Julian Barnes Libros

En 1903, un suceso notorio sacude la calma de un pueblo de la Inglaterra profunda: varios animales aparecen brutalmente mutilados. LA incompetencia de la policía y el peso de los rumores convierten a George Edalji, el hijo de un vicario parsi, en el principal sospechoso. El caso llegará a los oídos de Arthur Conan Doyle, el creador de Sherlock Holmes, quien tomará el relevo de su personaje para emprender una investigación en busca de una verdad muy escurridiza.

1936: Shostakovich, sólo treinta, teme por su sustento y su vida. Stalin, hasta entonces una figura distante, ha tomado un interés repentino en su trabajo y ha denunciado su última ópera. Ahora, seguro de que será exiliado a Siberia (o, más probablemente, muerto a tiros en el lugar), reflexiona sobre su situación, su historia personal, sus padres, varias mujeres y esposas, sus hijos todos los que están en el equilibrio de su destino. Y aunque un golpe de suerte le impide convertirse en otra víctima del Gran Terror, durante los años venideros se mantendrá bajo el pulgar del despotismo: hecho para representar los valores soviéticos en una conferencia cultural en la ciudad de Nueva York, forzado a unirse El Partido, y obligado, constantemente, a pesar apaciguando a aquellos en el poder contra la integridad de su música. Barnes nos guía elegantemente a través de la trayectoria de la carrera de Shostakovich, al mismo tiempo que ilumina la tumultuosa evolución de la Unión Soviética. El resultado es a la vez un impresionante retrato de un hombre implacablemente fascinante y una brillante meditación sobre el significado del arte y su lugar en la sociedad "- Proporcionado por el editor

?Preferira̕s amar ms̀ y sufrir ms̀ o amar menos y sufrir menos? Creo que, en definitiva, esa es la n︢ica cuestin̤, reflexiona al inicio de la novela su protagonista. En la dčada de los sesenta, cuando tena̕ diecinueve aǫs y regres ̤de la universidad para pasar el verano en casa de sus padres, Paul se apunt ̤a un club de tenis en el que conoci ̤a Susan Macleod, de cuarenta y ocho aǫs, casada no muy felizmente y con dos hijas ya mayores.

Discusses choosing and caring for pet puppies, including information about their physical characteristics, behaviors, and health requirements

Flaubert's Parrot, Julian Barnes's breakthrough book—shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984—is the story of Geoffrey Braithwaite, a retired doctor who is obsessed with the French author and with tracking down a stuffed parrot that once inspired him. Barnes playfully combines a literary detective story with a character study of its detective, embedded in a brilliant riff on literary genius. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters is a mix of fictional and historical narratives of voyage and discovery—ranging from a woodworm's perspective on Noah's ark to a survivor from the sinking of the Titanic—that question our ideas of history.

From the bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending and one of Britain’s greatest writers: a brilliant collection of essays on the books and authors that have meant the most to him throughout his illustrious career. • "[A] blissfully intelligent gathering of literary essays." —Financial Times In these seventeen essays (plus a short story and a special preface, “A Life with Books”), Julian Barnes examines the British, French and American writers who have shaped his writing, as well as the cross-currents and overlappings of their different cultures. From the deceptiveness of Penelope Fitzgerald to the directness of Hemingway, from Kipling’s view of France to the French view of Kipling, from the many translations of Madame Bovary to the fabulations of Ford Madox Ford, from the National Treasure status of George Orwell to the despair of Michel Houellebecq, Julian Barnes considers what fiction is, and what it can do. As he writes, “Novels tell us the most truth about life: what it is, how we live it, what it might be for, how we enjoy and value it, and how we lose it.”

The updated edition of Julian Barnes' best-loved writing on art, with seven new exquisite illustrated essays'Flaubert believed that it was impossible to explain one art form in terms of another, and that great paintings required no words of explanation.

Bi-sexual ex-cop, Duffy, investigates a murder at a large country house belonging to a shady acquaintance from his past.

