paul dry books inc new jersey (70 results)

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. These two long essays make up a short book, one full of depth and knowledge, in which Eva Brann gets at the roots of our thinking -- without tearing things apart. Then: In the first essay, Brann parses out the schema and meaning of Herodotus's The History (The Persian Wars). She writes that Herodotus worked by indirection. Giving a full account of the Persians and the peoples who constituted their empire -- and whose empire encircled the Greeks (thus the "Greek centre") -- Herodotus delineates the essential difference between the Barbarians and the Greeks. This difference Brann calls Athens' "elusive essence", its freedom contrasting with the slavery upon which the Persian empire depended. Now: In the second essay, the author delves into what it means for a person to unite a disposition toward conservatism with a capacity to reiterate and rehearse events, scenes, and dramas in "the conservatory of the imagination".To uncover the meanings and consequences of this union -- this imaginative conservatism -- and the type of soul to which it applies, Brann offers twelve perspectives, starting with "Temperamental Disposition" and ending with "Eccentric Centrality" (without ever explicitly focusing on politics). Join her and you'll find both delight and education. Eva Brann explains Herodotus's view of the "Greek Center"; and offers her portrayal of an "Imaginative Conservative." Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. 21 December 1963: Having served 20 years for a murder he didn't commit, "Moth" exits Central Sofia Prison anticipating his first night of freedom. Instead he steps into a new and alien world--the nightmarish totalitarianism of Communist Bulgaria. In his first hours of freedom he traverses the map of a diabolical city, full of decaying neighborhoods, gloomy streets, and a bizarre parade of characters. A novel of grave wit, Zift unfolds in the course of a single, frenetic night, offering a fast-paced, ghoulish, even grotesque -- but also enchanting -- tour of shadowy, socialist Sofia. To achieve his depiction of totalitarian absurdity, Vladislav Todorov combines the methods of hardboiled American crime fiction and film noir with socialist symbols and communist ideological cliches. 21 December 1963: Having served 20 years for a murder he didn't commit, 'Moth' exits Central Sofia Prison anticipating his first night of freedom. Instead he steps into a new and alien world - the nightmarish totalitarianism of Communist Bulgaria. In his first hours of freedom he traverses the map of a diabolical city. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Already a cult classic in Russia, this novel takes the form of a secret KGB-sponsored study in which Professor Raisa O Gibaydulina reports on the (imagined) religious and non-religious sects that have mysteriously sprouted up in the late 1980s Soviet Union. These bizarre groups of fanatics -- among them the Pushkinians, the Steppies, and the Foodniks -- give voice to their deepest thoughts and philosophies. While the sects are at odds with one another, they all share the need to believe in something greater as they face the spiritual vacuum brought about by the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union. Pathos and humour intertwine to create an unforgettable image of the human response to spiritual emptiness that leaves readers wondering how humans will appease their spiritual yearnings in the face of monolithic materialism. The book is full of tragicomic tension and brings to mind the multivoiced novels of Dostoevsky. --Ilya Kabakov Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Eighteen months of the life of Thomas Keene, a fictitious 19th-century congregational minister, is traced in this journal-like novel. Having suffered a loss of faith, Keene abandons the East for frontier life in the Ohio wilderness. His account is by turns violent, tender, and erotic. Keene is both a witness to history, describing the many ordinary and horrific details of frontier life (including the conflict between white settlers and Indians), and a man searching for personal meaning in a world without God. Like a true frontier journal, the novel includes illustrations attributed to Keene. As a foil to the main character, the historic figure John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, is portrayed as a believer who lives with self-doubt. "It's a tale more haunting and moving than one thinks it can possibly be."--The Village Voice Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Taking the 2008 financial crisis as his jumping off point, Alex Pollock deftly illustrates how private firms and governments alike have failed to understand the shifting risks that financial systems create. With candor, clarity, and wit, he uncovers the persistent uncertainties inherent in banking, central banking, and economics. A concise, sometimes playful, view of the risk and uncertainty always present in finance. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Pulitzer Prize-winners Michael Vitez and Tom Gralish of the Philadelphia Inquirer spent a year visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art to capture the stories of 'Rocky runners', who come from all over the world to run up America's most famous steps -- just as Sylvester Stallone did in 'Rocky'. People make the pilgrimage to mark a new beginning, to seek inspiration, to celebrate an accomplishment, to find the perfect backdrop for romance, or simply because they love the movie. As one runner says, "It gives you the feeling that anything is possible". This book includes fifty-two profiles and one hundred photographs, together with a foreword by Sylvester Stallone, and interviews with Rocky's Academy Award-winning director John G Avildsen, composer Bill Conti, and cameraman Garrett Brown. In his foreword, Sylvester Stallone sums up his thoughts on the phenomenon: "You can't borrow Superman's cape. You can't use the Jedi laser sword. But the steps are there. The steps are accessible. And standing up there, you kind of have a piece of the Rocky pie.". 