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The Education of a Poker Player
By James Mcmanus. 2015
"In writing about poker Jim McManus has managed to write about everything, and it's glorious."--David SedarisNew York Times-bestselling author James…
McManus offers up a collection of seven stories narrated by Vincent Killeen, an Irish Catholic altar boy, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Persuaded at age eight by his grandmother that entering the priesthood will guarantee salvation for every member of his family, Vince eagerly commits to attending a Jesuit seminary for high school. As the meaning of a vow of celibacy becomes clearer to him, however, and he is exposed to the irresistible temptations of poker and girls, life as a seminarian begins to seem less appealing. These autobiographical stories are enlightening and evocative, providing keen, often humorous insight into Catholicism, faith, celibacy and its opposite, as well as America's--and increasingly the world's--favorite card game.James McManus has been called "poker's Shakespeare." He is the New York Times-bestselling author of Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker and Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, among others. He has been the poker columnist for the New York Times and currently writes the history column for CardPlayer. His work has also appeared in Harper's, The Believer, Paris Review, Esquire, and in Best American anthologies for poetry, sports writing, science and nature, and magazine writing. He has spoken about poker at Yale, Harvard, Google, Goldman Sachs, and on numerous media outlets, and is the recipient of the Peter Lisagor Award for Sports Journalism and fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, among other awards. He teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.An Aesthetic Underground
By John Metcalf. 2014
"John Metcalf has written some of the very best stories ever published in this country."--Alice MunroThe Argus-eyed editor; the magisterial…
prose stylist; the waggish, inflammatory cultural critic; the mentor and iconoclast. John Metcalf is a literary legend whose memoir maps the underground he labored tirelessly to establish.My town, my people
By Cristiano Parafioriti, Louise Rabour. 2015
Galati Mamertino is a small mountain town nestled in the Nebrodi national park, oozing with history from its very walls:…
and a small part of that history will come to life in "my country, my people". Through twenty short stories, rich with vivid characters, intoxicating smells and ancient flavors, the author paints a picture of his youth, cleverly moving between fact and fiction. Reading these pages we hear the fragile voice of the South, a voice suffocated by the numbness born of resignation and sadness, but which at the same time speaks of a love of times gone by, of a poor but sanguine land, exhausted and wounded from the plague of poverty, injustice and emigration but still very much alive in the minds and memories of those who left. And those memories lodge in the mind and settle in the heart as an emotional reservoir overflowing with words, thoughts and images of a moment, a day, an era once lived and still able to touch us deeply.LES RACINES LOINTAINES
By Cristiano Parafioriti. 2018
À travers ces vingt récits, l'auteur nous dévoile des personnages passionnés, des parfums subtils et des goûts d'autre temps en…
sillonant ses mémoires d'enfance tracés en Sicile. C'est la voix fragile du Sud qui s'élève de ces pages, suffoquée par la torpeur de la résignation et de la mélancolie, ainsi que par l'amour d'un temps qui n'existe plus, pour une terre pauvre et au sang chaud, épuisée et blessée par les plaies de la pauvreté, de l'injustice et de l'émigration mais qui demeure toujours vive dans les souvenirs de celui qui l'a quittée. Et ce souvenir reste figé dans la mémoire et se pose dans le cœur pour former un résidu émotif qui déborde et se déverse sous forme de mots, de pensées et d'images d'un passé, d'un jour ou d'un instant vécu e qui continue à faire vivre mille émotions.The Education of a Poker Player
By James McManus. 2015
"In writing about poker Jim McManus has managed to write about everything, and it's glorious."—David SedarisNew York Times-bestselling author James…
McManus offers up a collection of seven stories narrated by Vincent Killeen, an Irish Catholic altar boy, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Persuaded at age eight by his grandmother that entering the priesthood will guarantee salvation for every member of his family, Vince eagerly commits to attending a Jesuit seminary for high school. As the meaning of a vow of celibacy becomes clearer to him, however, and he is exposed to the irresistible temptations of poker and girls, life as a seminarian begins to seem less appealing. These autobiographical stories are enlightening and evocative, providing keen, often humorous insight into Catholicism, faith, celibacy and its opposite, as well as America's—and increasingly the world's—favorite card game.James McManus has been called "poker's Shakespeare." He is the New York Times-bestselling author of Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker and Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, among others. He has been the poker columnist for the New York Times and currently writes the history column for CardPlayer. His work has also appeared in Harper's, The Believer, Paris Review, Esquire, and in Best American anthologies for poetry, sports writing, science and nature, and magazine writing. He has spoken about poker at Yale, Harvard, Google, Goldman Sachs, and on numerous media outlets, and is the recipient of the Peter Lisagor Award for Sports Journalism and fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, among other awards. He teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction
By Chuck Klosterman. 2019
Microdoses of the straight dope, stories so true they had to be wrapped in fiction for our own protection, from…
the best-selling author of But What if We're Wrong?A man flying first class discovers a puma in the lavatory. A new coach of a small-town Oklahoma high school football team installs an offense comprised of only one, very special, play. A man explains to the police why he told the employee of his local bodega that his colleague looked like the lead singer of Depeche Mode, a statement that may or may not have led in some way to a violent crime. A college professor discusses with his friend his difficulties with the new generation of students. An obscure power pop band wrestles with its new-found fame when its song "Blizzard of Summer" becomes an anthem for white supremacists. A couple considers getting a medical procedure that will transfer the pain of childbirth from the woman to her husband. A woman interviews a hit man about killing her husband but is shocked by the method he proposes. A man is recruited to join a secret government research team investigating why coin flips are no longer exactly 50/50. A man sees a whale struck by lightning, and knows that everything about his life has to change. A lawyer grapples with the unintended side effects of a veterinarian's rabies vaccination. Fair warning: Raised in Captivity does not slot into a smooth preexisting groove. If Saul Steinberg and Italo Calvino had adopted a child from a Romanian orphanage and raised him on Gary Larsen and Thomas Bernhard, he would still be nothing like Chuck Klosterman. They might be good company, though. Funny, wise and weird in equal measure, Raised in Captivity bids fair to be one of the most original and exciting story collections in recent memory, a fever graph of our deepest unvoiced hopes, fears and preoccupations. Ceaselessly inventive, hostile to corniness in all its forms, and mean only to the things that really deserve it, it marks a cosmic leap forward for one of our most consistently interesting writers.Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different
By Ben Brooks. 2018
WINNER OF THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2018 & THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER 1…
BESTSELLER___________'This book can save lives. This book can change lives. This book can help to bring forth another generation of boys who dare to be different.' Benjamin Zephaniah___________Daniel Radcliffe, Galileo Galilei, Nelson Mandela, Louis Armstrong, Grayson Perry, Louis Braille, Lionel Messi, King George VI, Jamie Oliver... all dared to be different.Prince charming, dragon slayer, mischievous prankster... More often than not, these are the role-models boys encounter in the books they read at home and at school. As a boy, there is an assumption that you will conform to a stereotypical idea of masculinity.But what if you're the introvert kind? What if you prefer to pick up a book rather than a sword? What if you want to cry when you're feeling sad or angry? What if you like the idea of wearing a dress?There is an ongoing crisis with regards to young men and mental health, with unhelpful gender stereotypes contributing to this malaise. Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different offers a welcome alternative narrative. It is an extraordinary compilation of 100 stories of famous and not-so-famous men from the past to the present day, every single one of them a rule-breaker and innovator in his own way, and all going on to achieve amazing things. Entries include Frank Ocean, Salvador Dalí, Rimbaud, Beethoven, Barack Obama, Stormzy, Ai Weiwei and Jesse Owens - different sorts of heroes from all walks of life and from all over the world.A beautiful and transporting book packed with stories of adventure and wonderment, it will appeal to those who need the courage to reject peer pressure and go against the grain. It is the must-have book for all those boys who worry about stuff and all those parents who worry about their boys who worry about stuff. It will educate and entertain, while also encourage and inspire.*For tales of even more brilliant men who have dared to be different, STORIES FOR BOYS WHO DARE TO BE DIFFERENT 2 is out now!*Cómo piensan las piedras
By Brenda Lozano. 2017
Relaciones amorosas y familiares enigmas de la vida cotidiana irrupciones de lo desconocido con estos y…