'You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed...' Julian Barnes's new book is about ballooning, photography, love and grief; about putting two things, and two people, together, and about tearing them apart. One of the judges who awarded him the 2011 Man Booker Prize described him as 'an unparalleled magus of the heart'. This book confirms that opinion.

Since 1990 Julian Barnes has written a regular ‘Letter from London’ for the New Yorker magazine. These already celebrated pieces cover subjects as diverse as the Lloyd’s insurance disaster, the rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher, the troubles of the Royal Family and the hapless Nigel Short in his battle with Gary Kasparov in the 1993 World Chess Finals. With an incisive assessment of Salman Rushdie’s plight and an analysis of the implications of being linked to the Continent via the Channel Tunnel, Letters from London provides a vivid and telling portrait of Britain in the Nineties.

As Julian Barnes notes in his introduction to Alphonse Daudet’s La Doulou, the writer, who lived from 1840 to 1897, was once celebrated as a leading literary figure. Henry James referred to him as “the happiest novelist” and “the most charming story-teller” of his time. However, Daudet was also part of a tragic group of nineteenth-century French writers afflicted by syphilis. In the Land of Pain—notes toward an unwritten book—Daudet offers a poignant response to his illness. With quick, incisive strokes, he details his symptoms, describing pain as a “one-man-band” and his treatments as “morphine nights” filled with sleeplessness and existential void. He reflects on his fears, seeking meaning in pain and urging it to be his philosophy and science. Daudet shares observations of fellow patients at spas, noting the cultural contrasts in their experiences, and he contemplates the deceptive nature of death, which seems to merely thin out life. Barnes’s translation captures the essence of these notes, creating a record that is both shattering and lighthearted, haunting yet beguiling. This work reveals the dual nature of physical suffering—its banality and transformative power—while celebrating the complex resilience of the human spirit.

A “playful, witty, and entertaining” book (The New York Times Book Review) that offers an exhilarating vision of the world, starting with the voyage of Noah's ark and ending with a sneak preview of heaven—from the bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending. It's a hilariously revisionist account of Noah's ark, narrated by a passenger who doesn't appear in Genesis. It's a sneak preview of heaven. It encompasses the stories of a cruise ship hijacked by terrorists and of woodworms tried for blasphemy in sixteenth-century France. It explores the relationship of fact to fabulation and the antagonism between history and love. In short, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters is a grandly ambitious and inventive work of fiction, in the traditions of Joyce and Calvino, from the author of the widely acclaimed Flaubert's Parrot.

Everyone knows a bit of petty theft goes on in the freight business at Heathrow - it is fiddle city, after all. But things have gone beyond a joke for Roy Hendrick and he suspects someone who works for him is helping themselves to more than they should. That's when he sets Duffy on the case. A bisexual ex-policeman, Duffy runs a struggling security firm, has an obsessive attitude to cleanliness and can often be found propping up the bar at the Alligator. Duffy agrees to work for Hendrick and goes undercover to try and root out the culprit. But things aren't all they're cracked up to be. What's the story behind the imperious HR manager Mrs Boseley with her permanently frosty demeanour? And is Hendrick really as honest as he claims to be? Duffy's up to his neck in it.

Exploring the complexities of changing one's mind, Julian Barnes delves into how our perceptions shift regarding politics, literature, and personal memories. He examines the belief that such transformations signify growth and maturity, challenging the notion that change always leads to improvement. Through engaging essays, Barnes invites readers to reflect on the nature of belief and the factors that influence our evolving perspectives on various aspects of life.

A brilliant, discursive, very funny book about death and the fear of death, god, nature, nurture and the author s childhood. The closest thing to a memoir Barnes will ever write.

