Daedalus Books

Edith Nesbit, 2010

The five children find a cantankerous sand fairy or 'psammead' in a gravel pit. Every day 'It' will grant each of them a wish that lasts until sunset, often with disastrous consequences. Five Children and It was first published in 1902, and it has remained in print ever since. The Introduction to this edition examines Nesbit's life and her reading, showing how she was poised between the Victorian world and a new era in which children in literature were no longer mere projections of the adult viewpoint. Sandra Kemp examines how the narrative is structured around the acting out of literary fantasies, which always come down to earth. Nesbit combines wonderfully implausible events with the prosaic and familiar, and Kemp illuminates her exploration of the shifting relationship between imagination, literature, and life. Подробнее

Abstinence Teacher

Tom Perrotta, 2007

»As is evident from his previous novels Election and Little Children, Tom Perrotta seems to enjoy putting characters with divergent belief systems together in a bag, as it were, and shaking it up. That is the technique he uses in The Abstinence Teacher, to satiric effect. Ruth Ramsey, divorced, is the human sexuality teacher at the local high school; she believes in being honest with her students, telling them that some people 'enjoy oral sex'. She lands in hot water when an evangelical church, offended by her curriculum, forces the school board to include a section on abstinence. Tim Mason is the beloved soccer coach of Ruth's young daughter, Maggie. He is also a reformed stoner/loser and an entrenched member of the church that attacked Ruth. Things get interesting when Tim, in a moment of crisis, leads his team of girls in prayer, and Ruth publicly drags her daughter from the soccer field. Ironically, Ruth and Tim find they have more in common than they thought, and a shaky — at times humorous — interchange begins. Perrotta focuses on the small, personal motives behind life's big shake-ups. A finely wrought novel». Подробнее

Alfred and Emily

Doris Lessing, 2008

»I think my father's rage at the trenches took me over, when I was very young, and has never left me», writes Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing in this combined novella and memoir exploring the lives of her parents, each irrevocably damaged by the Great War. In the fictional first half of Alfred and Emily, she imagines the happier lives her parents might have made for themselves had there been no war, a story that begins with their meeting at a village cricket match outside Colchester. What follows is Lessing's piercing examination of their relationship as it actually was through the Great War and the family's move to Africa — and the impact her parents' marriage had on her, a young woman growing up in a strange land. «In her first major work since receiving the Nobel Prize, Lessing looks back to the enduring mysteries of her parents' lives. 'The First World War did them both in', she writes. Her father lost a leg and was tormented by untreated post-traumatic stress syndrome. Her mother never got over the suffering of the countless soldiers she nursed in London, or her husband's misery, made worse by the severe diabetes that shortened his life. Haunted by her parents' sacrifices, Lessing imagines alternative lives for Alfred and Emily in a sparkling novella. Laced with the subtlest of observations and the wryest of wit, it's a charming yet cutting story of rapid social change, the resiliency of women, class conflicts, the call to do good, and the confounding dynamics of marriage and parenthood. Lessing then switches to memoir to disclose true-life inspirations for the novella, sharing bristling tales of her family's precarious existence in British colonial Africa and musing over her resourceful mother's kitchen clinic and her contemplative father's fascination with spiders and stars. This unusual marriage of fiction and memoir (and family photographs) results in a book at once spellbinding, rueful, and tragic. And how keenly Lessing decries injustice, wastefulness, and war; how much of her parents' smashed dreams and root-deep sorrows she still harbors». Подробнее

Bad Cat Puts On His Top Hat

Tracy McGuinness, 2005

Bad Cat returns in this loopy picture book for readers up to 8, and he's up to his old tricks. The toothy feline runs into a restaurant kitchen to cook himself breakfast, puts his painty paws on an artist's canvas, and climbs up a ladder some thieves are climbing down. Finally he slinks backstage and finds himself the center of a big dance production. Yet somehow everything Bad Cat does «wrong» seems to turn out right, even though it doesn't matter to him one way or the other; «I'm Bad Cat, top hat cat, dancing on my way, to the twinkly lights in Stinkytown, razzle-dazzle hey» he sings in defiant triumph. Tracy-Lee McGuinness-Kelly renders her insouciant hero in jazzy computer-generated collages. «This book is brimming with, well, everything. The computer-assisted artwork is packed with people and shapes that flip and fly across the pages. Sometimes shiny bright, sometimes patterned, and occasionally looking like collage, the images mirror the energy of the text.... A huge dose of silly feline fun». Подробнее

