Drawing on themes that are similar to the ones in his novels, these poems are a journey into the depths of individual experience and universal passions.Divided into five parts, Unreconciled forms a narrative of love, hopelessness, catastrophe, dedication, and--ultimately--redemption. In a world of supermarkets and public transportation, indifferent landscapes and lonely nights, Houellebecq manages to find traces of divine grace even as he exposes our inexorable decline into chaos.Told through forms and rhythms that are both ancient and new, with language steeped in the everyday, Unreconciled stands in the tradition of Baudelaire while making a bold new claim on contemporary verse. It reveals that in addition to his work as an incisive novelist, Houellebecq is one of our most perceptive poets with a vision of our era that brims with tensions that cannot--and will not--be reconciled.

    That's easy enough in the summer, when kitchen gardens and allotments are awash with peas, beans, leafy greens, and soft fruit, but not so straightforward in midwinter, when the ground may be frozen solid. Success lies in the planning, and this book is written as a continuum, with sowing, planting, and growing advice for each month to keep the crops coming.There are also features on harvesting, storing, freezing, and preserving crops to enjoy later in the winter months and the early-spring gap when little is ready to harvest. Advice is given on winter polytunnel and greenhouse crops, and indoor seed sprouting, citrus plants, and herbs in pots to help bring fresh tastes to the table in winter. The result is a year-round manual for productive kitchen gardeners, with plenty of growing projects for raised beds and pots to allow smaller-scale gardeners to take part.