The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending takes us on a rich, witty tour of Belle Epoque Paris, via the life story of the pioneering surgeon Samuel PozziIn the summer of 1885, three Frenchmen arrived in London for a few days’ shopping. One was a Prince, one was a Count, and the third was a commoner with an Italian name, who four years earlier had been the subject of one of John Singer Sargent’s greatest portraits.The three men's lives play out against the backdrop of the Belle Epoque in Paris. The beautiful age of glamour and pleasure more often showed its ugly side: hysterical, narcissistic, decadent and violent, a time of rampant prejudice and blood-and-soil nativism, with more parallels to our own age than we might imagine.Our guide through this world is Samuel Pozzi, society doctor, pioneer gynaecologist and free-thinker, a rational and scientific man with a famously complicated private life.The Man in the Red Coat is at once a fresh and original portrait of the French Belle Epoque – its heroes and villains, its writers, artists and thinkers – and a life of a man ahead of his time. Witty, surprising and deeply researched, the new book from Julian Barnes illuminates the fruitful and longstanding exchange of ideas between Britain and France, and makes a compelling case for keeping that exchange alive.

"A memoir on mortality as only Julian Barnes can write it, one 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 and an agnostic at sixty, Barnes looks into the various arguments for, against, and with God, and at his own bloodline, which has become, following his parents' death, another realm of mystery. 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."--Descripción del editor

Beginning with an unlikely stowaway's account of life on board Noah's Ark, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters presents a surprising, subversive, fictional history of earth told from several kaleidoscopic perspectives. Noah disembarks from his ark but he and his Voyage are not forgotten: they are revisited in on other centuries and other climes - by a Victorian spinster mourning her father, by an American astronaut on an obsessive personal mission. We journey to the Titanic, to the Amazon, to the raft of the Medusa , and to an ecclesiastical court in medieval France where a bizarre case is about to begin... This is no ordinary history, but something stranger, a challenge and a delight for the reader's imagination. Ambitious yet accessible, witty and playfully serious, this is the work of a brilliant novelist.

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. They all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is in middle age and he is finding that memory is imperfect.

Account of love's vicissitudes begins as a comedy of misunderstanding, then slowly darkens and deepens.

In these seventeen essays (and one short story) the 2011 Man Booker Prize winner examines British, French and American writers who have meant most to him, as well as the cross-currents and overlappings of their different cultures. From the deceptiveness of Penelope Fitzgerald to the directness of Hemingway, from Kipling's view of France to the French view of Kipling, from the many translations of Madame Bovary to the fabulations of Ford Madox Ford, from the National Treasure Status of George Orwell to the despair of Michel Houellebecq, Julian Barnes considers what fiction is, and what it can do. As he writes in his preface, 'Novels tell us the most truth about life: what it is, how we live it, what it might be for, how we enjoy and value it, and how we lose it.' When his Letters from London came out in 1995, the Financial Times called him 'our best essayist'. This wise and deft collection confirms that judgment.

In his widely acclaimed new collection of stories, Barnes addresses what is perhaps the most poignant aspect of the human condition: growing old. The characters are facing the ends of their lives--some with bitter regret, others with resignation, and others still with defiant rage.

The Pedant in the Kitchen is a perfect comfort for anyone who has ever been defeated by a cookbook. The Pedant's ambition is simple. He wants to cook tasty, nutritious food; he wants not to poison his friends; and he wants to expand, slowly and with pleasure, his culinary repertoire

In the grimy underbelly of London, private detective Duffy takes on an extortion case and finds himself pitted against one of the city’s most dangerous crime lords Rosie McKechnie was alone when the two men entered her home, tied her to a chair, and cut her with a switchblade. It was a message for her husband, Brian. To outside appearances, Brian McKechnie is just a businessman. But to Big Eddy Martoff, London’s underworld kingpin, McKechnie is a big fat mark. With a history of crooked business deals and extramarital affairs, McKechnie is the perfect target. To beat back the blackmail, McKechnie needs someone who understands lowlifes like Martoff—and Nick Duffy knows lowlifes. Duffy was a copper until four years ago, when malicious rumors about his sex life ripped through the force. Now he is in private security, and McKechnie’s case is one he cannot refuse. Duffy, no stranger to his city’s seedier offerings, dives into a world of prostitutes, hoods, and porn moguls. Can he find a way to put the pinch on Big Eddy before Soho swallows him whole?

