Tags:literary
Before We Say Goodbye
The million-copy bestselling series.Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s poignant Before We Say Goodbye, translated from Japanese, explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?The regulars at the magical Cafe Funiculi Funicula are well acquainted with its famous legend and extraordinary, secret time travel offering. Many patrons have reunited with old flames, made amends with estranged family, and visited loved ones. But the journey is not without risks and there are rules to follow. Travellers must have visited the cafe previously and most importantly, must return to the present in the time it takes for their coffee to go cold.In the tradition of Kawaguchi’s sensational Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, readers are introduced to a new set of visitors:- The husband with something important left to say- The woman who couldn’t bid her dog farewell- The woman who couldn’t answer a proposal- The daughter who drove her father away . . .In the hauntingly beautiful Before We Say Goodbye, Kawaguchi invites us to join his characters as they embark on a journey to revisit one crucial moment in time.Catch up on the rest of the series with Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Tales from the Cafe, Before Your Memory Fades, and Before We Forget Kindness.
She
If you want to wander the whole beautiful universe and then wander in the warm fierce veins of her heart, you will slave there forever.Perfect thought for the alchemist 'She'She wanted to change the hypocrisy thinking of the people.She wanted to shift the scenario of the whole society.She wanted to terminate the agony in her soul.She wanted to censure the discriminated thoughts of the entire world.From the AuthorS- SheH- HealsE- EverythingFaith is the substantial base of the relationship. A relationship never exists without trust; to continue the relationship without trust is just a compromise.A relationship is the colorful rainbow of trust, love, pain, emotions, compassion, beautiful eyes and a perfect sharp sword of madness hold by both of them tightly.She would become the cacophony for the society, under which the society will become deaf one day.Don't try judging her calibre; she is more innocent than nature but silently brutal for a cruel heart.She is responsible for everyone's life, but no one is ready to dedicate her own life" this is the real hypocrisy of our double-faced society.From the Inside FlapShe was not raped, she was raped by the same society, which was wandering for her justice.This is the biggest hypocrisy we have ever seen.Why don't we understand this system?Why are we failing every day to create a perfect honourable society?Why are we trying changing others?She was not raped; instead, the society was raped for its hypocrisy and stereotypes.We are only creating echoes, infant negative echoes in the society; the voice of her is still burning with the bright candles."We want change, but we resist changing."This is the fundamental problem of our society.Change yourself instead of changing others. There is a need for mental revolution to develop a new society which would be safe for her to live peacefully."The society is only listening to the echoes of its voice, which has been creating every moment when we fight for her."She would appreciate the change,The change that can reshape the societythe move which would end the evil souls of the communitythe change that will bring new sun to the horizon for her."She is still waiting."From the Back CoverShe is knotty for an indigence heart, lechery for the affluent men, irony for a selfish heart and mirth for an alchemist's heart.She is solitary in this crowded world, where no one is capable of listening to the heartbeat of her, thoughts of her, yelling voice of her.
The Life Fortune of Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh once wrote when his paintings weren't selling; ‘I cannot help it that my paintings do not sell. The time will come when people will see that they are worth more than the price of the paint.’I wish they would take me as I am. - Vincent Van Gogh.Jean-Paul Sartre voiced, if victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat. What we all want from life! That's the question we should ask ourselves every day as when we earn all the wealth and prosperity of this world then we try focusing on our soul satisfaction but how ravishing it would be if we felt peaceful even in the devastating storm! That even if everything is getting apart and broken around you but a deep solitude is having a permanent home in your soul; and you are so lost that you have no other desires and greed to make you feel satisfied. Vincent William Van Gogh, a Dutch Post-Impressionist Painter, is the most famous and influential figure in the history of modern art but inside he was just a broken artist, combating everything in agony & loneliness but improving himself with his actions. Most people are aware of this genius personality but he held a deep gloominess in his heart. While researching, I asked myself multiple times, Vincent Van Gogh died penniless, in depression, agony, in asylum, & intense loneliness but without any support, food or love, he created the marvellous paintings of all time; so what made him go for so long.Have you ever thought about whether destiny really exists or not? Everything is uncertain then what is fixed. What truly made him Vincent Van Gogh even despite everything that was against him, he created his world's best work even with nothing and we are still complaining because we don't have perfect resources for our work. What made him genius! What fortune he created even with nothing! That's astounding and loving to know! Our research was on Vincent Van Gogh because when everyone is blaming they have less resources, Vincent carved his fortune with nothing and what he weaved in his heart, is a matter of secret to be opened to the entire world and that's a proud moment because if he could accomplish perfection with nothing then why we can’t even with something. Time is an illusion as it makes you realise you have more and you have it but you don't have it until you claim it by utilizing it well. It's damn true and practical that everything is out of control, except your soul. So, if everything around is a mess and you are still at tranquillity then you are with your soul.Your profession is not what brings home your weekly pay check, your profession is. What you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling. - Vincent Van Gogh.
