Daedalus Books

Colin B., 2005

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was one of the most audacious and original landscape artists of his age. Throughout his career, he continually experimented with composition, light, paint handling, and pictorial structure in innovative new ways that challenged traditional and contemporary painting. He taught himself by working side-by-side with fellow Impressionist masters Monet and Sisley, and in the 1870s began to define his distinctive landscape style of quick, silvery brushstrokes. By the end of the decade he had moved decisively in the direction of unparalleled painterly freedom. This stunning book is the first to examine Renoir’s landscape art in depth, tracing its evolution from the beginning of his career through his Impressionist period and the early 1880s, when he began to incorporate new landscape motifs and new levels of coloristic intensity in paintings after traveling to Algeria and Italy. With over 200 illustrations, a detailed chronology, and bibliography, the book includes essays by highly distinguished scholars that discuss the range and importance of these works and present many fresh discoveries. They also place Renoir’s landscapes in the overall context of the genre in 19th-century France, revealing how his experiments were radical and in ways that have not yet been fully acknowledged influential on the later development of modern art. Подробнее

Ultimate Backyards: Inspired Ideas for Outdoor Living

Kodis Michelle, 2006

Outdoor living is no longer defined as a simple patio with a few tables and chairs — today, homeowners are designing remarkable spaces in which to eat, relax, meditate, swim, and even sleep! Author Michelle Kodis reveals how to create a customized oasis in nearly any type of setting. Whether building new or redesigning an existing yard, Ultimate Backyards offers inspiration for outdoor spaces no matter the climate or budget — design is the key to creating a unique and personalized space. Learn how to connect an outdoor area architecturally to its environment, whether in the country, a suburb, or a busy urban locale. See first-hand the ways in which architects study a home's surroundings and then make them an integral part of the living space. Thirty case studies share stories, photos, and information on the challenges facing each project at its beginning, and the beautiful end result. Helpful sidebars offer suggestions and solutions on topics such as sustainability, using recycled materials, setting and staying within a budget, and what to do with a really small space. Sections include: Outdoor Rooms — outside spaces that dramatically increase the size and usable space of a home, from screened porches to outdoor family and play rooms; Indoor/Outdoor Combination — outdoor spaces designed to enhance an indoor/outdoor connection, such as a bedroom that opens directly to the outside; Water — pools, spas, ponds, and spaces that utilize water as the focal point; and, Creative Landscapes — landscapes that go beyond the ordinary to truly connect the house to its setting. Подробнее

Inside Log Homes

Thiede Cindy, 2003

From the biggest notions of carefully styled rooms to the smallest comforts and delights of accessorizing a home with your favorite things, Inside Log Homes offers suggestions, understanding, and inspiration regarding the intensely personal and expressive world of log-cabin living. Author Cindy Thiede peeks through doors into hundreds of uniquely styled and personally appointed spaces. Sometimes comfortably familiar, other times surprising and unexpected, each room may plant the seed of possibility for your own emerging vision of home and hearth. Cindy Thiede has spent twenty years photographing and writing about log-home architecture in the United States. Additional titles by Ms. Thiede include Hands-On Log Homes: Cabins Built on Dreams, The Log Home Book: Design, Past and Present, American Log Homes. Подробнее

Sex with the Queen

Herman Eleanor, 2006

In this follow-up to her bestselling Sex with Kings, Eleanor Herman reveals the truth about what goes on behind the closed door of a queen's boudoir. Impeccably researched, filled with page-turning romance, passion, and scandal, Sex with the Queen explores the scintillating sexual lives of some of our most beloved and infamous female rulers. She was the queen, living in an opulent palace, wearing lavish gowns and dazzling jewels. She was envied, admired, and revered. She was also miserable, having been forced to marry a foreign prince sight unseen, a royal ogre who was sadistic, foaming at the mouth, physically repulsive, mentally incompetent, or sexually impotent — and in some cases all of the above.How did queens find happiness? In courts bristling with testosterone — swashbuckling generals, polished courtiers, and virile cardinals — many royal women had love affairs.Anne Boleyn flirted with courtiers; Catherine Howard slept with one. Henry VIII had both of them beheaded.Catherine the Great had her idiot husband murdered, and ruled the Russian empire with a long list of sexy young favorites.Marie Antoinette fell in love with the handsome Swedish count Axel Fersen, who tried valiantly to rescue her from the guillotine.Empress Alexandra of Russia found emotional solace in the mad monk Rasputin. Her behavior was the spark that set off the firestorm of the Russian revolution.Princess Diana gave up her palace bodyguard to enjoy countless love affairs, which tragically led to her early death. When a queen became sick to death of her husband and took a lover, anything could happen — from disgrace and death to political victory. Some kings imprisoned erring wives for life; other monarchs obligingly named the queen's lover prime minister.The crucial factor deciding the fate of an unfaithful queen was the love affair's implications in terms of power, money, and factional rivalry. At European courts, it was the politics — not the sex — that caused a royal woman's tragedy — or her ultimate triumph. Подробнее