'Rocky runners' are those who come from all over the world to run up America's most famous steps - just as Sylvester Stallone did in "Rocky". This book includes fifty-two profiles of Rocky runners and one hundred photographs, together with a foreword by Sylvester Stallone. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Eva Brann considers what the great philosophers on the passions and feelings have thought and written about them. She examines the relevant work of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Adam Smith, Hume, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger, and also includes a chapter on contemporary studies on the brain. This book provides a comprehensive look at this pervasive and elusive topic. Considers what the philosophers on the passions and feelings have thought and written about them. The author examines the relevant work of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Adam Smith, Hume, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger, and includes a chapter on contemporary studies on the brain. It offers a look at this elusive topic. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. High school begins, and to Beatrice Bunson nothing is the same, not even her best friend, Nan. The "new" Nan doesn't hang out with Bea after school; instead she's running for Student Council and going to parties and avoiding Bea at lunchtime. The boys who were gross in middle school have become surprisingly polite, while the "cool" kids are still a mystery. Bea's older sister, meanwhile, acts like she's living in a soap opera. On the bright side, there's English class with Mr. Martin, where Beatrice discovers that Shakespeare has something to say about almost everythingand that nothing in life is as dramatic as Romeo and Juliet. But when Nan gets in over her head in her new social life, it's up to Beatrice to restore her reputationand she may need to make a few new friends to pull it off. One of them, the slightly brainy guy that Beatrice meets at her grandmother's retirement home, is definitely kind of cute, and probably dateable. (Fortunately, nothing is the same in high school). As Beatrice and her classmates tackle Romeo and Juliet, they unveil the subtleties of the play as well as broader lessons of love, family, honor, and misunderstandings. Guided by Mr.Martin, these ninth-graders help us to understand Shakespeare, as Shakespeare helps them begin to understand themselves. High school begins and Beatrice's best friend wants to party and date "cool" boys, while Beatrice wants to read Shakespeare. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Wise-cracking underachiever Lester Smith, class of '97, muddles through his senior year in this funny, moving debut novel. It's 1996, senior year of high school has just begun, and Lester is at a total loss. He should be studying and making plans for life after graduation. (His best friend, Freesia, is applying to 37 colleges). Instead, he wanders the back roads of his small town on the Puget Sound, visiting the local beaches and ignoring all his schoolwork. His father recently abandoned the family, his mother is more than slightly distracted, and his younger sister, Grace, is finding it hard to adjust to both their new family situation and ninth grade. But Lester is smart and funny, and despite his general apathy, he does feel strongly about a few things: he loves his friends, Milton's Paradise Lost, the Ramones, and "the yearbook arts", as he calls them. Eventually he even comes to appreciate Mr Traversal, the new Yearbook teacher who prefers that students call him by his first name, Jeff. When Lester and Jeff run afoul of the school's insufferable interim principal, they come up with a plan to create an "underground yearbook".This renegade project and Jeff's unlikely mentorship provide the spark that helps Lester to accept his past and to give his future a second chance. From bright new talent Jesse Edward Johnson comes this hilarious and moving debut novel about learning to believe in yourself again. Whether you have yet to start high school or you graduated decades ago, you are sure to love Yearbook and the whip-smart Lester Smith. Wisecracking underachiever Lester Smith, class of 1997, muddles through his senior year in this funny, moving debut novel. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Bitter, joyful, worn down, filled with wonder, acutely self-aware, and often deeply in need of perspectivesuch are the women at the center of Mary Jane Myers' compelling debut short story collection. Lonely and stuck in lives that have begun to feel stale, these ordinary womenadministrative assistants, typists, accountantsawake unto themselves after brushes with the surreal. While light and playful in tone, the stories reflect the hollowness and toxicity that can come from ascribing too strictly to the popularly held values of our contemporary society and the confusion caused by wobbly religious beliefs in a secular world. Louise, an unassuming tourist, is accosted in a museum in Florence by the voice of Galileos finger bone promising to grant her greatest wish in return for a simple favor. Diane narrowly escapes a toxic relationship and sinks into a depression when she becomes convinced the gods are speaking to her through a stone from the lava fields of Maui. Helen, who has always wanted someone with whom to appreciate classical music, ends up playing host to Franz Schubert, when she meets the young composer wandering in the woods near her home in the Santa Monica Mountains. Witty, revelatoryand at times chillingCurious Affairs allows us to see the strangeness in the ordinary. Slightly surreal stories examine the pathos, pitfalls, and pivotal moments of women "on the verge." Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. In 1890, Anton Chekhov, already a prominent Russian literary figure, travelled 6,500 miles to Sakhalin island, off the coast of Siberia. Willing visitors to this island were rare; rather, its inhabitants were people who had been sent there: prisoners and their families, guards, soldiers, and doctors. What was it that Chekhov sought on this terrible island? Almost a century later, James McConkey traveled to Italy and researched Chekhov's letters, memoirs, and an account of his journey to Sakhalin island. McConkey recreates that journey, weaving it with his own and telling two stories that reveal the peculiar and hidden forces that shape our lives. "A deeply moving, exquisitely written book."--Washington Post Book World Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. With the help of Kestra (l) and Atkis (r), Gary Borjesson explores what it means to be friends -- really friends -- with a dog, and how that relationship can illuminate and inform the other friendships in our lives. "We can learn much about friendship by examining our relationships with dogs, partly because of what we have in common with them, but also because of what we do not. Our differences put friendship and its terms in striking relief. The resulting perspective is especially valuable given how easy it is for dogs, friendship, and other familiar aspects of our experience to escape our notice." -- from the Preface. Dogs are remarkable creatures. More than any other animal, they share with humans a deep interest in friendship, co-operation, and justice. (That's probably why we love them so much). In this book Gary Borjesson explores the source of -- and justification for -- our authority in the master-dog relationship, while inviting readers to ponder the role of authority in friendships among people, as well. For anyone who has owned, or been owned by (or simply known), a dog--an exploration of friendship and authority. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. William Zinsser, author of "On Writing Well" and many other books, wrote a weekly blog for the American Scholar -- about writing, the arts, New York, and popular culture. This book collects these engaging pieces by one of America's best essayists. Relationships, storytelling, baseball, summer reading, comic strips, Woody Allen -- Bill Zinsser illuminates modern life. Sixty essays on writing, getting older, staying alert to the world, and passing along writing tips to others Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Setting out in the spring of 1990 'to look for America', when patriotic travel was suddenly back in fashion, William Zinsser made first-time pilgrimages to some of America's most cherished and visited historic sites: Mount Rushmore, Rockefeller Center, Yellowstone National Park, Pearl Harbor, even the "corny and obvious" Niagara Falls. At these and his other iconic destinations, Zinsser unlearned cliched assumptions and rediscovered fundamental truths about America. Originally published in 1992, AMERICAN PLACES and the ideals that Zinsser discovers these places represent will never go out of fashion. Includes some of America's most visited historic sites: Mount Rushmore, Rockefeller Center, Yellowstone National Park, Pearl Harbor, and Niagara Falls. This book helps readers rediscover the fundamental truths about America. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. An English teacher by trade and an avid birder by inner calling, Peter Cashwell has written a whimsical book about his many obsessions -- birds, birders, language, literature, parenting, pop culture, and the human race. A book about the author's many obsessions - birds, birders, language, literature, parenting, pop culture, and the human race. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Suzanne Davis lounges around her tiny New York City apartment in her pyjamas, writing press releases for the International Association of Air-Conditioning Engineers, listening to the ticking of her biological clock, and wondering where life is taking her. As her 35th birthday looms, Suzanne embarks on a wrong-headed, but very funny, quest -- to find Mr Right and start the family she hopes will give meaning to her life. Her quest plunges us into the world of her Upper West Side apartment building, a world of overly invested mothers, fanatical dog-owners, curmudgeonly long-time residents, and young (and not so young) professionals. All are keenly observed by Suzanne, whose witty self-deprecation endears her to us even as it makes us want to shake some sense into her. Light in its tone but incisive in its social satire, Suzanne Davis Gets a Life balances its wit with true concern for its protagonist. We can't help but wish Suzanne success in "getting a life". But can such a search possibly yield the meaning she craves? When her extremely annoying mother arrives on the scene, it appears that her plan has been hijacked. But serious illness opens her to new people and a new perspective.She ends by getting a life -- even as she may lose one. SWF, witty, attractive, 31 YO [actually 34], seeks a real life in NYC. Men encouraged to apply. Expect roadblocks. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. This book instantly transports you to small-town Arkansas over a half-century ago -- a world of catfish and bourbon-and-Coke; of tent revival meetings and less boisterous discussions about heaven and hell; of finding love or just dreaming about it. A neighbourly community, but with its share of intrigues. And instantly you are under the spell of Ruby Davidson, the magnetic central character of "Where Somebody Waits". Self-assured, kind, always willing to take a stand for people less fortunate, at "five foot ten inches, with masses of red hair and a pompadour that increases her stature to six feet", she's also strikingly beautiful. Ruby loves her husband, adores her nephews and nieces, and more or less dutifully respects the tightly knit Jewish family into which she has married. Her life is filled with triumphs and failings, joy and sadness, lived with all possible grace, and told in a spirit of admirable and honest reflection. A full life, yes, but not an untroubled one, because Ruby also still loves her high-school sweetheart. How she comes to terms with this old, old conundrum and how it affects the lives of everyone around her shape the heart of Where Somebody Waits.Margaret Kaufman has written five books of poetry. A resident of Kentfield, California, she leads poetry workshops, teaches at the From Institute at the University of San Francisco, and edits both fiction and poetry. This is Kaufman's first book of fiction. Named a "Great Group Read" by the Women's National Book Association Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. In an extraordinary literary debut, Aldo Zargani reconstructs the lost world of his Jewish childhood during the perilous years 1938-45 when he and his family fled from Fascists and Nazis in northern Italy. His haunting memoir acquires a cinematic intensity as he crosscuts from the blood-red stone spires of Basel, where his father failed to find refuge for his family in 1939, to fiery scenes of the Allied bombing of Turin in 1942, to the freezing winter of 1943-44, which Zargani and his brother spent hidden in a Catholic boarding school deep in the countryside. A memoir in which the author reconstructs the lost world of his Jewish childhood during the perilous years 1938-45 when he and his family fled from Fascists and Nazis in northern Italy. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Brooke Allen first travelled to Syria in 2009, expecting it to be much as American news media routinely depicted it -- an ultra-conservative Muslim society, a rogue nation committed to an anti-American stance. She found, instead, a welcoming and captivating country where she and her family were treated with courtesy and gentleness. She soon returned for a more leisurely trip through Syria's rich historical and archaeological treasures: the ancient cities of Aleppo and Damascus, the great Crusader castles, the Bronze Age ruins of Ebla and Mari, the Greco-Roman cities of Palmyra and Apamea. With her keen and appreciative eye (and ear) Allen introduces us to Syria's people, culture, and history. This book illustrates one traveller's enlightenment, while reflecting on our American ways. For, as she writes, "To visit Syria is to confront the unhappy truth about our media, which is that much of the international news we read or see serves not as a window looking out at the world but as a mirror: a mirror that reflects our own fears and obsessions and shines them right back at us". The author first travelled to Syria in 2009, expecting it to be much as American news media routinely depicted it - an ultra-conservative Muslim society, a rogue nation committed to an anti-American stance. She found, instead, a welcoming and captivating country. In this book, she introduces us to Syria's people, culture, and history. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. In these shimmering "analects", photographer John Stewart offers gleanings of vivid experiences from more than ninety years of living. Though he has discovered no "avowed meaning" to his life, Stewart finds moments where he "touched something here and there" -- where he experienced moments of "being awake". Stewart shares his encounters with the famous and fascinating: drawing with Henri Cartier-Bresson in the south of France; on the set of The Bridge on the River Kwai in Sri Lanka; a comical meeting with John Cage on the Williamsburg Bridge at midnight; Picasso at a cafe; Matisse in his bedroom; Muhammad Ali; Isak Dinesen; Francis Poulenc; Diana Vreeland. From these accounts of travels far and wide to a poignant elegy for his son, Stewart's Flotsam is full of wit and tenderness. Offers gleanings of vivid experiences from more than ninety years of living. The author shares his encounters with the famous and fascinating: drawing with Henri Cartier-Bresson in the south of France; on the set of "The Bridge on the River Kwai" in Sri Lanka; Picasso at a cafe; and, Matisse in his bedroom. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Part memoir -- starting with the epic quest for an Italian medical license -- and part portrait of Italy from a unique point of view, Dottoressa is packed with vignettes that illuminate the national differences in character, lifestyle, health, and health care between her two countries. Levenstein, who has been called "the wittiest internist on earth", covers everything from hookup culture to neighbourhood madmen, Italian hands-off medical training, bidets, the ironies of expatriation, and why Italians always pay their doctor's bills. With sparkling wit, an American doctor practicing in Rome reveals the many differences between American and Italian medicine. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Duncan Wheeler is a successful architect who savors the quotidian pleasures in life until a car accident leaves him severely paralyzed and haunted by the death of his young assistant. Now, Duncan isnt sure what there is left to live for, when every day has become a broken series of unsuccessful gestures. Duncan and his wife, Laura, find themselves in conflict as Duncans will to live falters. Laura grows desperate to help him. An art conservator who has her own relationship to the repair of broken things, Laura brings home a highly trained helper monkeya tufted capuchin named Ottolineto assist Duncan with basic tasks. Duncan and Laura fall for this sweet, comical, Nutella-gobbling little creature, and Duncans life appears to become more tolerable, fuller, and funnier. Yet the question persists: Is it enough? Katharine Weber is a masterful observer of humanity, and Still Life with Monkey, full of tenderness and melancholy, explores the conflict between the will to live and the desire to die. A devastating gem of a book from the best-selling author of Triangle and The Music Lesson. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Philosophy begins in the middle of ordinary experience. Consider these four aspects of daily life: we have conversations which require us to strive to make ourselves understood and to understand others; we easily pick out nameable items in the world and also sense how the things around us hang together; we count things and do simple arithmetic, and are sure we know what were doing; we give reasons for knowing the things we claim to know. Philosophy gets off the ground when we ask how it is possible that we are already doing these things. Wakefulness and World takes up this question by reading works by Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel. The invitation is two-fold: to accompany the author in reading some philosophical texts and to think together about the manifest and puzzling intelligibility of the world. Using down-to-earth language, Matthew Linck writes about his effort to understand some key books by Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. After years of crossing borders in search of new birds and new landscapes, Peter Cashwell's exploration of lines between states, between time zones, and between species led him to consider the lines that divide genders, seasons, musical genres, and just about every other aspect of human life. His conclusion: Most had something in common -- they were largely imaginary. Nonetheless, this a tour of the tangled world of delineation, attempts to address how we distinguish right from wrong, life from death, Democrat from Republican -- and how the lines between came to be. Part storyteller, part educator, and part wise guy, Cashwell is unafraid to take readers off the beaten path -- into the desert vistas of the Four Corners, the breeding ground of an endangered warbler, or the innards of a grand piano. Something amusing and/or insightful awaits at every stop. And he's not alone. The tricks and treats of the human instinct for drawing lines are revealed in interviews with experts of all sorts. Learn about the use of the panel border from a Hugo Award-winning comics creator. Trace the edge of extinction with the rediscoverer of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.Get the truth about the strike zone from an umpire who holds a degree in physics. You will begin to see even the most familiar lines in a whole new way. A witty, eclectic, and wide-ranging look at the many ways in which people draw, re-draw, erase, and sometimes ignore lines. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. For ages 9-12. In fourteenth-century England, Stephen de Beauville dreams of becoming a knight-not a promising ambition for an artistic boy. Having fled a monastery, he becomes squire to a singularly wise knight, attains knighthood himself, and eventually takes on his own squire. When the youth dies, 26-year-old Stephen must re-examine his ambitions. By remembering the maxims of his mentor (Do not be afraid to do what you want to do; Be brave enough to be different), Stephen discovers where his ultimate happiness lies. Several of Barbara Leonie Picard's many books have been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, Britain's oldest children's book award. In fourteenth-century England, Stephen de Beauville dreams of becoming a knight-not a promising ambition for an artistic boy. Having fled a monastery, he becomes squire to a singularly wise knight, attains knighthood himself, and eventually takes on his own squire. When the youth dies, 26-year-old Stephen must re-examine his ambitions. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. This is an intimate account of three years lived on the island of Crete, documents a turbulent, stressful time of economic and political crisis in Greece. It is also deeply concerned with illness and death, as the author's husband Fotis Kafatos, a distinguished scientist, is increasingly affected by Alzheimers disease. Fotis remains a full human being, authentic and resilient despite his impairments. Sarah reflects on his situation, as well as on the vicissitudes of daily life, the practice of art, and current events in Greece, Europe, and the US. She takes long walks in the Cretan mountains and discovers hidden aspects of the island. Talks with friends, and her own historical awareness, provide her with a rich sense of belonging. As an account of a solitude, a couple, a family, and a culture, Pomegranate Years is concerned with the question of how to live well at any age, but especially as one grows older and a beloved life draws almost imperceptibly nearer to its end. An American artist's poignant memoir of three years in Crete as she cares forher renowned and dying Greek-born husband. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. James Rahn has led the Rittenhouse Writers' Group since he founded it in 1988, making it one of America's longest-running independent fiction workshops. Hundreds of writers and would-be writers have sought out the group for its remarkable level of instruction and collaboration. Rittenhouse Writers is Rahn's memoir of the workshop and how his own evolution as both a teacher and a writer -- and as a son, husband, and (somewhat reluctant) father -- has been intertwined with the establishment and growth of the RWG. In addition, Rahn includes ten short stories written by current and former members of the workshop. Rahn graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and earned an MFA at Columbia. He then began to imagine a future that included more than just writing, one that would also tap his aspiration to offer other writers support and motivation, tough but gentle -- his self-described "Iron Fist in the Velvet Glove" approach. After all, as he says more than once, "Writing is hard.Over the years, James Rahn has witnessed every imaginable writing-group scenario, from awkward flirtations to suicide scares, catty critiques, near fistfights, and of course the satisfaction of watching someone's writing soar. With insight gained through years of observation and participation, and a discerning eye for amusing detail, he takes us along for the journey. Rahn's struggle to perfect his role as instructor runs throughout the narrative, as does his effort to balance that role with the friendships he forms in the group, and to keep up with his own writing while still giving the group the attention it needs to flourish. Through his eyes, we catch the spark of the workshop's spirit and get to meet various spirits who have invigorated Rittenhouse Writers' Group. Rahn cuts back and forth, reflecting, not only on the workshop, but also on his days as a high school dropout in Atlantic City, dead-end jobs and hopeless moves, the difficulty of his mother's decline and death, and his own unexpected plunge into parenthood -- when, at age 51, he and his wife took on the responsibility of raising her two young nieces.His memoir serves, in a way, as an introduction to the short stories that follow; and the stories -- as surprising and varied as the writers Rahn describes working with -- stand as a fitting coda to Rahn's tale and offer another window onto his life's work. A Memoir and 10 Stories from 25 years of the Rittenhouse Writers' Group Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Eva Brann, who has been teaching at St. Johns College, Annapolis, for sixty years, wrote these essays largely as clarifying incitements to students who were reading, or ought to have been reading, the works discussed. In her words: The first essay looks at the Pre-Socratics Heraclitus and Parmenides. They appear to be in radical opposition, but they are really doing the same, new thing: seeing the world as an intelligible whole. Both observe external nature, construing it in their mindsso, from the outside in. The final essay again describes two ways of world-construing from the outside inone by penetrating the surface of reality, the other by spinning a web of complexity over it. The five essays in between focus on works by Kant and display the world as constituted from the human inside out. An appreciative review of the Critique of Pure Reason shows how Kant brilliantly justifies a science of nature by making nature itself the construct of our understanding. But he leads us to the abyss of more idealism; externality and realism escape him. The explication of his one absolute moral commandment similarly defines his morality entirely in terms divorced from objective good and concentrated on internal integrity. Finally, his huge unpublished legacy agonizes about bringing a god, first conceived as an inner need, into external existence. Helpful essays on Kant and the Pre-Socratics from the philosopher Eva Brann, a National Humanities Medal recipient. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. How are voices like places? They move through us as we move through them. Celebrated poet David Mason explores surprising connections in geography and time, considering writers who traveled, who emigrated or were exiled, and who often shaped the literature of their homelands. He writes of seasoned travelers (Patrick Leigh Fermor, Bruce Chatwin, Joseph Conrad, Herodotus himself), and writers as far flung as Omar Khayyam, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, James Joyce, and Les Murray. In the end, he turns to his own native region, the American West, with Wallace Stegner, Edward Abbey, Robinson Jeffers, Belle Turnbull, and Thomas McGrath. These essays are about familiarity and estrangement, the pleasure and knowledge readers can gain by engaging with writers lives, their travels, their trials, and the homes they make for themselves Celebrated poet David Mason's delightful collection of essays explores the connections between literary voice and place. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.