I cannot remember when I enjoyed a first novel more' Daily Telegraph

Barnes's prize-winning novel has charmed readers since its first publication in 1984 - 'A tour de force' Germaine Greer; 'A book to revel in' Joseph Heller; 'A delight' John Fowles; 'An intricate and delightful novel' Graham Greene - and has become a classic. Our narrator is Geoffrey Braithwaite, a retired doctor with a passion for Flaubert. As he leads us on an investigative trip through France and through the past, we are offered a glimpse of the writer who so fascinates him. At the same time the layers of Braithwaite's own past are peeled away to reveal someone infinitely more troubled than he first seemed.

A collection of stories, in which a divorcee falls in love with a mysterious European waitress, a widower relives a favourite holiday, two writers rehearse familiar arguments, and, a couple bond, fall out and bond again over flowers and vegetable patches.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2011 From the hairdessing salon where an old man measures out his life in haircuts, to the concert hall where a music lover carries out an obsessive campaign against those who cough in concerts; from the woman who reads elaborate recipes to her sick husband as a substitute for sex, to the woman 'incarcerated' in an old people's home beginning a correspondence with an author that enriches both their lives - all Barnes' characters, in their different ways, square up to death and rage against the dying light.

When it comes to death, is there ever a best case scenario? In this disarmingly witty book, Julian Barnes confronts our unending obsession with the end. He reflects on what it means to miss God, whether death can be good for our careers and why we eventually turn into our parents. Barnes is the perfect guide to the weirdness of the only thing that binds us all.Selected from the book Nothing to be Frightened Ofby Julian BarnesVINTAGE MINIS- GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.A series of short books by the world's greatest writers on the experiences that make us humanAlso in the Vintage Minis series-Calmby Tim ParksDrinkingby John CheeverBabiesby Anne EnrightPsychedelics by Aldous Huxley

In his latest novel, Julian Barnes, author of Talking It Over and A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters , trains his laser-bright prose on the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Stoyo Petkanov, the deposed Party leader, is placed on trial for crimes that range from corruption to political murder. Petkanov's guilt -- and the righteousness of his opponents -- would seem to be self-evident. But, as brilliantly imagined by Barnes, the trial of this cunning and unrepentant dictator illuminates the shadowy frontier between the rusted myths of the Communist past and a capitalist future in which everything is up for grabs.

The bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending traces the life of a seemingly ordinary woman with an extraordinary disdain for wisdom in this “marvelous literary epiphany” (The New York Times Book Review). In this wonderfully provocative novel, Barnes follows Jean Serjeant from her childhood in the 1920s to her flight into the sun in the year 2021, confronting readers with the fruits of her relentless curiosity: pilgrimages to China and the Grand Canyon; a catalogue of 1940s sexual euphemisms; and a glimpse of technology in the twenty-first century (when The Absolute Truth can be universally accessed). Elegant, funny and intellectually subversive, Staring at the Sun is Julian Barnes at his most dazzlingly original.

A collection of essays on France from Julian Barnes. Written over a 20 year period, the topics Barnes covers range from landscape to literature, food to flaubert, film and song to the Tour de France.

From the winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction comes an enthralling set of short stories. from the last days of a reclusive English composer, the beef consuming 'navvies' labouring on the Paris-Rouen railway to a lonely woman mourning the death of her brother on the battlefields of the Somme.

Dan Kavanagh's third novel featuring Duffy. This time Duffy investigates the troubled world of England's Third Division football while also facing questions of his possible encounter with AIDS.

Graham was an he was meant to be an expert on the past. But there were aspects of it, he discovered, that couldn’t be subdued, that simply carried on, lively and painful, as if they were the present. He began to mind. He minded very much indeed. While those around him look on – with concern, with contempt, with amusement – Graham’s meticulous passion gradually begins to run out of control. Julian Barnes presents an unnerving version of sexual jealousy and shows it to be not just living, but reasonable, ordinary, funny, dangerous and consuming.