Barnacle Carnival

Jessica Southwick, 2009

It's carnival time under the sea! Join all of your underwater friends for games, goodies, and rides galore! This incredible hardbound book features eight fully-illustrated spreads of aquatic antics and amazing pop-ups, with enough hilarious details to keep you exploring again and again. Sales of this book benefit Conservation International. Подробнее

Bedtime Stories for the Very Young

Mathew Price, 2008

Feeling jealous over the attentions given his new baby sibling, a little fox runs away from home, in the first story in this treasury. In other stories, a bear can't get to sleep and keeps disturbing his friends; a hungry ginger cat goes looking for some milk; and a toddler asks his mother to tell him a story. This collection of four stories for prereaders is illustrated with Atsuko Morozumi's detailed, dimensionally shaded watercolor drawings, and includes four «picture stories» — busy, two-page scenes where so much is going on that youngsters can make up their own stories. Подробнее

The Best American Comics 2008

Lynda Barry, 2008

This newest edition to the Best American Series — «A genuine salute to comics» (Houston Chronicle) — returns with a set of both established and up-and-coming contributors. Editor Lynda Barry and brand new series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden — acclaimed cartoonists in their own right — have sought out the best stories culled from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and the Web to create this cutting-edge collection «perfect for newbies as well as fans» — The San Diego Union Tribune. This newest volume features luminaries like Chris Ware, Seth, and Alison Bechdel alongside Paul Pope's «Batman» and beloved daily cartoonists like Matt Groening. Lynda Barry is a writer and cartoonist whose comic strip, “Ernie Pook’s Comeek” celebrates its 30th year in print in 2007. She is a recipient of the Washington State Governor's Award for her novel, The Good Times are Killing Me, which she adapted into a long-running off-broadway play. The New York Times called her second novel, Cruddy, “A work of terrible beauty”. She received the 2003 William Eisner award for Best Graphic Album and an American Library Association Alex award for her book, One! Hundred! Demons! She lives and works in southern Wisconsin. Подробнее

Between the Assassinations

Aravind Adiga, 2010

Welcome to Kittur, India. Of its 193,432 residents, only 89 declare themselves to be without religion or caste. And if the characters in Between the Assassinations are any indication, Kittur is an extraordinary crossroads between the brightest minds and the poorest morals, the up-and-coming and the downtrodden, and the poets and the prophets of an India that modern literature has rarely addressed. A series of sketches that together form a blinding, brilliant, and brave mosaic of Indian life as it is lived in a place called Kittur, Between the Assassinations, with all the humor, sympathy, and unflinching candor of The White Tiger, enlarges our understanding of the world we live in today. Подробнее

The Dog Who Saved Santa

True Kelley, 2008

The hilarious Christmas story of a dog who rids a young Santa of his slacker ways. It's Christmastime, and young Santa is doing a lot of sitting around. Every now and then he'll eat some fruitcake or watch TV, but the elves and Santa's dog, Rodney, do all the work. When Christmas Eve arrives and Santa falls asleep in the sleigh, Rodney takes charge. Soon, the determined dog has the North Pole buzzing with efficiency, and he even gives Santa lessons about what to eat to lookjolly and how to drive a sleigh. But will Rodney ever get Santa Claus to start doing his job? Подробнее

Hamlet: The 1-Hour Guidebook (+ Audio CD)

Gordon D.Faustberg, 2004

This illustrated guidebook for students and theater fans alike explores and explains the plot, characters, setting, action, and most significant moments in Hamlet. It provides a two-CD audio reading of the play; bold black and white illustrations to help you visualize the action; modular chapters providing structured, easy-to-grasp information; scene-by-scene summaries to explain the dialogue; and maps and diagrams of actions, plot points, and motivations. «The characters are introduced, first the major and then the minor: 'This is Hamlet's girlfriend. Her name is Ophelia. She is both a loving girlfriend and an obedient daughter. Unfortunately for her, these roles will clash.' The power bases are introduced, and then the main plot and subplots. The allegiances among the people are represented by diagrams showing the connections. The graphic representation of the plot and characters could be very useful for students who are experiencing Shakespeare's works for the first time. A concluding time line outlines the main action scene by scene, and an appendix explains historical sources of the play and offers some background about Shakespeare». Подробнее

I Am America (And So Can You!)