The Deep Heart of Franz Kafka
Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your soul according to fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. - Franz Kafka.Franz Kafka wrote, I am free that is why I'm lost. Assume, you wake up and the entire world is against you. You want to follow yourself but the people are dominant on you to do what they want. We don't feel chains until we move. Franz Kafka was not a body to be defined but a soul and heart to be felt. When you zoom out on his life, you will find only a miserable life and a soul that was stubborn to his writings and events and nothing else, and you may feel he was perpetually afraid of social life, friends and even his own marriage and resulting, Kafka never married his entire life and had no children. He was a personality who blamed himself more than other people. Even his own father Hermann Kafka was against his writing profession and in that dominance, he carried out that long exhausting job of an insurance clerk for too long, examining dead bodies and even after he created enough time for writing and crafted the eternal masterpieces like The Trail and Metamorphosis even though he told his literary editor and best friend Max Brod to burn all his scripts unread after his death but fortunately he didn't.Kafkaesque; the surrealism of Kafka is widely popular in the entire world. It’s a state of strange, confusing, oppressing and nightmarish situation like what Kafka felt in his entire life. His novels are a depiction of surrealism and his state represents where people feel powerless against big & impersonal forces. When people see Kafka as a human, we see him as a heart and soul. He tried to transform his entire soul into the expression of changing the entire world. As he was unable to transform the world around him, he chose to change something inside his soul that eternally transformed him. The Deep Heart of Franz Kafka Book focuses on how Kafka saw his world and lived a strange yet deep love even being unloved.I need solitude for my writing; not 'like a hermit' - that wouldn't be enough but like a dead man. - Franz Kafka.
The Pigeon With Broken Legs
Every book doesn't have the message because every book is itself the message.The Pigeon With Broken Legs is the life changing, extraordinary story of Rohan, a fourteen years old boy and his father. Undoubtedly, this time the author will leave his readers with the new question of life.A picture expresses a thousand words, but a book tells more than that.
Ilium
Set in the dark world of international espionage, from London to Mallorca, Croatia, Paris, and Cap Ferret: the gripping and suspenseful story of a young woman who unwittingly becomes a perfect asset in the long overdue finale of a covert special opThe young English narrator of Lea Carpenter’s dazzling new novel has grown up unhappily in London, dreaming of escape, pretending to be someone else and obsessed with a locked private garden. On the eve of her twenty-first birthday, at a party near that garden, she meets its charismatic and mysterious new owner, Marcus, thirty-three years older, who sweeps her off her feet. Before long they are married at his finca in Mallorca, and at last she has escaped into a new role – but at what price? On their honeymoon in Croatia, Marcus reveals there is something she can do for him—a plan is in place and she can help with “a favor.”This turns out to be posing as an art advisor to a family on Cap Ferret, where Marcus asks her to simply “listen.” A helicopter deposits her at a remote, highly guarded and lavishly appointed compound on a spit of land in the Atlantic. It’s presided over by an enigmatic, charming patriarch Edouard, along with his wife Dasha, children Nikki and Felix, and populated by a revolving cast of other guests—some suspicious, some intriguing, perhaps none, like her, what they seem.Brilliantly compelling, this is a spellbinding and unexpectedly poignant story of a long- planned, high-stakes CIA-Mossad operation that only needed the right asset to complete.
Zodiac
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this beautifully illustrated and deeply philosophical graphic memoir, legendary artist Ai Weiwei explores the connection between artistic expression and intellectual freedom through the lens of the Chinese zodiac.ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARAs a child living in exile during the Cultural Revolution, Ai Weiwei often found himself with nothing to read but government-approved comic books. Although they were restricted by the confines of political propaganda, Ai Weiwei was struck by the artists’ ability to express their thoughts on art and humanity through graphic storytelling. Now, decades later, Ai Weiwei and Italian comic artist Gianluca Costantini present Zodiac, Ai Weiwei’s first graphic memoir.Inspired by the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac and their associated human characteristics, Ai Weiwei masterfully interweaves ancient Chinese folklore with stories of his life, family, and career. The narrative shifts back and forth through the years—at once in the past, present, and future—mirroring memory and our relationship to time. As readers delve deeper into the beautifully illustrated pages of Zodiac, they will find not only a personal history of Ai Weiwei and an examination of the sociopolitical climate in which he makes his art, but a philosophical exploration of what it means to find oneself through art and freedom of expression.Contemplative and political, Zodiac will inspire readers to return again and again to Ai Weiwei’s musings on the relationship between art, time, and our shared humanity.