Booker Prize Finalist "Wickedly funny." --The New York Times Imagine an England where all the pubs are quaint, where the Windsors behave themselves (mostly), where the cliffs of Dover are actually white, and where Robin Hood and his merry men really are merry. This is precisely what visionary tycoon, Sir Jack Pitman, seeks to accomplish on the Isle of Wight, a "destination" where tourists can find replicas of Big Ben (half size), Princess Di's grave, and even Harrod's (conveniently located inside the tower of London). Martha Cochrane, hired as one of Sir Jack's resident "no-people," ably assists him in realizing his dream. But when this land of make-believe gradually gets horribly and hilariously out of hand, Martha develops her own vision of the perfect England. Julian Barnes delights us with a novel that is at once a philosophical inquiry, a burst of mischief, and a moving elegy about authenticity and nationality.

We'd like to introduce you to Elizabeth Finch. We invite you to take her course in Culture and Civilisation. Her ideas are not to everyone's taste. But she will change the way you see the world. 'The task of the present is to correct our understanding of the past. And that task becomes the more urgent when the past cannot be corrected.' Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration - always rigorous, always thoughtful. With careful empathy, she guided her students to develop meaningful ideas and to discover their centres of seriousness. As a former student unpacks her notebooks and remembers her uniquely inquisitive mind, her passion for reason resonates through the years. Her ideas unlock the philosophies of the past, and explore key events that show us how to make sense of our lives today. And underpinning them all is the story of J - Julian the Apostate, her historical soulmate and fellow challenger to the institutional and monotheistic thinking that has always threatened to divide us. This is more than a novel. It's a loving tribute to philosophy, a careful evaluation of history, an invitation to think for ourselves. It's a moment to reflect and to gently explore our own theories and assumptions. It is truly a balm for our times.

Als "Auslandskorrespondent im eigenen Land" läßt Julian Barnes im Auftrag des "New Yorkers" seinen geschärften Blick über die britische Heimat schweifen. In fünfzehn Briefen aus London erzählt er von Margaret Thatcher, John Major und Tony Blair, berichtet von der Symbolträchtigkeit englischer Irrgärten, wirft vielsagende Blicke hinter die Kulissen von Lloyd's of London und über die Mauern des Buckingham-Palasts und verrät (fast) alles über "Nonnas Schlüpferskandal" und Britannias neue BH-Größe.

Лауреат Букеровской премии Джулиан Барнс — один из самых ярких и оригинальных прозаиков современной Британии, автор таких международных бестселлеров, как «Шум времени», «Предчувствие конца», «Артур и Джордж», «История мира в 10½ главах», «Попугай Флобера» и многих других. Своим первым опытом в жанре эссе об искусстве Джулиан Барнс называет главу нашумевшего романа-антиутопии «История мира в 10½ главах» (1989), посвященную картине Теодора Жерико «Гибель плота Медузы». Именно поэтому, уже как самостоятельное произведение, в сборнике «Открой глаза» она оказывается первой из семнадцати увлекательных коротких историй о художниках и их работах, приглашающих читателя проследить путь изобразительного искусства от начала XIX века до современности. В этих эссе есть все, что традиционно присуще прозе Барнса: великолепное чувство стиля, виртуозное равновесие едкой иронии и утонченного лиризма, сарказма на грани цинизма и веселого озорства. Но еще, это собрание тонких, остроумных и, порой, неожиданных наблюдений, дарящих не только литературное удовольствие, но и богатую пищу для ума.

Julian Barnes’ Lieblingsbücher In seinem neuen Buch beschäftigt sich Julian Barnes mit dem Schreiben. Diesmal jedoch nicht in erster Linie mit dem eigenen, sondern mit dem anderer: In siebzehn Essays und einer Short Story erzählt er uns von Lieblingsbüchern und Autoren, die es zu entdecken gilt – und macht unbändige Lust darauf, sofort mit einer langen Wunschliste die nächste Buchhandlung aufzusuchen. Julian Barnes schreibt über U-Bahnfahrten mit Penelope Fitzgerald und über Rudyard Kiplings Leidenschaft für Autofahrten durch Frankreich, er feiert Houellebecqs Kompromisslosigkeit und bricht eine Lanze für seine unterschätzten Kollegen (Sie haben Ford Madox Fords »Das Ende der Paraden« nicht gelesen? Dann aber los!). Barnes hat keine Angst vor Ikonenkritik (George Orwell) und noch weniger vor hymnischem Lob (Lorrie Moore, John Updike). All das ist scharfsinnig beobachtet, mit feinem Humor und manchmal mildem Spott, mit Sinn fürs argumentative Fairplay und mit viel Herzblut. Nebenbei schenkt er uns in einer Short Story überraschende Einsichten über Hemingway und über das Verhältnis von Mythos und Werk dieses Superstars der amerikanischen Literaturgeschichte. Klug, differenziert, humorvoll und sehr, sehr kurzweilig – dieser Essayband ist ein großes Lesevergnügen und macht Lust, sich umgehend durch sämtliche besprochenen Bücher zu lesen.