otros elementos Brenda Lozano elabora historias cuyos personajes resultar n a los lectores al mismo tiempo cercanos y enigm ticos como suelen ser los amigos ntimos Nos estrellamos contra lo que m s queremos Esta colecci n de cuentos re ne sucesos de la vida cotidiana que se encuentran con eventos inusuales Por ejemplo que una ni a peque a se ponga a dialogar con un polic a y le haga preguntas de toda ndole en particular una sobre las piedras por ejemplo que una creciente manada de elefantes reconozca como parte de los suyos a un hombre Y que una pareja se imagine historias a partir de los ruidos que escuchan en el vecindario Hacia el final del volumen irrumpe un gorila de zool gico La cr tica ha opinado Un grupo de relatos siempre inquietantes y siempre sutiles -Antonio Ortu o Brenda Lozano es una espl ndida escritora brillante divertida sutilmente perversa siempre conmovedora -Francisco GoldmanWide Eyed
By Dennis Cooper, Trinie Dalton. 2005
"Trinie Dalton's voice is so charming in these stories and they fly right by, so it takes a little time…
to realize how deftly she is talking about death and sex and fear and love and fur and slumber parties, how lightly she touches upon heaviness, making an imprint so gentle you don't know it's there until later, when the story floats back up in your memory, light as a butterfly or a blood-oil lilypad in the bath." --Aimee Bender"Trinie Dalton is as radically original a young writer as I've ever come across: a post-punk, post-apocalyptic, post-everything sensibility, casting spells of willed innocence against the powers of darkness she knows terrifyingly well." --David Gates"These charming stories vibrate with innocence and awe. Trinie Dalton is an effortless purveyor of wonder, strangeness, and love. She is a writer of high spirits and unguarded vision, and this debut collection is an absolute pleasure to read." --Ben Marcus"In Wide Eyed, a wonderfully eccentric and vibrant collection, Trinie Dalton showcases her ability to put a fresh spin on the world, leading the reader into places never explored--sometimes dreamlike, sometimes nightmarish, always riveting. Her vision is wholly unique and memorable." --Jill McCorkleIn Trinie Dalton's tweaked vision of reality, psychic communications between herself and Mick Jagger, The Flaming Lips, Marc Bolan, Lou Reed, and Pavement are daily occurrences. Animals also populate this book; beavers, hamsters, salamanders, black widows, owls, llamas, bats, and many more are characters who befriend the narrator. This collection of stories is told by a woman compelled to divulge her secrets, fantasies, and obsessions with native Californian animals, glam rock icons, and horror movies, among other things. With a setting rooted in urban Los Angeles but colored by mythic tales of beauty borrowed from medieval times, Shakespeare, and Grimm's fairy tales, Wide Eyed makes the difficulties of surviving in a contemporary American city more palatable by showing the reader that magic and escape is always possible.Stories include, "Hummingbird Moonshine," in which the narrator's frustrated hunt for authentic religion in botanicas and science books culminates in a spiritual connection made with a hummingbird. In "Oceanic," she resolves to marry a manatee after a drunken pre-party for her best friend's wedding. In "Tiles," four vignettes about bloody accidents in tiled bathrooms intermingle with scenes from Dalton's favorite scary movies.Featuring oddball prose in the traditions of Dalton's literary heroes--Denton Welch, Robert Walser, and Jane Bowles--these stories have a dreamy, imaginative quality that reveal a peculiar state of mental ecstasy. To be inside the mind of Trinie Dalton is to be escorted into bliss.Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays
By Brendan Burford. 2009
The stories in Syncopated challenge convention, provide perspective, and search out secret truths–all in the inviting, accessible form of comics.…
Syncopated will give you a daringly different view of the past–from the history of vintage postcards to the glory days of old Coney Island. It will immerse you in fascinating subcultures, from the secret world of graffiti artists to the chess champs of Greenwich Village. And it will open your eyes to pieces of forgotten history–for example, the Tulsa race riots of 1921–and to new perspectives on critical current events, such as the interrogation of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. These &“picto-essays&” encompass memoir, history, journalism, and biography in varied visual styles–each handpicked by Brendan Burford, one of America&’s top editors.Including:How and Why to Bale Hay by Nick Bertozzi Penny Sentiments by Rina Piccolo Boris Rose: Prisoner of Jazz by Brendan Burford and Jim Campbell Portfolio by Tricia Van den Bergh Father Figures by Josh Neufeld West Side Improvements by Alex Holden The Evening Hatch by Richard and Brian Haimes What We So Quietly Saw by Greg Cook &“Like Hell I Will&” by Nate Powell Welcome Home, Brave by Dave Kiersh The Sound of Jade by Sarah Glidden Subway Buskers by Victor Marchand Kerlow Erik Erikson by Paul Karasik Dvorak by Alec Longstreth A Coney Island Rumination by Paul Hoppe An Encounter with Richard Peterson by Brendan BurfordAbstract City
