Vox
Author: Nicholson Baker --
Published: 1995 --
Format: Paperback
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DESCRIPTION:
Baker has written a novel that remaps the territory of sex--solitary and telephonic, lyrical
and profane, comfortable and dangerous. Written in the form of a phone conversation between
two strangers, Vox is an erotic classic that places the author in the first rank of America's
major writers.
TSURUOKA REVIEW:
No review from Jeff yet ...
MONICA'S REVIEW:
An erotic phone sex conversation... It is a simply a dialog that was recorded over a
private 900 line between a man and a woman which explores their sexual fantasies. It is not
written like other books (with a plot, a point, etc.) so when I read it I wasn't sure what to
think of it. It goes a bit too long for my tastes and I wished that the conversation was
broken up with some "real life" experiences. But, that isn't the point of the book and in
that respect, it is a good read.
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Invisible Cities
Author: Italo Calvino (translated) --
Published: 1986 --
Format: Paperback
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DESCRIPTION:
Dream-like story telling at the twilight of an empire. In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan
and the young Marco Polo—Tartar emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed
the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts the emperor with tales of the cities
he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities
and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. Soon it
becomes clear that each of these fantastic places is really the same place.
TSURUOKA REVIEW:
No review from Jeff yet ...
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The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Author: Michael Chabon --
Published: 1989 --
Format: Paperback
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DESCRIPTION:
Chabon provides a brilliantly fresh first novel and national bestseller about the joys and
pains of youth coming of age. "Astonishing . . . The voice of a young writer with tremendous
skill as he discovers, joyously, just what his words can do." --New York Times.
TSURUOKA REVIEW:
No review from Jeff yet ...
MONICA'S REVIEW:
Appealing to fellow X Generation folks... I have read this book and my recollection
of it was that it was very Catcher in the
Rye-esque with a bit of modern spin that would appeal to many of the X
generation. It is a tale of about a young man in his early 20's who comes of age and
questions his sexuality, school, and life. Of course, this isn't as good as Salinger's but
it is definately worth reading.
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Ehrengard & Anecdotes of Destiny
Author: Isak Dinesen --
Published: 1993 --
Format: Paperback
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DESCRIPTION:
In the classic "Babette's Feast," a mysterious Frenchwoman prepares a sumptuous feast for
a gathering of religious ascetics and, in doing so, introduces them to the true essence of
grace. In "The Immortal Story," a miserly old tea-trader living in Canton wishes for power
and finds redemption as he turns an oft-told sailors' tale into reality for a young man and
woman. And in the magnificent novella Ehrengard, Dinesen tells of the powerful yet
restrained rapport between a noble Wagnerian beauty and a rakish artist.
TSURUOKA REVIEW:
No review from Jeff yet ...
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Like Water for Chocolate
Author: Linda Esquivel (translated) --
Published: 1994 --
Format: Paperback
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Amazon.com Price: $11.16
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DESCRIPTION:
Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in tum-of-the-century Mexico
became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet
wit.
TSURUOKA REVIEW:
Ms. Esquivel's wonderful first novel is part family chronicle, part bedroom farce, part
romance, part morality play, and part cookbook. Her prose is lively and her imagery shimmers
in a way that makes everyday events resonate with a magical electricity. While reading
Like Water for Chocolate one can feel the sweat, smell the cilantro, and suddenly
start to find wonders in the least wondrous places.
OTHER EDITIONS:
This book is available in a hardcover edition
as well.
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The Magus
Author: John Fowles --
Published: 1985 --
Format: Paperback
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DESCRIPTION:
A man trapped in a millionare's deadly game of political and sexual betrayal. Filled with
shocks and chilling surprises, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature. In it,
a young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching position on a Greek island where his
friendship with the owner of the islands most magnificent estate leads him into a nightmare.
As reality and fantasy are deliberately confused by staged deaths, erotic encounters, and
terrifying violence, Urfe becomes a desperate man fighting for his sanity and his life. A
work rich with symbols, conundrums and labrinthine twists of event, The Magus is as
thought-provoking as it is entertaining, a work that ranks with the best novels of modern
times.
TSURUOKA REVIEW:
John Fowles' The Magus is rather difficult to classify. The story is many layered and
in the hands of a lesser artist would be little more than mass confusion. However, Fowles'
creation is a dizzying, erotic, and tense novel that is at once a classical romance, a cloak
and dagger mystery, and an international political thriller. The story centers around a man on
vacation who finds himself invited to a private island to spend time with an aging eccentric
and his staff. He meets a woman, who may or may not be one of a set of twins and the plot is
set in motion. From that moment on no one is who they seem to be and even the day and year of
the events becomes questionable as the narrator becomes entangled in a circle of play acting,
sex, torture, mistaken identity, and finally embarks on a search for the truth behind it all.
Fowles' prose is absolutely seductive -- you'll find yourself putting things off to read more
of The Magus, and years after you've put the book back on the bookshelf you'll find
images from this novel popping into your mind from time to time.
OTHER EDITIONS:
This book is available in a hardcover edition
as well.
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Piano Stories
Author: Felisberto Hernandez (translated) --
Published: 1993 --
Format: Paperback
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DESCRIPTION:
Here, in a first English translation of his work, the improbable, the ridiculous, the
non-computing all feed his little stories--admired by such more major talents as Garc novella,
there are lifelike dolls, hallways full of open parasols, a woman whose "best friend" her
balcony. Homely details not even close to central pull the rest of the narration toward them,
come what may [...] But all the goofy knocks-akilter, inversions, doublings, and elongations
aside, Hernandez's work has a preciousness and aestheticism that make it mostly a curiosity.
TSURUOKA REVIEW:
No review from Jeff yet ...
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Jeff has
been a huge influence on what she has read and we are glad to be able to share this wonderful
collection of books with you.