W kolejnej części bestsellerowej serii Miłość Archibald opowiada o swoim domu, który bardzo lubi, choć czasem go zostawia, żeby zobaczyć, jak mieszkają inni. Zawsze jednak z chęcią wraca - może jego dom nie jest największy ani najpiękniejszy, ale przecież nie o to chodzi

Grandios erzählte Kunstgeschichten von Julian Barnes – in einer um sieben Essays erweiterten Taschenbuchausgabe. Ein Buch voller Kunstgeschichten: über Maler und ihre Exzentrik, über ihre Modelle, Musen, Bilder und Eskapaden. Ein Buch für Kenner und Laien gleichermaßen mit Texten über Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Cézanne, Degas bis zu Lucian Freud. Mit der Malerei befasste sich Julian Barnes bereits in seinem berühmten Buch »Eine Geschichte der Welt in 10 ½ Kapiteln«, in dem er zum Beispiel Géricaults Bild »Das Floß der Medusa« und die grausame Geschichte des Schiffsbruchs beschrieb. Auch dieses Buch ist voller Geschichten. Über die Künstler und ihre Exzentrik, über die Modelle und deren oftmals kompliziertes Verhältnis zu ihren Malern, über Autoren, die sich mit den Malern beschäftigen. Durch Julian Barnes’ Kenntnisreichtum und durch sein Wissen um menschliche Schwächen und Laster entsteht eine Art erzählende Kunstgeschichte – lehrreich, unterhaltsam und überaus erhellend, und das nicht nur für Kunstkenner, sondern auch für Menschen, die nicht viel über Kunst wissen.

Julian Barnes heeft kunst en literatuur zelf moeten ontdekken, en dat gebeurde pas op latere leeftijd. Op een dag bezocht hij het Musée Gustave Moreau, zonder precies te weten wie de schilder was, en werd getroffen door zijn ongewone, weelderige werk. De mystiek van de schilderijen in combinatie met het feit dat hij een `eigen ontdekking¿ had gedaan, zette hem in vuur en vlam. Julian Barnes weet hoe kunst je hart kan veroveren en hoe dat op de lezer over te brengen. Hij neemt de lezer mee op ontdekkingsreis langs de romantiek, het realisme naar zijn favoriete stroming, het modernisme. Gepassioneerd en uitnodigend leert hij ons het werk kennen van grote schilders als Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Cézanne, Degas, Redon, Bonnard, Magritte, Howard Hodgkin en Lucian Freud.

Im Wörterbuch erreicht Flaubert das Maximum an Unsichtbarkeit. Seine Abwesenheit als Autor ist so total, daß man fast sagen könnte, das Wörterbuch sei die Arbeit von Anderen. Er hat bloß den Stimmen der rechtdenkenden Leute gelauscht und aufgeschrieben, was sie sagen, er hat ihre Äußerungen weder geändert noch übertrieben, sondern sie bloß mit der Pinzette (keine Fingerabdrücke!) aufgesammelt und für uns in einem großen Sammelalbum alphabetisch geordnet. Sie möchten wissen, was Flaubert gedacht hat? Das ist nirgendwo sichtbar und allgegenwärtig.- Julian Barnes