Stephen Colbert, 2007

Congratulations — just by looking at this webpage, you became 25% more patriotic. From Stephen Colbert, the host of televisions highest-rated punditry show The Colbert Report, comes the book to fill the other 23? hours of your day. I Am America (And So Can You) contains all of the opinions that Stephen doesnt have time to shoehorn into his nightly broadcast. Dictated directly into a microcassette recorder over a three-day weekend, this book contains Stephens most deeply held knee-jerk beliefs on The American Family, Race, Religion, Sex, Sports, and many more topics, conveniently arranged in chapter form. Always controversial and outspoken, Stephen addresses why Hollywood is destroying America by inches, why evolution is a fraud, and why the elderly should be harnessed to millstones. You may not agree with everything Stephen says, but at the very least, you'll understand that your differing opinion is wrong. I Am America (And So Can You) showcases Stephen Colbert at his most eloquent and impassioned. He is an unrelenting fighter for the soul of America, and in this book he fights the good fight for the traditional values that have served this country so well for so long. Подробнее

Kazimir Malevich: Postcards

Kazimir Malevich

Celebrated in the wake of the 1917 Russian Revolution but later repressed by the Stalinist regime, Ukrainian artist Kazimir Malevich was an inventive artist who experimented with various Post-Impressionist styles like cubism and fauvism before abandoning representational art altogether, creating a style of geometric shapes and blocks of color that he called «Suprematism». Four images — two early works and two later ones — decorate these notecards. The handsomely boxed set contains 20 cards and 20 envelopes. Подробнее

The King's Gold: The Adventures of Captain Alatriste

Arturo Perez-Reverte, 2008

»The fourth novel in the immensely satisfying Captain Alatriste series by Arturo Pérez-Reverte opens with a Spanish galleon sailing into a home port that is festooned with English corpses. The slain enemies, fruit of a failed Anglo-Dutch attack on Cádiz, 'hung from gallows erected on the shore, along the edge of the vineyards... bunches of grapes ripe for harvesting, except that these grapes had been harvested already'. Such carnage is a welcome sight to Spanish eyes in 1626, even eyes as jaded as those of our hero, Alatriste. For us, though, the scene is unsettling. Instead of action, we find action's putrefied aftermath. The tone is not triumphant but exhausted. Alatriste, his young protégé Ínigo and his battered comrades are tired of adventures. But they need another one that pays well. An air of cynical resignation pervades The King's Gold. Pérez-Reverte, even as he stages exhilarating scenes, darkens the mood, making this novel one of his finest. 'War is at least clean', Alatriste observes, whereas the business of empire is extremely grubby. The gold at the center of this novel has been smuggled from the West Indies and is destined not for King Philip's treasury but for 'private pockets', perhaps even for the coffers of Spain's enemies. Pérez-Reverte succinctly explains the political and economic background, which we discover along with Alatriste as he learns the details of his mission: to recover the king's treasure from a ship off Seville. Not for glory or patriotism — both sullied terms in Alatriste's world — but for the gold itself. 'Spain is going to the dogs', a courtier reflects. 'Everyone steals, cheats, and lies and no one pays his debts'. Except for Alatriste, whose dented moral compass still steers him toward loyalty and a man's word'. Since there were no old gods in whom one could trust', Ínigo observes, 'no great words that could be bandied about during combat, it was a salve to everyone's honor — or, at least, better than nothing at all — to have a king for whom one could fight.' A wistful narrator, Ínigo recalls not only their daring escapades but also his youthful self, hopelessly in love with the manipulative Angelica. Even stock scenes of romantic assignation, swordplay, torture and execution appear fresh and profound in these pages, tinged as they are with longing for a time that never was as glorious as other swashbucklers would have us believe». Подробнее

Kirby the Easter Dog: A Pop-Up Easter Egg Hunt

George White, 2008

Can you find all the eggs in this Easter hunt book? Kirby the farm dog thinks he's the Easter Bunny. Every year the big black lab puts on his bunny ears (a pretty comical sight in itself) and delivers beautifully decorated eggs to all the animals in the farmyard. Each pop-up spread in this book for youngsters up to 6 features elements that move as the pages are opened, sometimes revealing eggs and sometimes hiding them. Sharp-eyed readers can add up all the eggs they've spotted; the total is hidden on the last page under a flap. Подробнее

