This story of raging comedy and despair centers on the tempestuous marriage of an heiress and a Vietnam veteran. From their "carpenter gothic" rented house, Paul sets himself up as a media consultant for Reverend Ude, an evangelist mounting a grand crusade that conveniently suits a mining combine bidding to take over an ore strike on the site of Ud...more
ABSURDLY LOGICAL,MERCILESSLY REAL,GATHERING ITS OWN TUMULTOUS MOMENTUM FOR THE ULTIMATE BRUSH WITH COMMODITY TRADING JR CAPTURES THE READER IN THE CACOPHONY OF VOICES THAT REVOLES AROUND THIS YOUNG CAPTIVE OF HIS OWN MYTHS. THE DISTURBING CLARITY WITH WHICH THIS FINISHED WRITER CAPTURES THE WAYS IN WHICH WE DEAL,DISSEMBLE,STUMBLE THROUGH OUR WORDS ...more
Written between 1920 and 1937, when F. Scott Fitzgerald was at the height of his creative powers, these ten lyric tales represent some of the author's finest fiction. In them, Fitzgerald creates vivid, timeless characters -- a dissatisfied southern belle seeking adventure in the north; the tragic hero of the title story who lost more than money in ...more
This Side of Paradise describes life at Princeton among the glittering, bored, and disillusioned-the post-World War I "lost generation." Published in 1920, when he was just twenty-three, the novel was an overnight success and shot Fitzgerald to instant stardom.
Published in 1934, TENDER IS THE NIGHT was one of the most talked-about books of the year. "It's amazing how Excellent much of it is," Ernest Hemingway said to Maxwell Perkins. "I will say now," John O'Hara wrote Fitzgerald, "TENDER IS THE NIGHT is in the early stages of being my favorite book, even more than THIS SIDE OF PARADISE." And Archibald M...more
When F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote THE GREAT GATSBY in the early 1920s, the American Dream was already on the skids. Originally based on the idea that the pursuit of happiness involves not only material success but moral and spiritual growth, the dream had by Fitzgerald's time become increasingly focused on money and pleasure--a phenomenon the high-liv...more
Most diners believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential, that elegant...more
A highly acclaimed writer and editor, Bill Buford left his job at The New Yorker for a most unlikely destination: the kitchen at Babbo, the revolutionary Italian restaurant created and ruled by superstar chef Mario Batali. Finally realizing a long-held desire to learn first-hand the experience of restaurant cooking, Buford soon finds himself drown...more
Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. She also knows that as the most important food critic in the country, you need to be anonymous when reviewing some of the most high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the world—a charge she took very seriou...more
In this delightful sequel to her bestseller Tender at the Bone, Ruth Reichl returns with more tales of love, life, and marvelous meals. Comfort Me with Apples picks up Reichl’s story in 1978, when she puts down her chef’s toque and embarks on a career as a restaurant critic. Her pursuit of good food and good company leads her to New York and Ch...more