Bookbot

Delfina Vezzoli

    Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance : an inquiry into values
    That Old Ace in the Hole
    El lenguaje perdido de las grúas
    Submundo
    Tar baby
    Storie in modo quasi classico
    • The Two Hotel Francforts

      • 272 páginas
      • 10 horas de lectura

      It is the summer of 1940, and Lisbon, Portugal, is the only neutral port left in Europe—a city filled with spies, crowned heads, and refugees of every nationality, tipping back absinthe to while away the time until their escape. Awaiting safe passage to New York on the SS<i> Manhattan, </i>two couples meet: Pete and Julia Winters, expatriate Americans fleeing their sedate life in Paris; and Edward and Iris Freleng, sophisticated, independently wealthy, bohemian, and beset by the social and sexual anxieties of their class. As Portugal’s neutrality, and the world’s future, hang in the balance, the hidden threads in the lives of these four characters—Julia’s status as a Jew, Pete and Edward’s improbable affair, Iris’s increasingly desperate efforts to save her tenuous marriage—begin to come loose. This journey will change their lives irrevocably, as Europe sinks into war. Gorgeously written, sexually and politically charged, David Leavitt’s long-awaited new novel<i> </i>is an extraordinary work.

      The Two Hotel Francforts2015
      3,4
    • Expo 58

      • 265 páginas
      • 10 horas de lectura

      In London, 1958, unassuming civil servant Thomas Foley is unexpectedly sent to Brussels for six months to oversee The Brittania, a new pub central to the British presence at Expo 58, the largest World's Fair since World War II. Upon arrival, Thomas feels liberated from his repressive homeland, enchanted by the modernity of the Expo and the striking Atomium structure. He is equally captivated by Anneke, a charming Flemish hostess. However, his newfound freedom comes with complications: the Cold War looms large, and the American and Soviet pavilions are provocatively placed side by side. To make matters more intriguing, Thomas is shadowed by two enigmatic agents from the British Secret Service. As he navigates this glittering yet precarious environment, Thomas must confront his loyalties—both public and private. This comic novel, set in the vibrant mid-50s, will resonate with fans of Coe's previous works and those who appreciate the wit of authors like Nick Hornby and Ian McEwan. Coe’s keen observations and literary flair capture the essence of the era, making this a compelling read about a pivotal moment in European history.

      Expo 582013
      3,5
    • How bad is it when your SatNav is your last best friend? - In his sparkling and hugely enjoyable new book Jonathan Coe reinvents the picaresque novel for our time.

      Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim2010
      3,4
    • Julia and Valentina Poole are identical twins who have no interest in college, jobs or anything outside their cosy suburban home. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn't know existed has died and left them her flat in an apartment block overlooking Highgate Cemetery in London.

      Her Fearful Symmetry2009
      3,3
    • The rain before it falls

      • 277 páginas
      • 10 horas de lectura

      Deeply moving and compelling, The Rain Before it Falls is the story of three generations of one family riven by tragedy. When Rosamond, a reluctant bearer of family secrets, dies suddenly, a mystery is left for her niece Gill to unravel. Some photograph albums and tapes point towards a blind girl named Imogen whom no one has seen in twenty years. The search for Imogen and the truth of her inheritance becomes a shocking story of mothers and daughters and of how sadness, like a musical refrain, may haunt us down the years.

      The rain before it falls2007
      3,6
    • I Feel Bad about My Neck

      • 160 páginas
      • 6 horas de lectura

      In "I Feel Bad About My Neck," Nora Ephron humorously explores the challenges of aging, including maintenance, menopause, and empty nests. With her candid voice, she shares her experiences as a passionate cook and parent, offering a funny and moving reflection on life as a woman of a certain age.