American Illustration 28 Wrapped in a seductive red acetate jacket with artwork by John Hendrix, American Illustration 28 proves that its subject remains at the forefront of visual communication. From over 8,000 submissions to the annual competition by 1,000 illustrators, magazines, agencies and publishers, 380 were selected to appear in the book. Panelists including Luis Blanco and Michael Uman of INTERspectacular animation studio, Max Bode of the New Yorker and Kelly Doe of The New York Times picked work from the most popular publications and campaigns of 2008, including The Believer, Harper's and Men's Health. The book also includes newly released stamps from the U.S. Postal Service that pay tribute to Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. Steve Brodner and Istvan Banyai's commemoration of Barack Obama's election victory sits alongside Barry Blitt's controversial New Yorker cover of Barack and Michelle's fist bump, while the designer-as-artist is represented by works on sexism by Bryan Christie Design for Portfolio magazine and politics by Arem Duplessis for Wired. Подробнее

Aristocrats: Power, Grace, and Decadence: Britain's Great Ruling Classes from 1066 to the Present

James Lawrence, 2010

Aristocracy means rule by the best. For nine hundred years, the British aristocracy considered itself ideally qualified to rule others, make laws, and guide the nation. Its virtues lay in its collective wisdom, its attachment to chivalric codes, and its sense of public duty. It evolved from a medieval warrior caste into a self-assured and sophisticated elite, which made itself the champion of popular liberty: It forced King John to sign the Magna Carta and later used its power and wealth to depose a succession of tyrannical kings from Richard II to James II. Britain's liberties and constitution were the result of aristocratic bloody-mindedness and courage. Aristocrats traces the history of this remarkable supremacy. It is a story of civil wars, conquests, intrigue, chicanery, and extremes of selflessness and greed. The aristocracy survived and, in the age of the great house and the Grand Tour, governed the first industrial nation while a knot of noblemen ruled its growing empire. Under pressure from below, this political power was slowly relinquished and then shared. Yet democratic Britain retained its aristocracy: Churchill, himself the grandson of a duke, presided over a wartime cabinet that contained six hereditary peers. Lawrence James illuminates the culture of this singular caste, shows how its infatuation with classical art has forged England's heritage, how its love of sport has shaped the nation's pastimes and values, and how its scandals have entertained its public. Impeccably researched, balanced, and brilliantly told, Aristocrats is an enthralling story of survival, a stunning history of wealth, power, and influence. Подробнее

Artemis Fowl

Colfer Eoin, 2010

Twelve-year-old villain Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. His bold and daring plan is to hold a leprechaun to ransom. But he's taking on more than he bargained for when he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance Unit). This is a truly modern classic, first published in 2002. Подробнее

Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex

Colfer Eoin, 2010

Artemis Fowl's criminal ways have finally got the better of him... Young Artemis has frequently used high-tech fairy magic to mastermind the most devious criminal activity of the new century. Now, at a conference in Iceland, Artemis has gathered the fairies to present his latest idea to save the world from global warming. But Artemis is behaving strangely — he seems different. Something terrible has happened to him... Artemis Fowl has become nice. The fairies diagnose Atlantis Complex — that's obsessive compulsive disorder to you and me — dabbling in magic has damaged his mind. Fairy ally Captain Holly Short doesn't know what to do. Because the subterranean volcanoes are under attack from vicious robots and Artemis cannot fight them. Can Holly get the real Artemis back — before the robot probes destroy every human and life form. Подробнее

