The Seventh Function of Language

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0374715084
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 367

Book Description
“A cunning, often hilarious mystery for the Mensa set and fans of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.” —Heller McAlpin, NPR Paris, 1980. The literary critic Roland Barthes dies—struck by a laundry van—after lunch with the presidential candidate François Mitterand. The world of letters mourns a tragic accident. But what if it wasn’t an accident at all? What if Barthes was . . . murdered? In The Seventh Function of Language, Laurent Binet spins a madcap secret history of the French intelligentsia, starring such luminaries as Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Julia Kristeva—as well as the hapless police detective Jacques Bayard, whose new case will plunge him into the depths of literary theory (starting with the French version of Roland Barthes for Dummies). Soon Bayard finds himself in search of a lost manuscript by the linguist Roman Jakobson on the mysterious “seventh function of language.” A brilliantly erudite comedy, The Seventh Function of Language takes us from the cafés of Saint-Germain to the corridors of Cornell University, and into the duels and orgies of the Logos Club, a secret philosophical society that dates to the Roman Empire. Binet has written both a send-up and a wildly exuberant celebration of the French intellectual tradition. “Binet juxtaposes car chases with highbrow in-jokes and ruminations. The book is a love letter to the power of language—the most dangerous weapon is the tongue.” —The New Yorker “An affectionate send-up of an Umberto Eco–style intellectual thriller that doubles as an exemplar of the genre, filled with suspense, elaborate conspiracies, and exotic locales.” —Esquire

HHhH

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429942762
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
“Captivating . . . [HHhH] has a vitality very different from that of most historical fiction.” —James Wood, The New Yorker The basis for the major motion picture, "The Man with the Iron Heart " available on streaming and home video. HHhH: "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich," or "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich." The most lethal man in Hitler's cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich seemed indestructible—until two exiled operatives, a Slovak and a Czech, killed him and changed the course of history. In Laurent Binet's mesmerizing debut, we follow Jozef Gabcík and Jan Kubiš from their dramatic escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to their fatal attack on Heydrich and their own brutal deaths in the basement of a Prague church. A seamless blend of memory, actuality, and Binet's own remarkable imagination, HHhH is at once thrilling and intellectually engrossing—a fast-paced novel of the Second World War that is also a profound meditation on the debt we owe to history. A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction A Financial Times Best Book of the Year A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

The Man with the Iron Heart

Author: Harry Turtledove
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 0345507770
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 546

Book Description
What if V-E Day didn’t end World War II in Europe? What if, instead, the Allies had to face a potent, even fanatical, postwar Nazi resistance? Such a movement, based in the fabled Alpine Redoubt, was in fact a real threat, ultimately neutralized by Germany’s flagging resources and squabbling officials. But had SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the notorious Man with the Iron Heart, not been assassinated in 1942, fate might have taken a different turn. We might likely have seen a German guerrilla war launched against the conquerors, presaging by more than half a century the protracted conflict with an unrelenting enemy that now engulfs the United States and its allies in Iraq. How might today’s clash of troops versus terrorists have played out in 1945? In this imagined world, Nazi forces resort to unconventional warfare, using the quick and dirty tactics of terrorism–booby traps, time bombs, mortar and rocket strikes in the night, assassinations, even kamikaze-style suicide attacks–to overturn what seemed to be a decisive Allied victory. In November 1945, a truck bomb blows up the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, where high-ranking Nazi officials are about to stand trial for war crimes. None of the accused are there when the bomb goes off, but their judges, all of them present and accounted for, are annihilated. Worse acts of terrorism follow all over Europe. Suddenly the Allies–especially the United States–must battle an invisible enemy and sacrifice countless lives in a long, seemingly pointless, unwinnable conflict. On the home front, patriotism corrodes, political fortunes are made and lost in the face of an antiwar backlash, and a once-proud country wonders how the righteous fight for freedom overseas has collapsed into a hopeless quagmire. At once a novel of thrilling military suspense, intriguing alternate history, and profound insight into contemporary affairs, The Man with the Iron Heart is a tour de force by a storyteller of exceptional imaginative power.

