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Slowness: A Novel
Milan Kundera Manufacturer: Harper Perennial ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0060928417 |
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After the gravity of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Immortality, Slowness comes as a surprise: it is certainly Kundera's lightest novel, a divertimento, with, as the author himself says, "not a single serious word in it."Disconcerted and enchanted, the reader follows the narrator through a midsummer's night in which two tales of seduction, sperated by more than two-hundred years, interweave and oscillate between the sublime and the comic, finally culminating in poignant cross-century encounter sure to linger in the reader's mind
Despite Kundera's disclaimer about the novel's seriousness, Slowness resonates with a profound meditation on contemporary life, the secret bond between slowness and memory, the connection between our era's desire to forget and the way we have given ourselves over to the demon of speed.
Book Description
Two tales of seduction, separated by more than two hundred years, interweave and oscillate between the sublime and the comic in this, Milan Kundera's lightest novel. In the 18th century, the marvelous Madame de T. summons a young nobleman to her chamber and gives him an unforgettable lesson in the art of seduction and the pleasures of love. In the same chat at the end of the 20th century, a hapless intellectual experiences a rather less successful night. Distracted by his desire to be the center of attention at a convention of entomologists, Vincent misses the opportunity to be with a beautiful stranger and suffers the ridicule of his peers.A "morning-after" encounter between the two men brings the novel to a poignant close and provides a unique insight into the different mind-sets of the two centuries. As Vincent prepares to speed off on his motorcycle, he has already obliterated the memory of his humiliation. The young nobleman, on the other hand, relives the delicious pleasures of the night as he lies back on the cushions of his carriage.
Ruminating on how the pleasures of slowness have disappeared in today's fast-paced, future-shocked world, Kundera explores the secret bond between slowness and memory and the connection between our era's desire to forget and the way we have given ourselves over to the demon of speed. As provocative as it is entertaining, Slowness is Kundera in top form.
Customer Reviews:
Great observations, but what happened to his style?.......2005-08-24
An entirely unique author........2005-01-30
In Praise of Slowness.......2004-09-30
Undisputedly original, with an erratic charm of its own..........2004-06-13
Not up to usual Kundera standards.......2003-10-27
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The Discovery of Slowness
Sten Nadolny Manufacturer: Paul Dry Books, Inc. ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items: ASIN: 1589880242 |
Book Description
Customer Reviews:
Slowness and Respect.......2007-08-03
The North West Passage, and to each his own time........2004-01-12
Working from Franklin's own accounts, other historic sources and several scholarly treatises, German author Sten Nadolny in 1983 published an award-winning and (at least in Germany) highly successful novelized biography of Franklin. But "The Discovery of Slowness" (German title: "Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit") is no mere rendition of the facts of Franklin's life, fascinating though they may be. Nadolny sees Franklin as a proponent of the idea of giving to all persons and things their own time; of not being unduly rushed, nor influenced by outside factors over which one has little (if any) control: then and now, an unusual concept in a world growing faster by the day.
Growing up in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, Nadolny's Franklin is a perpetual outsider, seemingly handicapped by his slowness, which renders him defenseless against spiteful attacks and unable to follow anything occurring at an even moderately fast pace, including speech. Early on, John thus turns his desires to the sea, which he perceives as a dark and boundless ally. He tries to run away to a nearby port, but is recaptured and sent to boarding school. There, an enlightened teacher eventually shows interest in him after having discovered that "the student F." (as he entitles a treatise based on his observations) is not simply slow but rather, takes particular care in observing things, and anything once lodged in his brain will be lodged there forever.
To deal with the difference between his own pace and that of the world around him, Franklin adopts a number of varying techniques: A stare enabling him to bypass quick action, memorized phrases to cover the breaks he needs in longer sentences, and a mental sorting system to distinguish issues in need of immediate address from those requiring long-term care. And as he grows older, his behavioral patterns progressively shape his outlook on the world and personal philosophy.
On his teacher's recommendation, Franklin is allowed to board his first ship at age fourteen. A few years later, he joins the Royal Navy and, rising through the ranks, witnesses the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, the Battle of Trafalgar, and a campaign against American forces before New Orleans, during which he is wounded. Having already participated in the 1801-03 expedition to Australia led by his uncle, renowned navigator Matthew Flinders, Franklin receives his first commission for a voyage to the North as the commander of one of two ships sent to explore the Polar Sea north of Spitzbergen in 1818. However, both ships are damaged by the drifting floes of a large ice field and forced to return home.