The Boleyn Inheritance

Gregory Philippa, 2007

Three women who share one fate: the Boleyn Inheritance. She runs from her tiny country, her hateful mother, and her abusive brother to a court ruled by the terror of a vengeful king who despises her. Her Boleyn Inheritance: accusations and false witness. She is in love — but not with the diseased old man who made her queen and beds her night after night. Her Boleyn Inheritance: the threat of the axe. She is the Boleyn girl whose testimony sent her husband and sister-in-law to their deaths. Throughout Europe, her name is a byword for malice, jealousy, and twisted lust. Her Boleyn Inheritance: a fortune and a title, in exchange for her soul. The Boleyn Inheritance is a novel drawn tight as a lute string about three women whose positions brought them wealth, admiration, and power as well as deceit, betrayal, and terror. Once again, Philippa Gregory is at her intelligent, page-turning best. Подробнее

Bryson's Dictionary for Writers

Bryson Bill, 2008

From one of America's most beloved and bestselling authors, a wonderfully useful and readable guide to the problems of the English language most commonly encountered by editors and writers. What is the difference between «immanent» and «imminent?» What is the singular form of graffiti? What is the difference between «acute» and «chronic?» What is the former name of «Moldova?» What is the difference between a cardinal number and an ordinal number? One of the English language's most skilled writers answers these and many other questions and guides us all toward precise, mistake-free usage. Covering spelling, capitalization, plurals, hyphens, abbreviations, and foreign names and phrases, Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors will be an indispensable companion for all who care enough about our language not to maul, misuse, or contort it. This dictionary is an essential guide to the wonderfully disordered thing that is the English language. As Bill Bryson notes, it will provide you with «the answers to all those points of written usage that you kind of know or ought to know but can't quite remember». Подробнее

Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable; The Age of Chivalry; Legends of Charlema

Bulfinch Thomas, 1991

The most complete compendium of mythology ever published. 'Bulfinch's Mythology' includes the stories of: Apollo and Daphne, Pygmalion, Cupid and Psyche, Jason and the Golden Fleece, Hercules, Theseus and Daedalus, The Trojan War, Ulysses, and more... Подробнее

Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power

Rounding Virginia, 2008

From the acclaimed author of Grandes Horizontales comes a book that the Washington Post calls a vivid portrait of a sensual and intellectual woman. Dutiful daughter, passionate lover, doting grandmother, tireless legislator, generous patron of artists and philosophers — Empress Catherine II was all these things, and more. Her reign, the longest in Russian imperial history, lasted from 1762 until her death in 1796; during these years she realized Peter the Great's ambition to establish Russia as a major European power and to transform its new capital, St. Petersburg, into a city to rival Paris and London. Yet Catherine was not Russian by birth and had no legitimate claim to the Russian throne; she seized it and held on to it, through wars, rebellions, and plagues, by the force of her personality and an unshakable belief in her own destiny. Using Catherine's own correspondence, as well as contemporary accounts by courtiers, ambassadors, and foreign visitors, Virginia Rounding penetrates the character of this powerful, fascinating, and surprisingly sympathetic eighteenth-century figure. Подробнее

Click, Clack, ABC

Cronin Doreen, 2010

Join Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin's hilarious farmyard animals as they guide readers through the alphabet. From ducks dashing to sheep sleeping, children are sure to enjoy the alphabet like never before. Clever text and hilarious scenes are certain to help little ones learn their ABC's! This 6 x 6 board book is based on Click, Clack, Quackity-Quack but has a refreshed concept-driven cover and is ideal for little hands. Подробнее

The Complete Henry Bech

Updike John, 2001

Since tales of his exploits began appearing in The New Yorker more than thirty years ago, Henry Bech, John Updike's playfully irreverent alter-ego, has charmed readers with his aesthetic dithering and his seemingly inexhaustible libido. The Bech stories — collected in one volume for the first time, and featuring a final, series-capping story, His Oeuvre — cast an affectionate eye on the famously unproductive Jewish-American writer, offering up a stream of wit, whimsy, and lyric pungency unmatched in American letters. From his birth in 1923 to his belated paternity and public apotheosis as a spry septuagenarian in 1999, Bech plugs away, globetrotting in the company of foreign dignitaries one day and schlepping in tattered tweeds on the college lecture circuit the next. By turns cynical and naive, wry and avuncular, and always amorous, he is Updike's most endearing confection — a Lothario, a curmudgeon, and a winsome literary icon all in one. A perfect forum for Updike's limber prose, The Complete Henry Bech is an arch portrait of the literary life in America from an incomparable American writer. Подробнее