Kirby's Derby: Pop-Up Animals on Wheels

George White, 2008

Kirby the black lab hosts an annual soapbox derby for his animal friends in this pop-up book for readers up to 6. Animal puns abound, as well as hilarious themed vehicles — Monkey drives a banana-shaped car, of course — and each two-page spread is full of comical details. Подробнее

Linnaeus Tripe: India and Burma: Notecards

Art Gallery of Ontario

Now recognized as one of the great photographers of the 19th century, British army officer Linnaeus Tripe (1822–1902) captured superb images of antiquities, temples, palaces, and landscapes in India and Burma in the 1850s. These notecards are decorated with his richly toned images of pillars and the Great Pagoda in Madura, the Great Pagoda in Tanjore, and the Maha-too-lo-Bounghian-Kyoung palace in Amerapoora. The handsomely boxed set contains 20 cards and 20 envelopes. Подробнее

Martha Speaks (+ Audio CD)

Susan Meddaugh, 1992

Martha really does speak in this book and audio CD set, which features two readings — one with page-turn cues for reading along, and one without — by Kathy Najimy, who voices Martha's many, many comments about the world around her. It all begins when young Helen gives her lovable mutt Martha a bowl of alphabet soup, and the letters bypass the dog's stomach and go directly to her brain. Not only does Martha start talking, she can't shut up, and eventually drives her family crazy. The inaugural title in Susan Meddaugh's delightful series for readers up to 8, this New York Times Best Illustrated Book for 1992 is reminiscent of William Steig's quirky children's stories. Подробнее

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

Kazuo Ishiguro, 2009

One of the most celebrated writers of our time gives us his first cycle of short fiction: five brilliantly etched, interconnected stories in which music is a vivid and essential character. A once-popular singer, desperate to make a comeback, turning from the one certainty in his life... A man whose unerring taste in music is the only thing his closest friends value in him... A struggling singer-songwriter unwittingly involved in the failing marriage of a couple he’s only just met... A gifted, underappreciated jazz musician who lets himself believe that plastic surgery will help his career... A young cellist whose tutor promises to “unwrap” his talent... Passion or necessity — or the often uneasy combination of the two — determines the place of music in each of these lives. And, in one way or another, music delivers each of them to a moment of reckoning: sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes just eluding their grasp. An exploration of love, need, and the ineluctable force of the past, Nocturnes reveals these individuals to us with extraordinary precision and subtlety, and with the arresting psychological and emotional detail that has marked all of Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed works of fiction. Подробнее

Nostromo

Joseph Conrad, 2002

In the imaginary South American republic of Costaguana, Charles Gould's San Tomé silver mine is besieged by rebels, in this 1904 novel by the author of Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. Gould recruits the allegedly incorruptible hero Nostromo to oppose the marauders, but Nostromo's own mistakes may have disastrous repercussions. Conrad's novel portrays in shocking detail the corrupting influence of money, the devious effects of greed, and the lure of silver and its power over men — destroying some and revealing the strengths of others. Подробнее

Nothing to Be Frightened Of

Julian Barnes, 2008

Two years after the best-selling Arthur & George, Julian Barnes gives us a memoir on mortality that touches on faith and science and family as well as a rich array of exemplary figures who over the centuries have confronted the same questions he now poses about the most basic fact of life: its inevitable extinction. If the fear of death is “the most rational thing in the world”, how does one contend with it? An atheist at twenty, an agnostic at sixty, Barnes looks into the various arguments for and against and with God, and at the bloodline whose archivist, following his parents’ death, he has become — another realm of mystery, wherein a drawer of mementos and his own memories (not to mention those of his philosopher brother) often fail to connect. There are other ancestors, too: the writers — “most of them dead, and quite a few of them French” — who are his daily companions, supplemented by composers and theologians and scientists whose similar explorations are woven into this account with an exhilarating breadth of intellect and felicity of spirit. Deadly serious, masterfully playful, and surprisingly hilarious, Nothing to Be Frightened Of is a riveting display of how this supremely gifted writer goes about his business and a highly personal tour of the human condition and what might follow the final diagnosis. Подробнее

Daedalus Books

Книги

Художественная литература

Фантастика

Детектив

Детская литература

Юмор. Комиксы.

Кулинария

Эротика и секс (18+)

Семья