Unsatisfied, Franklin requests - and eventually receives - a commission for a second voyage, this time a land expedition; his first attempt to discover the North West Passage. For its sheer gripping storytelling, this 1819-22 trip is one of the highlights of Nadolny's book; particularly the return journey, which confronts Franklin's crew with sorrow, hunger and death, from both starvation and murder. (No recommended bed-time reading if you value a good night's rest.) Yet, having first suffered humiliation due to what the Admiralty considers a "failed" trip, Franklin's no-frills account of the expedition garners him unexpected fame and fortune; and eventually a commission for a further journey to the North, which due to its thoughtful preparation and the extensive cartographic material and observations it yields is considered a success, although it, again, does not result in the discovery of the North West Passage. Franklin is knighted, his fame and fortune grows - but for the moment, no further voyage to the Polar Sea is in sight.
Somewhat reluctantly, he thus accepts the appointment as governor of Van Diemen's Land (which he will rename Tasmania, for its discoverer Abel Tasman); telling himself that a governorship - even of a penal colony - is not substantially different from commanding a ship. Like at sea, Franklin attempts to divide responsibility between himself and his "second(s) in command," taking personal charge of all matters requiring long-term care and leaving the issues requiring fast, immediate attention to his chief subordinates. Here, however, he is not dealing with loyal men who understand his philosophy: His personal secretary Maconochie is a pseudo-reformist radical; colonial secretary Montagu a crony of the local elite without any sympathy for Franklin's reformatory measures, whereas Franklin's efforts to better the fate of the convicts and aborigines reflect the humanistic qualities of a man whose empathy for all human beings and keen interest in science has developed over a lifetime spent in the company of sailors, explorers, American Indians and Inuit, through war and peace, hunger and satisfaction.
Facing opposition from the local ruling class and the politics of royal secretary Lord Stanley, Franklin is finally recalled in 1843. Upon his friends' intervention, he is granted an audience with prime minister Sir Robert Peel, who offers him the newly-created position as royal supervisor of educational affairs; but realizing that Peel merely wants to capitalize on his apparent reluctance to take action, not implement any true reforms, Franklin declines. At last, he is granted another commission for a voyage to discover the North West Passage: his last journey, during which he (and his crew) have to realize that there is one who is more patient than even the most patient of humans - death.
"Thou ... art passing on thine happier voyage now towards no earthly pole," reads part of a poem by Franklin's cousin Tennyson, printed on his Westminster Abbey memorial. Franklin was certainly not the only polar explorer to whom these words could be applied. As Sten Nadolny's book shows, he is as deserving of renewed attention as are his brethren in spirit; and not only because much yet remains unclear about the exact fate of his last expedition.
It moves me through and through Lord Child! it show am good........1999-02-07
do yourself the favour and read this book . . ........1998-01-21
German classic best-seller in English at last!.......1997-07-26
First published in Germany in 1983, this powerful novel of the life of explorer John Franklin has never been out-of-print in that country since. This is certainly due in part to its stature as a cleanly-written, keenly-observed literary impression of a chaotic age not dissimilar to our own, and of a man whose slower rhythm seems out of joint with that age. What has contributed to the book's longevity in the meantime, however, is the cult-status it enjoys among managers and leaders as a portrayal of a type of leadership that all eras cry out for: the ability to perceive the world not merely at the level of isolated events, but at a level of deep structure where the dynamics of the whole system are revealed, and plans can be made based on better data and profounder understanding.
John Franklin is uniquely suited to play this role: "slow" from birth, he experiences the world as an endless cycle of data-gathering, reflection, and action based on the systemic patterns that reveal themselves to his silent contemplation. The fact that that action can not only be more appropriate than what other, "faster" contemporaries would have initiated, but also swifter in execution and more permanent in its effect, only insinuates itself slowly on a society caught up in the frenetic pace of the early 1800's. One simply does not have the time; doing takes precedence over reflection and doing.
It is, however, through his in-born inability to act in any other manner that John Franklin's career is made, first as a seaman, then as a hero at Trafalgar, as the captain of 3 expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage that instinct tells him must exist, and as the Governor of Tasmania. Author Nadolny is, one suspects, as much concerned with his protagonist's inner journey of adaptation to the world (and the world's to him) as with the external details that lead up to the final, fateful voyage to the Arctic regions and the disappearance of the Franklin expedition in 1845. The measure of Nadolny's artistic success is that he achieves our undivided attention and caring at both levels with his breathtakingly simple prose.