A Drink Before the War

Lehane Dennis, 2003

Kenzie and Gennaro are private investigators in the blue-collar neighborhoods and ghettos of South Boston-they know it as only natives can. Working out of an old church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro take on a seemingly simple assignment for a prominent politician: to uncover the whereabouts of Jenna Angeline, a black cleaning woman who has allegedly stolen confidential state documents. Finding Jenna, however, is easy compared to staying alive once they've got her. The investigation escalates, implicating members of Jenna's family and rival gang leaders while uncovering extortion, assassination, and child prostitution extending from bombed-out ghetto streets to the highest levels of government. A Drink Before the War, the first in Lehane's acclaimed series with Boston detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, is a remarkable debut that is at once a pulsating crime thriller and a mirror of our world, one in which the worst human horrors are found closest to home, and the most vicious obscenities are committed in the name of love. Подробнее

The Essential J: R. R. Tolkien Sourcebook: A Fan's Guide to Middle-Earth and beyond

Beahm George, 2003

A reference book chock-full of sidebars, quotes, and short interviews, this illustrated guide to Middle-earth and beyond will be an indispensable addition to any Tolkien collection. Подробнее

Lasher

Rice Anne, 1993

From the day her first Vampire Chronicle was published, critics and readers — readers by the hundreds of thousands — have been mesmerized by the writings of Anne Rice. And with the publication of The Witching Hour, she created for us yet another world and legend, and both the chorus of praise and the multitudes of her readers once more increased. Now, Anne Rice brings us again — even more magically — into the midst of the dynasty of witches she introduced in The Witching Hour. At the center: the brilliant an beautiful Rowan Mayfair, queen of the coven, and Lasher, the darkly compelling demon whom she finds irresistible and from whose evil spell and vision she must now flee. She takes with her their terrifying and exquisite child, one of «a brood of children born knowing, able to stand and talk on the first day». Rowan's attempt to escape Lasher and his pursuit of her and their child are at the heart of this extraordinary saga. It is a novel that moves around the globe, backward and forward through time, and between the human and demonic worlds. Its many voices — of women, of men, of demons and angels, present and past — haunt and enchant us. With a dreamlike power, the novel draws us through twilight paths, telling a chillingly hypnotic story of occult and spiritual aspirations and passion. Подробнее

Memnoch the Devil

Rice Anne, 1995

In Anne Rice's new novel, the Vampire Lestat — outsider, canny monster, hero-wanderer — is at last offered the chance to be redeemed. He is brought into direct confrontation with both God and the Devil, and into the land of Death. We are in New York. The city is blanketed in snow. Through the whiteness Lestat is searching for Dora, the beautiful and charismatic daughter of a drug lord, the woman who arouses Lestat's tenderness as no mortal ever has. While torn between his vampire passions and his overwhelming love for Dora, Lestat is confronted by the most dangerous adversaries he has yet known. He is snatched from the world itself by the mysterious Memnoch, who claims to be the Devil. He is invited to be a witness at the Creation. He is taken like the ancient prophets into the heavenly realm and is ushered into Purgatory. He must decide if he can believe in the Devil or in God. And finally, he must decide which, if either, he will serve. Подробнее

Nation

Pratchett Terry, 2008

The sea has taken everything. Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne — a girl from the other side of the globe — is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave. Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne's sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives — all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down. Internationally revered storyteller Terry Pratchett presents a breathtaking adventure of survival and discovery, and of the courage required to forge new beliefs. Подробнее

On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature

Lewis C.S., 2002

The theme of this collection is the excellence of Story, especially of the kind of story dear to C.S. Lewis — fantasy and science fiction, which he fostered in an age dominated by realistic fiction. Gathered here are nine essays that first appeared in Of Other Worlds, including On Stories and On Three Ways of Writing for Children, and eleven pieces not previously collected. Among the newcomers are reviews of works by J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Rider Haggard, and George Orwell, a panegyric to Dorothy Sayers, and an essay. The Death of Words, which shows how common usage can distort and deprive language. Подробнее

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