By Christoph Niemann. 2012
This anthology of the illustrator’s New York Times blog features a chapter of all-new material: “a masterpiece of sophisticated humor”…
(Library Journal, starred review).In July 2008, illustrator and designer Christoph Niemann began Abstract City, a visual blog for the New York Times. His posts were inspired by the desire to re-create simple and everyday observations and stories from his own life that everyone could relate to. In Niemann’s hands, mundane experiences such as riding the subway or trying to get a good night’s sleep were transformed into delightful flights of visual fancy. In Abstract City, the struggle to keep up with housework becomes a battle against adorable but crafty goblins, and nostalgia about New York manifests in simple but strikingly spot-on LEGO creations. This brilliantly illustrated collection of reflections on modern life includes all sixteen of the original blog posts as well as a new chapter created exclusively for the book.Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World's Most Infamous Prison
By Sarah Mirk. 2020
An anthology of illustrated narratives about the prison and the lives it changed forever. In January 2002, the United States sent…
a group of Muslim men they suspected of terrorism to a prison in Guantánamo Bay. They were the first of roughly 780 prisoners who would be held there—and forty inmates still remain. Eighteen years later, very few of them have been ever charged with a crime.In Guantánamo Voices, journalist Sarah Mirk and her team of diverse, talented graphic novel artists tell the stories of ten people whose lives have been shaped and affected by the prison, including former prisoners, lawyers, social workers, and service members. This collection of illustrated interviews explores the history of Guantánamo and the world post-9/11, presenting this complicated partisan issue through a new lens.“These stories are shocking, essential, haunting, thought-provoking. This book should be required reading for all earthlings.” —The Iowa Review“This anthology disturbs and illuminates in equal measure.” —Publishers Weekly“Editor Mirk presents an extraordinary chronicle of the notorious prison, featuring first-person accounts by prisoners, guards, and other constituents that demonstrate the facility’s cruel reputation. . . . An eye-opening, damning indictment of one of America’s worst trespasses that continues to this day.” —Kirkus ReviewsYou Must Be This Happy to Enter: Stories (Punk Planet Bks.)
By Elizabeth Crane. 2008
Whether breathlessly enthusiastic, serenely calm, or really concentrating right now on their personal zombie issues, Elizabeth Crane's happy cast explores…
the complexities behind personal satisfaction. Elizabeth Crane is the author of two previous story collections, When the Messenger is Hot and All This Heavenly Glory. Her work has also been featured in numerous publications, including Chicago Reader and The Believer, as well as several anthologies, including McSweeney's Future Dictionary of America and The Best Underground Fiction. A winner of the Chicago Public Library's 21st Century Award, Crane teaches creative writing at Northwestern's School of Continuing Studies, The School of the Art Institute, and The University of Chicago. She lives in Chicago.Unstrung: Rants And Stories Of A Noise Guitarist
By Marc Ribot. 2021
The paperback edition of iconoclastic guitar player Marc Ribot’s darkly funny and subversive collection of writing, featuring brand-new essays not…
included in the hardcover. Throughout his genre-defying career as one of the most innovative musicians of our time, iconoclastic guitar player Marc Ribot has consistently defied expectation at every turn. Here, in the expanded paperback edition of Ribot’s first collection of writing, we see that same uncompromising sensibility at work as he playfully interrogates our assumptions about music, life, and death. Through essays—including some new material not included in the hardcover—short stories, and the occasional unfilmable film “mistreatment” that showcase the sheer range of his voice, Unstrung captures an artist whose versatility on the page rivals his dexterity onstage. In the first section of the book, "Lies and Distortion," Ribot turns his attention to his instrument--"my relation to the guitar is one of struggle; I'm constantly forcing it to be something else"--and reflects on his influences (and friends) like Robert Quine (the Voidoids) and producer Hal Willner (Saturday Night Live), while delivering an impassioned plea on behalf of artists' rights. Elsewhere, we glimpse fragments of Ribot's life as a traveling musician--he captures both the monotony of touring as well as small moments of beauty and despair on the road. In the heart of the collection, "Sorry, We're Experiencing Technical Difficulties," Ribot offers wickedly humorous short stories that synthesize the best elements of the Russian absurdist tradition with the imaginative heft of George Saunders. Taken together, these stories and essays cement Ribot's position as one of the most dynamic and creative voices of our time.