Penguin books has done us a great service by re-releasing the elegant Ralph Freedman translation, once fleetingly available from Viking. For people in search of an elegant humanitarian classic, or a portrayal of the much-touted "servant leadership" in action, The Discovery of Slowness may well be the discovery of the summer. And those who agree about its status as a contemporary classic will want to investigate the same author's delicious Hermes-novel, The God of Impertinence, also newly published by Viking
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The Discovery of Slowness: A Novel
Sten Nadolny Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics) ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000OIZGIO |
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Slowness : A Novel
Milan; Asher, Linda (translator) Kundera Manufacturer: HarperCollins ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000OEKSUY |
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Cashelmara
Susan Howatch Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items: ASIN: 0671217364 |
Book Description
The rich and mighty saga of a wealthy and titled English family in Ireland during the 19th century.Customer Reviews:
A Vivid History.......2007-04-05
Cashelmara.......2007-01-04
A Wonderful Novel.......2006-11-26
A good story told well.......2005-03-27
Gripping Multigenerational Saga Of The English In Ireland.......2004-04-08
Edward de Salis, an English nobleman with vast landholdings in Ireland and England travels to America and visits the Marriot family, distant relations in New York City. De Salis, a man in his fifties, has been a widower for eight years and has a young son, Patrick, and three older daughters, all married or living away from home. He returns to England with plans to marry seventeen year-old Marguerite Marriot, to his family's great consternation. Marguerite and Edward are married at the family estate, Cashelmara. Oddly enough the marriage turns out to be a love match. Times become difficult when Edward dies and finances become tight. Cashelmara and the situation in Ireland begin to weigh heavily on the family with unexpected results. This historical novel is filled with romance, intrigue, social and political unrest and family drama.
Ms. Howatch is able to vividly describe the same situation through the eyes of various characters. These differing points of view give tremendous depth to her characters and interesting insight into their personalities and ulterior motives. The events they are involved in become more complex when all the versions are compiled. Cashelmara's plot unfolds through the individual stories of five people. The author's research and attention to detail are meticulous and give the reader insight into the hardships and difficulties of 19th century Ireland. Cashelmara is an example of excellent historical fiction.
JANA
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Cashelmara
Susan Howatch Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items: ASIN: B000GM6WOA |
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Cashelmara
Susan Howath Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000S6K40W |
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Cashelmara
Susan Howatch Manufacturer: Pan ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 033024406X |
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Cashelmara
Susan Howath Manufacturer: Redwood Burn Limited ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000V1KAPS |
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Cashelmara
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000EZ32EW |
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CASHELMARA
SUSAN HOWATCH Manufacturer: PAN ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000S7AM5S |
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Cashelmara
Susan Howatch Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000OMH6VA |
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Cashelmara
Susan Howatch Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000OSKEZ4 |
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Cashelmara
Susan Howatch Manufacturer: Penguin Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000OJ8POA |
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Have Space Suit, Will Travel
Robert A. Heinlein Manufacturer: Del Rey ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 034546107X Release Date: 2003-07-29 |
Book Description
SKYJACKED!Customer Reviews:
A Great Read for 14 and Up.......2007-10-04
Utterly perfect.......2007-09-07
Have Spacesuit Will Travel.......2007-05-07
A brief comment.......2007-02-27
HAVE SPACE SUIT-WILL TRAVEL.......2007-02-26
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HAVE SPACE SUIT-WILL TRAVEL
Manufacturer: Scribners 1958 J Printing ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000GA6YP4 |
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Have Space Suit--Will Travel
Manufacturer: Mercury Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000BZ8PHE |
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6 Books by Robert Heinlein: Between Planets, The Green Hills of Earth, Citizen of the Galaxy, Have Space Suit Will Travel, The Star Beast, Glory Road
Robert Heinlein Manufacturer: BAEN, New York ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000WV4XEQ |
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Have Space Suit - Will Travel
Robert A. Heinlein Manufacturer: Ace ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000OIGHBE |
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Have Space Suit - Will Travel
Robert A. Heinlein Manufacturer: Ballantine Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000S86XPK |
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Have Space Suit - Will Travel
Robert A. Heinlein Manufacturer: New English Library ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000KF6V5I |
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Have Space Suit - Will Travel
Robert A. Heinlein Manufacturer: Charles Scribner's Sons ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000WVPRKA |
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Have Space Suit - Will Travel
Robert A. Heinlein Manufacturer: New English Library ProductGroup: Book Binding: Mass Market Paperback ASIN: B000PRURRE |
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Have Space Suit Will Travel
Robert Heinlein Manufacturer: Gollancz ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000MVQKVK |
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Reliving the Passion: Meditations on the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus As Recorded in the Gospel of Mark
Walter Wangerin Manufacturer: Harpercollins (Mm) ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items: ASIN: 0061043060 |
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Reliving the Passion: Meditations on the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus As Recorded in the Gospel of Mark
Walter Jr. Wangerin Manufacturer: Harpercollins ProductGroup: Book Binding: Mass Market Paperback ASIN: B000NG9KSY |
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