Quando le cronache ufficiali descrissero l’impresa di Noè, sorvolarono su una serie di episodi poco edificanti che, se fossero stati rivelati, avrebbero potuto ridimensionare il valore mitico dell’epopea. Nessuno, però, sapeva che un animaletto, salito a bordo da clandestino, era stato testimone di quei retroscena non proprio eroici, e aveva deciso di raccontarli. Come si conclusero i processi ecclesiastici celebrati nella Francia medievale contro quei tarli accusati di avere rosicchiato gli arredi sacri? Che cosa capitò a Spike Tiggler, l’astronauta che, dopo aver portato un pallone sulla luna, svelò il mistero del Monte Ararat? E quale fine fece l’unicorno che godeva di cosí tante attenzioni da parte della moglie di Noè? Rimbalzando di continuo tra epoche e situazioni diverse, Julian Barnes ripercorre le grandezze e le follie dell’umanità, lanciando una sfida ambiziosa alla fantasia del lettore: immaginare un mondo completamente nuovo.

Beginning with an unlikely stowaway's account of life on board Noah's Ark, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters presents a surprising, subversive, fictional history of earth told from several kaleidoscopic perspectives. Noah disembarks from his ark but he and his Voyage are not forgotten: they are revisited in on other centuries and other climes - by a Victorian spinster mourning her father, by an American astronaut on an obsessive personal mission. We journey to the Titanic, to the Amazon, to the raft of the Medusa , and to an ecclesiastical court in medieval France where a bizarre case is about to begin... This is no ordinary history, but something stranger, a challenge and a delight for the reader's imagination. Ambitious yet accessible, witty and playfully serious, this is the work of a brilliant novelist.

Cuando Edith Hope, escritora de novelas románticas, tiene que abandonar Gran Bretaña por motivos sentimentales, se dirige a Suiza, a un hotel a la orilla del Lago Leman, cerca de Ginebra. Edith va a permanecer en el Hotel du Lac el tiempo suficiente para que sus amigos de Inglaterra olviden el episodio amoroso del que fue protagonista, episodio que causó su declive social y que ella irá reviviendo y desvelando al lector, a pesar de las trampas y los obstáculos que una memoria reacia al recuerdo acostumbra a interponer. Hotel du Lac es una novela en la que se traza, a través de las actitudes y comportamientos de los personajes, un fresco del amor romántico y la condición femenina.

Итак, познакомьтесь с Элизабет Финч. Прослушайте её курс «Культура и цивилизация». Она изменит ваш взгляд на мир. Для своих студентов-вечерников она служит источником вдохновения, нарушителем спокойствия, «советодательной молнией». И вот десятилетия спустя Нил (бывший актёр, неудавшийся ресторатор, «Король Заброшенных Проектов») разбирает её записные книжки, пытаясь найти ключ к неуловимому образу человека-загадки по имени Элизабет Финч — харизматичного, эксцентричного мыслителя, апологета методичности, точно знающего, в какой миг «история пошла не тем путём»: когда потерпел поражение Юлиан Отступник, последний языческий император Древнего Рима…

Adámek s otcom pozorujú lastovičky, ktoré odlietajú na druhý koniec sveta. Mohol by som sa dostať taky tak ďaleko, až budem veľký? pýta sa Adámek. Určite, a možno aj ďalej, hovorí otec. Ale čo keď padne noc, čo keď sa zdvihne veľký vietor? Čo keď sa stratím alebo sa budem cítiť osamelý? Jedna za druhou poodhaľujú Adámková otázky obavy z neznámej cesty, ktoré my dospelí hovoríme život. Otecko Adamov strach netlmí. Vysvetľuje, svojimi slovami mu dodáva odvahu a sebadôveru, aby sa nebál objavovať svet, aby hľadal krásu všade a vo všetkom, aby svoju loďku riadil po svojom a práve takou rýchlosťou, aká mu bude vyhovovať. Tatínkovy odpovede upokojujú, oslobodzujú a predovšetkým uisťujú chlapčeka o otcovom ničím neohrozene láske. Rovnako ako u Mám ťa rada a Mám ťa rád sestrička, jednoduché ilustrácie perfektne sprevádzajú silný, dojemný a pozitívne vzkaz deťom i dospelým. V úvode knihy sú opäť pripravené prázdne riadky, do ktorých môžu oteckovia napísať svojmu dieťaťu venovanie.

Nachw. Barnes, Julian. 125 S.