Civilisations

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 9781529112818
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
It's world history. But not as we know it. c.1000AD- Erik the Red's daughter heads south from Greenland 1492- Columbus does not discover America 1531- the Incas invade Europe Freydis is the leader of a band of Viking warriors who get as far as Panama. Nobody knows what became of them. Five hundred years later, Christopher Columbus is sailing for the Americas, dreaming of gold and conquest. Even when captured, his faith in his mission is unshaken. Thirty years after that, Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, arrives in a Europe ready for revolution. Fortunately, he has a recent guidebook to acquiring power - Machiavelli's The Prince. So, the stage is set for a Europe ruled by Incas and, when the Aztecs arrive on the scene, for a great war that will change history forever. 'Binet's best book yet- the work of a major writer just hitting his stride. A delightful counterfactual novel' ***** - Daily Telegraph

Imperial Bedrooms

Author: Bret Easton Ellis
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307593630
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • The New York Times bestselling author of American Psycho delivers a riveting, tour-de-force sequel to Less Than Zero, set on the seedy side of Los Angeles. • "A haunting vision of disillusionment, twenty-first-century style" (People). Returning to Los Angeles from New York, Clay, now a successful screenwriter, is casting his new movie. Soon he is running with his old circle of friends through L.A.’s seedy side. His ex-girlfriend, Blair, is married to Trent, a bisexual philanderer and influential manager. Then there's Julian, a recovering addict, and Rip, a former dealer. Then when Clay meets a gorgeous young actress who will stop at nothing to be in his movie, his own dark past begins to shine through, and he has no choice but to dive into the recesses of his character and come to terms with his proclivity for betrayal. Look for Bret Easton Ellis’s new novel, The Shards!

Stern's Guide to the Greatest Resorts of the World

Author: Steven B. Stern
Publisher: Stern's Travel Guides, Ltd.
ISBN: 0977860809
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 460

Book Description
Stern's Guide to the Greatest Resorts of the World provides a detailed description of the most luxurious and exotic resorts around the world describing each resort in terms of history, accommodations, dining, sport facilities, shopping, entertainment and general environs. More than 700 color photos depict the special qualities and charm of each property. Arranged by location, including the continental United States, the Carribean, Mexico, Hawaii, the South seas and Far East, Africa and the Indian Ocean and Europe, the book supplies everything the traveler and travel agent need, including an up-to-date price list and a chart rating each resort in eleven categories. The Guide directs you to the most glamorous resorts in the world and helps you select the one most suited to your taste and budget. New resorts have been added to this edition.

The Orphan Master's Son

Author: Adam Johnson
Publisher: Random House Incorporated
ISBN: 0812992792
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Book Description
The son of a singer mother whose career forcibly separated her from her family and an influential father who runs an orphan work camp, Pak Jun Do rises to prominence using instinctive talents and eventually becomes a professional kidnapper and romantic rival to Kim Jong Il. By the author of Parasites Like Us.

Sea Monkey & Bob

Author: Aaron Reynolds
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1481406779
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 38

Book Description
Two delightfully anxious friends learn that they can overcome anything—even gravity—in this humorous and heartwarming picture book from bestselling author Aaron Reynolds and illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Bob the puffer fish and his best buddy Sea Monkey may be little but they’ve got one ocean-sized problem. Sea Monkey’s terrified he’ll sink straight to the bottom of the ocean. After all, he’s heavy, and all heavy things sink, right? Bob on the other hand is worried that his puffed up frame will float up above the surface. He’s light, and all light things float! How will they stay together when the forces of gravity are literally trying to pull them apart? By holding hands, of course! Sea Monkey and Bob learn that sometimes the only way to overcome your fears is to just keep holding on…

Someone Named Eva

Author: Joan M. Wolf
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547237669
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
In 1942, blonde and blue-eyed Milada is taken from her home in Czechoslovakia to a school in Poland to be trained as "a proper German" for adoption by a German family, but all the while she remembers her true name and history.

A Meal in Winter

Author: Hubert Mingarelli
Publisher: New Press, The
ISBN: 1620971747
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 80

Book Description
This tale of the Holocaust “will make many think of the stories of Ernest Hemingway . . . a reminder of the power a short, perfect work of fiction can wield” (The Wall Street Journal). This timeless short novel begins one morning in the dead of winter, during the darkest years of World War II, with three German soldiers heading out into the frozen Polish countryside. They have been charged by their commanders with tracking down and bringing back for execution “one of them”—a Jew. Having flushed out a young man hiding in the woods, they decide to rest in an abandoned house before continuing their journey back to the camp. As they prepare food, they are joined by a passing Pole whose virulent anti-Semitism adds tension to an already charged atmosphere. Before long, the group’s sympathies begin to splinter when each man is forced to confront his own conscience as the moral implications of their murderous mission become clear. Described by Ian McEwan as “sparse, beautiful and shocking,” A Meal in Winter is a “stark and profound” work by a Booker Prize–nominated author (The New York Times). “Sustains tension until the very last page.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review