The Snakehead
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION‘Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.’ – TimeIn this thrilling story of real-life events, the bestselling author of Empire of Pain investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown, managed a multimillion-dollar business smuggling people.In The Snakehead, Patrick Radden Keefe reveals the inner workings of Cheng Chui Ping aka Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of undocumented immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them.Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a true crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.‘A powerful piece of reportage about the violent underworld of New York’s Chinatown’ - The Times
The God of the Woods
AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF 2024 WINNER OF GOODREADS MYSTERY & THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 'I was totally gripped' DOUGLAS STUART 'Immersive and enthralling' PAULA HAWKINS ___________ Some said it was tragic, what happened to the Van Laars. Some said the family deserved it. That they never even thanked the searchers who stayed out for five nights in the freezing forest trying to help find their missing son. Some said there was a reason it took the family so long to call for help. That they knew what happened to the boy. Now, fifteen years later, the Van Laars' teenage daughter has gone missing in the same wilderness as her brother. Some say the two disappearances aren’t connected. Some say they are. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––- ‘Brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced ... I can't remember the last time I felt so entangled in a novelist's coils’ Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures 'A beguiling novel with a relentless grip. You won't be able to put it down' Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground 'At once an immersive family saga and utterly propulsive mystery. Beautifully written' Emilia Hart, author of Weyward ‘A masterful literary thriller’ Lucy Clarke, author of The Hike ‘Riveting from page one to the last breathless word ... This book flew by at lightning speed, but will stick with me for a very long time’ Rebecca Makkai, author of I Have Some Questions For You ‘Dickensian in scope ... Very entertaining’ Vogue, Best Picks for Summer 2024 The God of the Woods debuted at #3 on the New York Times bestseller list on 21 July 2024. READERS ARE SAYING... 'I simply couldn't put it down!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'An excellent page-turner' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I didn’t see the end coming' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I strongly urge everyone to read it and experience the magic for themselves' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'My top read for 2024 so far. Actually, top read full stop' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A fascinating story with lots of ups and downs... I did like the conclusion, very clever!!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Loved this book from page one! ... A book not to be missed!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I cannot think of when I have read anything so evocative' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A riveting read. If you're looking for intriguing characters, a beautifully crafted, slow and atmospheric mystery that feels incredibly intense, then this is the one for you' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nineteen Eighty-Four
One of the BBC's '100 Novels that Shaped the World''Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past' Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most pervasively influential book of the twentieth century.
Herbert Armstrong - Poisoner
Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong has the dubious honour of being the only UK solicitor to be executed for murder. ‘Herbert Armstrong – Poisoner’ details the courtroom proceedings following his arrest, documented by then-reporter, Edgar Wallace. A grim, true-crime story, it follows two sets of poisonings, one of which proved to be fatal. A gripping account of a trial and the British criminal justice system at the time, this is a superb read for true-crime enthusiasts and fans of ́The Salisbury Poisonings ́ on Netflix. Born in London, Edgar Wallace (1875 – 1932) was an English writer so prolific that his publisher claimed that he was responsible for a quarter of all books sold in England. Leaving school at the age of 12, Wallace made his first steps into the literary world by selling newspapers on the corner of Fleet Street. He worked as a war correspondent after joining the army at age 21, which honed his writing abilities. This led to the creation of his first book ‘The Four Just Men.’ Wallace is best remembered as the co-creator of ‘King Kong,’ which has been adapted for film 12 times (most notably directed by ‘Lord of the Rings’ director, Peter Jackson, and starring Jack Black and Naomi Watts). However, he leaves behind an extensive body of work, including stories such as ‘The Crimson Circle’ and ‘The Flying Squad’.
The Secret of the Moat Farm
Known across the UK as ‘The Moat Farm Murder,’ ‘The Secret of Moat Farm’ sees Wallace as his investigative-journalist best.At the age of 28, the author was sent to cover the developments in this true-crime story. In 1903, Camille Holland and Samuel Dougal apparently went on a shopping trip. However, suspicions arose when Dougal returned alone, saying that Camille had caught a train to London. Wallace offers insights into the criminal mind, alongside all the facts that made this one of the most gripping and tragic stories of its time. A must for fans of true-crime such as Netflix's ́Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer ́, and those who want an introduction to Wallace’s work. Born in London, Edgar Wallace (1875 – 1932) was an English writer so prolific that his publisher claimed that he was responsible for a quarter of all books sold in England. Leaving school at the age of 12, Wallace made his first steps into the literary world by selling newspapers on the corner of Fleet Street. He worked as a war correspondent after joining the army at age 21, which honed his writing abilities. This led to the creation of his first book ‘The Four Just Men.’ Wallace is best remembered as the co-creator of ‘King Kong,’ which has been adapted for film 12 times (most notably directed by ‘Lord of the Rings’ director, Peter Jackson, and starring Jack Black and Naomi Watts). However, he leaves behind an extensive body of work, including stories such as ‘The Crimson Circle’ and ‘The Flying Squad’.