Karl Kraus (1874-1936) was an Austrian satirist, the editor of the influential magazine Die Fackel (The Torch) and a central figure in the intellectual life of fin-de-siécle Vienna. For Franzen, he was a prophet whose writings, though notoriously difficult, speak to 'our own media-saturated, technology-crazed, apocalypse-haunted historical moment'. In this book, he presents the first English translation of Kraus' Heine and the Consequences (1911) and elucidates its context and meaning in copious footnotes.

The Kraus Project

Literature & Fiction

JonathanFranzen

Essays & Correspondence

PicadorUSA

A surprising mystery--and love story--set in rural SicilyLike many memorable works of fiction, The Almond Picker hinges on a question, in this case: who is Maria Rosalia Inzerillo, known as Mennulara, the almond picker? Born into a desperately poor Sicilian farming family, Mennulara went into service when she was only a girl, as a maid for a well-to-do local family; by dint of hard work and intelligence, she became the indispensable administrator of the family's affairs and was said to be rich. Still, she was a mere servant, and now (as the story begins) she is dead.Who was she, really? Simonetta Agnello Hornby's wonderfully entertaining novel about this mysterious woman -- a bestseller in Italy when it was published in 2002 -- has all the suspense of a witty thriller, the emotions of a powerful love story, and the evocative atmosphere of a historical novel. Set in Sicily in the 1960s, a violent, complicated society in the midst of tumultuous change, where young and old, rich and poor, men and women are set against each other, The Almond Picker is the story of a woman who negotiated for her freedom as no one else dared. Unusual instructions in Mennulara's will perplex the family she worked for and send the children on a kind of treasure hunt, for each of them wants to secure her fabled riches. She is no longer physically present, but her mysterious importance to them and to the village comes into focus in a series of dramatic encounters and spiky exchanges among the neighbors. Everyone has a very different idea about Mennulara's amazing life. Was she a humble servant who ruled her master, or perhaps a pawn for the Mafia? Was she a seducer and opportunist, a sly blackmailer waiting for a payoff, or the opposite? During the thirty days following her death, the surprising truth is revealed.

The Almond Picker

SimonettaAgnelloHornby

Contemporary

Title: Eva Moves the Furniture Binding: Paperback Author: MargotLivesey Publisher: PicadorUSA

Eva Moves the Furniture [EVA MOVES THE FURNITURE]

MargotLivesey

<p>Title: The Savage Detectives Binding: Paperback Author: RobertoBolano Publisher: PicadorUSA</p>

The Savage Detectives

ROBERTO BOLAÑO

City of Glass: The Graphic Novel [CITY OF GLASS]

Comics & Graphic Novels

paul-auster

Graphic Novels

The Last of Her Kind: A Novel by Sigrid Nunez (2006-12-12)

Science & Math

SigridNunez

Astronomy & Space Science

Aleksandar Hemon’s lives begin in Sarajevo, a small, blissful city where a young boy’s life is consumed with street soccer with the neighborhood kids, resentment of his younger sister, and trips abroad with his engineer-cum-beekeeper father. Here, a young man’s life is about poking at the pretensions of the city’s elders with American music, bad poetry, and slightly better journalism. And then, his life in Chicago: watching from afar as war breaks out in Sarajevo and the city comes under siege, no way to return home; his parents and sister fleeing Sarajevo with the family dog, leaving behind all else they had ever known; and Hemon himself starting a new life, his own family, in this new city.                And yet this is not really a memoir. The Book of My Lives, Hemon’s first book of nonfiction, defies convention and expectation. It is a love song to two different cities; it is a heartbreaking paean to the bonds of family; it is a stirring exhortation to go out and play soccer—and not for the exercise. It is a book driven by passions but built on fierce intelligence, devastating experience, and sharp insight. And like the best narratives, it is a book that will leave you a different reader—a different person, with a new way of looking at the world—when you’ve finished. For fans of Hemon’s fiction, The Book of My Lives is simply indispensable; for the uninitiated, it is the perfect introduction to one of the great writers of our time. 

The Book of My Lives

Biographies & Memoirs

AleksandarHemon

Arts & Literature

"I know what my husband would say: that I have too much time on my hands; that I need to keep myself busy. That I need to take my medication. Empty nest syndrome, he tells his friends at the pub, his mother. He's always said I have a vivid imagination."Marta and Hector have been married for a long time - so long that she finds it difficult to remember her life before him. He has always taken care of her, and she has always done everything she can to be a good wife. But when Hector comes home with a secret, their ordered domestic life begins to unravel. In the shadows there is a blonde girl that only Marta can see. And she is trying to tell her something...

How to be a Good Wife

EmmaChapman

Title: From Bauhaus to Our House Binding: Paperback Author: TomWolfe Publisher: PicadorUSA

From Bauhaus to Our House

TomWolfe

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