Category Archives: Travel Guides
Don`t Look Now and Other Stories
John and Laura have come to Venice to try and escape the pain of their young daughter`s death. But when they encounter two old women who claim to have second sight, they find that, instead of laying their ghosts to rest, they become caught up in a train of increasingly strange and violent events. The
The Lonely Londoners
Both devastating and funny, `The Lonely Londoners` is an unforgettable account of immigrant experience – and one of the great twentieth-century London novels.At Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London. There, homesick Moses Aloetta, who has already lived in the city
Red Strangers
Growing up in Kenya in the early twentieth century, the brothers Matu and Muthegi are raised according to customs that, they are told, have existed since the beginning of the world. But when the red` strangers come, sunburned Europeans who seek to colonize their homeland, the lives of the two Kikuyu tribesmen begin to change
Summer Crossing
Grady beautiful, rich, flame-haired, defiant is the sort of girl people stare at across a room. The daughter of an important man, who people want to be introduced to. A girl to whom people sense something is going to happen. But her privileged society life of parties, debutantes and dresses leaves her wanting more. And
I, Claudius
Despised for his weakness and regarded by his family as little more than a stammering fool, the nobleman Claudius quietly survives the intrigues, bloody purges and mounting cruelty of the imperial Roman dynasties. In “I, Claudius”, he watches from the sidelines to record the reigns of its emperors: from the wise Augustus and his villainous
Claudius the God
Claudius has survived the murderous intrigues of his predecessors to become, reluctantly, Emperor of Rome. Here, he recounts his surprisingly successful reign: how he cultivates the loyalty of the army and the common people to repair the damage caused by Caligula; his relations with the Jewish King Herod Agrippa; and his invasion of Britain. But
All The King`s Men
All the King`s Men is considered the finest novel ever written on American politics. Set in the 1930s, this book traces the rise and fall of Willie Stark, who resembles the real-life Huey “Kingfish” Long of Louisiana. Stark begins his political career as an idealistic man of the people but soon becomes corrupted by success.
The Fountainhead
This is Ayn Rand`s story of Howard Roark, a brilliant architect who dares to stand alone against the hostility of second-hand souls. First published in 1943, this best-selling novel is a passionate defense of individualism and presents an exalted view of man`s creative potential; it is a book about ambition, power, gold and love.
Humboldt`s Gift
For many years, the great poet Von Humboldt Fleisher and Charlie Citrine, a young man inflamed with a love for literature, were the best of friends. At the time of his death, however, Humboldt is a failure, and Charlie`s life has reached a low point: his career is at a standstill, and he`s enmeshed in
Dangling Man
Expecting to be inducted into the army, Joseph has given up his job and carefully prepared for his departure to the battlefront. When a series of mix-ups delays his induction, he finds himself facing a year of idleness. “Dangling Man” is his journal, a wonderful account of his restless wanderings through Chicago`s streets, his musings
More Die of Heartbreak
Kenneth Trachtenberg, the witty and eccentric narrator of More Die of Heartbreak, has left his native Paris for the Midwest. He has come to be near his beloved uncle, the world-renowned botanist Benn Crader, self-described “plant visionary.” While his studies take him around the world, Benn, a restless spirit, has not been able to satisfy
Henderson The Rain King
Bellow evokes all the rich colour and exotic customs of a highly imaginary Africa in this comic novel about a middle-aged American millionaire who, seeking a new, more rewarding life, descends upon an African tribe. Henderson`s awesome feats of strength and his unbridled passion for life earns him the admiration of the tribe – but
Mr Sammler`s Planet
Mr. Artur Sammler, Holocaust survivor, intellectual, and occasional lecturer at Columbia University in 1960s New York City, is a `registrar of madness`, a refined and civilized being caught among people crazy with the promises of the future (moon landings and endless possibilities). His Cyclopean gaze reflects on the degradations of city life while looking deep
Oleander, Jacaranda
This autobiography is about growing up in Egypt. It is also an investigation into childhood perception in which the author uses herself and her memories as an insight into how children see and know. It is a look at Egypt up to, and including, World War II from a small girl`s point of view, which
The Victim
Leventhal is a natural victim; a man uncertain of himself, never free from the nagging suspicion that the other guy may be right. So when he meets a down-at-heel stranger in the park one day and finds himself being accused of ruining the man`s life, he half believes it. He can`t shake the man loose,
The Driver`s Seat
Described as “a metaphysical shocker” at the time of its release, Muriel Sparks` `The Driver`s Seat` is a taut psychological thriller, published with an introduction by John Lanchester in Penguin Modern Classics. Lise has been driven to distraction by working in the same accountants` office for sixteen years. So she leaves everything behind her, transforms
The Dean`s December
Dean Corde is a man of position and authority at a Chicago university. He accompanies his wife to Bucharest where her mother, a celebrated figure, lies dying in a state hospital. As he tries to help her grapple with an unfeeling bureaucracy, news filters through to him of problems left behind in Chicago. A student
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
This is a haunting, elegiac novel which captures the mood and atmosphere of Italy (and in particular Ferrara) in the last summers of the thirties, focusing on an aristocratic Jewish family moving imperceptibly towards its doom. Vittorio De Sica turned the book into a film in 1970, winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language
To Jerusalem & Back
In the mid-1970s, Saul Bellow visited Israel and To Jerusalem and Back is his account of his time there. Immersing himself in its landscape and culture, he records the opinions, passions and dreams of Israelis of varying viewpoints ‘“ from Prime Minister Rabin, novelist Amos Oz and the editor of an Arab-language newspaper to a
Season of Migration to the North
`”Season of Migration to the North” is an Arabian Nights in reverse, enclosing a pithy moral about international misconceptions and delusions. The brilliant student of an earlier generation returns to his Sudanese village; obsession with the mysterious West and a desire to bite the hand that has half-fed him, has led him to London and
