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The Not-World , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 335min

Thomas Burnett Swann was a brilliant fantasy writer who died in 1976. He wrote primarily about the ancient Greek and Roman world, blending myth with romance and adventure. A reviewer in the Village Voice sums his work up well: "Swann's neo-romantic fantasies of the past are unique. He uses the stuff of myth but with twists and inventions of his own." The Not-World: One would not have expected to find the last hideout of the ancient weird folk of legend and prehistory in an English forest of two centuries ago… and yet in that land which has always been haunted by the lore of little folk there had to be some truth behind such universal belief. The magic pen of Thomas Burnett Swann, master of fantasy and chronicler of the pre-humans, has produced in The Not-World one of his finest - and most piquant - novels. Here is the story of Dylan and Deirdre, of Thomas Chatterton… and of the balloon flight that brought them into an older and more enchanted land to mingle their fates with those of Arachne and the Night Mares in whom a rising industrial materialism could no longer believe. ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Jem Matzan. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/042474/bk_acx0_042474_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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Price: 9.95 EUR excl. shipping

The Sunset Club: Analects of the Year 2009 , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 387min

Meet the members of the Sunset Club: Pandit Preetam Sharma, Nawab Barkatullah Baig, and Sardar Boota Singh. Friends for over 40 years, they are now in their 80s. And every evening, at the sunset hour, they sit together on a bench in Lodhi Gardens to exchange news and views on the events of the day, talking about everything from love, lust, sex, and scandal to religion and politics. As he follows a year in the lives of the three men from January 26, 2009, to January 26, 2010, Khushwant Singh brings his characters vibrantly to life, with his piquant portrayals of their fantasies and foibles, his unerring ear for dialogue and his genius for capturing the flavor and texture of everyday life in their households. Interwoven with this compelling human story is another chronicle of a year in the life of India, as the country goes through the cycle of seasons, the tumult of general elections, violence, natural disasters, and corruption in high places. In turn ribald and lyrical, poignant and profound, The Sunset Club is a deeply moving exploration of friendship, sexuality, old age and infirmity; a joyous celebration of nature; an insightful portrait of India’s paradoxes and complexities. A masterpiece from one of India's most-loved storytellers, The Sunset Club will have you in tears and laughter, and grip you from the first minute to the last. ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Sanjiv Jhaveri. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/adbl/003777/bk_adbl_003777_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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Price: 9.95 EUR excl. shipping

Synthesizing Gravity (eBook, ePUB)

The first-ever collection of essays by one of our most distinguished poets, the Pulitzer Prize-winner and former Poet Laureate of the United States. Synthesizing Gravity gathers for the first time a thirty-year selection of Kay Ryan's probings into aesthetics, poetics, and the mind in pursuit of art. A bracing collection of critical prose, book reviews, and her private previously unpublished soundings of poems and poets-including Robert Frost, Stevie Smith, Marianne Moore, William Bronk, and Emily Dickinson-Synthesizing Gravity bristles with Ryan's crisp wit, her keen off-kilter insights, and her appetite and appreciation for the genuine. Among essays like "Radiantly Indefensible," "Notes on the Danger of Notebooks," and "The Abrasion of Loneliness," are piquant pieces on the virtues of emptiness, forgetfulness and other under-loved concepts. Edited and with an introduction by Christian Wiman, this generous collection of Ryan's distinctive thinking gives us a surprising look into the mind of an American master. "Synthesizing Gravity is a delight, if a tart and idiosyncratic one... If Ryan gives us a view through a keyhole, it's a view often made richer by its constraints." -The New York Times Book Review "Reading Ryan's writing will charge and recharge the mind... a wonderful entry point to her work." -San Francisco Chronicle "Brilliant... For poetry enthusiasts and skeptics alike, this will be an inviting portal into the mind of one of America's greatest living writers." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Damn fine prose... What a wonderful voice [Ryan] displays." -John Freeman, "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2020"

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Price: 11.95 EUR excl. shipping

Mardi Gras, Gumbo, and Zydeco: Readings in Louisiana Culture , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 327min

The detectable identity of southern Louisiana's one-of-a-kind culture has been expressed in numerous descriptive phrases--"south of the South," "the northern tip of the Caribbean," "this folklore land." A strange, piquant, and savory mixture, it also has been likened to one of the region's signature dishes, gumbo. Capturing this elusive culture and its charm has challenged many authors, anthropologists, and anthologists. Coming perhaps closest of any book yet published, this new anthology of readings affords reflections on southern Louisiana's distinctive traditions, folklore, and folklife. Crystalizing its rich diversity and character, these sharply focused essays are a precise introduction to aspects that too often are diffused in sundry discussions of general Deep South culture. Here, each is seen distinctly, precisely, and uniquely. Written by leading scholars, the thirteen essays focus on many subjects, including the celebration of Mardi Gras and of Christmas, Louisiana foodways, the delineation between Cajun and Creole, the African Americans and Native Americans of the region, Zydeco music, and Cajun humor. The essays show great range and are reprinted from hard-to-find publications. They include a description of Cajun Country Mardi Gras on the prairies of southwestern Louisiana, an analysis of the social implications of the New Orleans Mardi Gras parades, a study of the Houma Indians of coastal Louisiana, and an analysis of the devotion given to a young Cajun girl whom many regard as a saint. Collected here, the essays portray a land and a people that are unlike any other. ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Patrick Bonin. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/014416/bk_acx0_014416_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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Price: 9.95 EUR excl. shipping

Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, and Assorted Hijinks , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 489min

A 2016 Grammy nominee for Best Spoken Word Album Dick Cavett is back, sharing his reflections and reminiscences about Hollywood legends, American cultural icons, and the absurdities of everyday life. In Brief Encounters, the legendary talk show host Dick Cavett introduces us to the fascinating characters who have crossed his path, from James Gandolfini and John Lennon to Mel Brooks and Nora Ephron, enhancing our appreciation of their talent, their personalities, and their places in the pantheon. We tag along as Cavett spends an afternoon with Stan Laurel at his modest apartment in Los Angeles, spars with Muhammad Ali at his training camp, and comes to know a young Steve Jobs - who woos him to be Apple's first celebrity pitchman. He also offers piquant commentary on contemporary politics, the indignities of travel, the nature of comedy writing, and the utter improbability of being alive at all. On his talk show, Cavett welcomed the leading figures from film, music, theater, literature, comedy, sports, and politics and engaged them in conversation that made viewers feel that the discussion was taking place in their own living rooms. Jimmy Fallon, the new host of The Tonight Show, has called him "a legend and an inspiration" and has written a foreword that makes clear the debt that today's talk show hosts owe to Dick Cavett. Brief Encounters opens the door on how Cavett's mind works and what it is like to live in his world. To spend a few minutes or an hour or even a whole evening with Dick Cavett is an experience not to be missed, and now there's no reason to deny yourself. Settle in, and enjoy the conversation! ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Dick Cavett. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/aren/001874/bk_aren_001874_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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Price: 9.95 EUR excl. shipping

Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess, Hörbuch, Digital, 296min

The tastiest, most uninhibited memoir in years, Insatiable is a feast for the senses and an aphrodisiac for the soul. "I love Le Cirque, but can I be trusted?" writes Gael Greene, the highly respected restaurant critic for New York magazine, whose fierce wit and sensuous prose changed the way Americans think about food.Now, Greene lifts the lid on her most provocative subject yet: herself. And oh, what a pot-au-feu it is, bubbling over with piquant humor, saucy erotic adventures, and some of the most lovingly described meals in literature (at Le Pavillon, Lutece, Troisgros, Tour d'Argent, La Pyramide, Girardet, Le Bernardin). From Manhattan's snootiest boites to the gourmand shrines of France and Italy, this is the story of a woman who invented a fabulous career out of dining on someone else's dollar.With her passion for fine food, her nose for hypocrisy and social humbug, and, above all, her appetite for love and life, Greene traces her rise from a Velveeta cocoon in the Midwest to journalist wannabe, to powerful critic of New York magazine. What timing: to be un grand fromage in the world of food, just when eating well was becoming a national obsession. Love and food, foreplay and fork play, haute cuisine and social history; all become inextricably linked as the author embarks on what seemed, at times to her, a frivolous quest to satisfy insatiable hunger.Until the specter of hunger on her own street engaged her energy and Citymeals-on-Wheels emerged. Along the way there are intimate portraits of the culinary icons of our time and revealing dissections of New York's legendary "in" spots and their invisible caste systems-at The Colony, Elaine's, La Grenouille, "21", Le Cirque, Odeon, and Balthazar.Earthy and delicious but also penetrating and astute, Greene's memoir deserves a prominent place on the shelf of gastronomic classics. Language: English. Narrator: Nancy Travis. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/time/000442/bk_time_000442_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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Price: 9.95 EUR excl. shipping

One Giant Leap: The Untold Story of How We Flew to the Moon , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 905min

The New York Times best-selling, "meticulously researched and absorbingly written" (The Washington Post) story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic Apollo 11 moon mission.President John F. Kennedy astonished the world on May 25, 1961, when he announced to Congress that the United States should land a man on the Moon by 1970. No group was more surprised than the scientists and engineers at NASA, who suddenly had less than a decade to invent space travel.When Kennedy announced that goal, no one knew how to navigate to the Moon. No one knew how to build a rocket big enough to reach the Moon, or how to build a computer small enough (and powerful enough) to fly a spaceship there. No one knew what the surface of the Moon was like, or what astronauts could eat as they flew there. On the day of Kennedy’s historic speech, America had a total of 15 minutes of spaceflight experience - with just five of those minutes outside the atmosphere. Russian dogs had more time in space than US astronauts. Over the next decade, more than 400,000 scientists, engineers, and factory workers would send 24 astronauts to the Moon. Each hour of space flight would require one million hours of work back on Earth to get America to the Moon on July 20, 1969."A veteran space reporter with a vibrant touch - nearly every sentence has a fact, an insight, a colorful quote or part of a piquant anecdote" (The Wall Street Journal), and in One Giant Leap, Fishman has written the sweeping, definitive behind-the-scenes account of the furious race to complete one of mankind’s greatest achievements. It’s a story filled with surprises - from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today. From the research labs of MIT, where the eccentric and legendary pioneer Charles Dra ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Fred Sanders. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/sans/009246/bk_sans_009246_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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Price: 9.95 EUR excl. shipping