score that sparked immortal staging by Bob Fosse. 'A pulse racing revival that flies us right into musical heaven.-The New York Times Wildly entertaining...[with a] dazzling score.-New York Daily News
Speaking in Tongues
Andrew Bovell - 1998
Nine parallel lives, interlocked by four infidelities, one missing person and a mysterious stiletto, are woven through a fragmented series of confessionals and interrogations that gradually reveal a darker side of human nature.
Moon on a Rainbow Shawl
Errol John - 1958
Snatches of calypso compete with hymn tunes, drums and street cries as neighbours drink, brawl, pass judgment, make love, look out for each other and crave a better life. But Ephraim is no dreamer and nothing, not even the seductive Rosa, is going to stop him escaping his dead-end job for a fresh start in England.Set as returning troops from the Second World War fill the town with their raucous celebrations, Erroll John's Moon on a Rainbow Shawl depicts a vibrant, cosmopolitan world that is as harsh as it is filled with colour and warmth.
The Scarlet Ibis: Poems
Susan Hahn - 2007
The resonance of this image grows through each section of the book as Hahn skillfully employs theme and variation, counterpoint and mirroring techniques. The ibis first appears as part of an illusion, the disappearing object in a magician’s trick, which then evokes the greatest disappearing act of all—death—where there are no tricks to bring about a reappearance. The rich complexity multiplies as the second section focuses on a disappearing lady and a dramatic final section brings together the bird and the lady in their common plight—both caged by their mortality, their assigned time and role. All of the illusions fall away during this brilliant denouement as the two voices share a dialogue on the power of metaphor as the very essence of poetry. bird trick iv It’s all about disappearance. About a bird in a cagewith a mirror, a simple twiston the handle at the sidethat makes it come and go at the magician’s insistence. It’s all about innocence.It’s all about acceptance.It’s all about compliance.It’s all about deference.It’s all about silence. It’s all about disappearance.
Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales
Philip Wilson - 2016
In this stage version by Philip Wilson, you’ll meet the familiar characters – Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel – and some unexpected ones too, such as Hans-My-Hedgehog, the Goose Girl at the Spring and the remarkable Thousandfurs.Full of deliciously dark twists and turns, the tales come to life in all their glittering, macabre brilliance – a delight for children and adults alike.These Grimm Tales were first performed as immersive storytelling experiences underneath Shoreditch Town Hall, London, in 2014, and Bargehouse on the South Bank in 2015. They also offer plentiful opportunities for youth theatres, schools and amateur companies looking for a vivid new version of the classic fairytales.
The Spanish Prisoner & The Winslow Boy
David Mamet - 1999
His dialogue--abrasive, rhythmic--illuminates a modern aesthetic evocative of Samuel Beckett. His plots--surprising, comic, topical--have evoked comparisons to masters from Alfred Hitchcock to Arthur Miller. Here are two screenplays demonstrating the astounding range of Mamet's talents. The Spanish Prisoner, a neo-noir thriller about a research-and-development cog hoodwinked out of his own brilliant discovery, demonstrates Mamet's incomparable use of character in a dizzying tale of twists and mistaken identity. The Winslow Boy, Mamet's revisitation of Terence Rattigan's classic 1946 play, tells of a thirteen-year-old boy accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order and the tug of war for truth that ensues between his middle-class family and the Royal Navy. Crackling with wit, intelligent and surprising, The Spanish Prisoner and The Winslow Boy celebrate Mamet's unique genius and our eternal fascination with the extraordinary predicaments of the common man.
To Kill a Mockingbird (A BookHacker Summary)
BookHacker - 2013
Sometimes you try and it’s just so boring and impenetrable that you can’t get through it. And then, even worse, sometimes you’re asked to take a test or write a paper about it. If that sounds familiar, then BookHacker was designed for you.BookHacker summaries strip away all the subtlety and stuffiness of literature’s classic works (100% “thou”-free guaranteed) and get right to the point. Taking away all the guess work, BookHacker presents the book's warm gooey center in a concise, logical and entertaining way. Just because literary classics can be dry and boring doesn't mean understanding them has to be.In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, BookHacker gets to the essence of what’s going down in Depression-era Maycomb, Alabama. Told through the eyes of Scout Finch, whose youthful idealism is being chipped away by the evils of her small, Southern town, BookHacker walks you through a fight for justice her father Atticus cannot win. It's his unerring dedication to protecting the innocent (and his badass sniper skills) that gives her hope."I'm not going to lie--I used this to get out of having to read the book for class and it worked" Steven, 10th grade
“BookHacker gave me exact details and plotting, EXACTLY everything I needed to get through a dry, tough book” Rebecca, college freshman
“This was surprisingly cool and honest. Would I want my teachers to know I used it? No, but that's why it's worth buying." Andrew, 12th gradeBOOKHACKER BREAKDOWN:1. Executive Summary - This is the Who, What, Where, When, Why, How in 60 seconds or less.2. Plot - We do the reading so you don’t have to. The essential plot points of the story.3. Scenes - Every great story has a number of number of important moments that are crucial (read: "testable") to its understanding. These are those.4. Characters - If you can’t figure out what this section is about, you should probably be coloring.5. Analysis - Themes, symbolism, and all manner of insufferable literary nonsense.6. Quotes - All the intimacy of the book with none of the commitment.7. Popular Culture - Books have a way of finding their place in the cultural consciousness. You might want to know about that.8. Extras - Media, links and leftovers.