      I Feel Bad about My Neck2007
      3,7
    • That Old Ace in the Hole

      • 384 páginas
      • 14 horas de lectura

      From Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Annie Proulx comes an exhilarating story brimming with language, history, landscape, music, and love. Bob Dollar is a young man from Denver trying to make good in a bad world. Out of college and aimless, Dollar takes a job with Global Pork Rind, scouting out big spreads of land that can be converted to hog farms. Soon he's holed up in a two-bit Texas town called Woolybucket, where he settles into LaVon Fronk's old bunkhouse for fifty dollars a month, helps out at Cy Frease's Old Dog Café, and learns the hard way how vigorously the old Texas ranch owners will hold on to their land, even when their children want no part of it. Robust, often bawdy, strikingly original, That Old Ace in the Hole traces the waves of change that have shaped the American West over the past century -- and in Bob Dollar, Proulx has created one of the most irrepressible characters in contemporary fiction.

      That Old Ace in the Hole2004
      3,8
    • Maps for Lost Lovers

      • 379 páginas
      • 14 horas de lectura

      If Gabriel García Márquez had chosen to write about Pakistani immigrants in England, he might have produced a novel as beautiful and devastating as Maps for Lost Lovers. Jugnu and Chanda have disappeared. Like thousands of people all over England, they were lovers and living together out of wedlock. To Chanda’s family, however, the disgrace was unforgivable. Perhaps enough so as to warrant murder. As he explores the disappearance and its aftermath through the eyes of Jugnu’s worldly older brother, Shamas, and his devout wife, Kaukab, Nadeem Aslam creates a closely observed and affecting portrait of people whose traditions threaten to bury them alive. The result is a tour de force, intimate, affecting, tragic and suspenseful.

      Maps for Lost Lovers2004
      3,7
    • Submundo

      • 883 páginas
      • 31 horas de lectura

      Barcelona. 22 cm. 883 p. Encuadernación en tapa dura de editorial con sobrecubierta ilustrada. Traducción de Gian Gastelli Gair ; prólogo de José María Guelbenzu. Traducción de: Underworld .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. ISBN: 8422606097

      Submundo1999
      4,0
    • At eighteen, Paul Porterfield aspires to play the piano at the world's great concert halls. So far the closest he has come has been to turn pages of sheet music for his idol, the dashing, temperamental Richard Kennington, a former piano prodigy on the cusp of middle age. Months later, while on holiday with his mother in Italy, Paul encounters Richard a second time. Their earlier attraction develops into an intense affair. As the innocence of first love becomes entangled with the quest for a more enduring happiness, Paul comes to realise that he cannot be a page turner all his life and that he has to confront his ambitions. With artful storytelling, shrewd perception and arch humour, THE PAGE TURNER testifies to the bittersweet truths of strained relationships and the resiliency of the human heart.

      The Page Turner1999
      3,3
    • Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into…

      Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance : an inquiry into values1997
      3,8
    • Tar baby

      • 320 páginas
      • 12 horas de lectura

      Into a white millionaire's Caribbean mansion comes: Jadine, a graduate of the Sorbonne, art historian - an American black now living in Paris and Rome and Son, a criminal on the run, uneducated, violent, contemptuous - an American black from small-town Fl

      Tar baby1994
      4,0
    • Storie in modo quasi classico

      • 368 páginas
      • 13 horas de lectura

      Traduzione dei racconti di Harold Brodkey Stories in an Almost Classical Mode - Il prodigo sognatore - Sulle onde - Contabilità - Hofstedt e Jean e altri - Il tiro a segno - Innocenza - Gioco - Una storia in modo quasi classico - Suo figlio, tra le braccia, nella luce, lassù - Pubertà

      Storie in modo quasi classico1991
      3,9
    • Rose y Owen Benjamin llevan una vida tranquila y sin sobresaltos en el vertiginoso Nueva York de nuestros das. Para ambos, su matrimonio y su apartamento familiar en medio de la ciudad constituyen un remanso de paz, un refugio. Pero Rose, correctora de una editorial, oculta el anhelo de una pasin que ha estado ausente de su vida, y Owen, que en su juventud pareciera destinado a una vida ms brillante, se ha recluido en un montono aunque respetable trabajo en una escuela privada, y esconde tambin una obsesin inconfesable.Pero ser su nico hijo, Philip, quien har estallar este apacible mundo de civilizados secretos, cuando decida airear pblicamente su homosexualidad, y enfrentar a sus padres con la realidad.

      El lenguaje perdido de las grúas1987
      3,9