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books:

On the Edge of the Great Rift: Three Novels of Africa

2 reviews
Paul Theroux

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1996

An enjoyable compiliation
This is actually a compilation of three previously-published novels, set in sub-Saharan Africa. To the best of my knowledge, all three are out of print, so the publisher has done the reader a service by re-printing all three in this volume. Each of the novels in this volume has certain merits, and all three are worth your time. As a whole, they serve to encapsulate the experience of being a ...

The Family Arsenal

2 reviews
Paul Theroux

Ballantine Books, 1977

From the dark side of life...
Theroux has always been an unflinching narrator on human nature. With a novel like Mosquito Coast he gave you a look at the mind of a genius and his estrangement to materialism. With The Family Arsenal, Theroux gives you a look at the close knit troubles of family life in the slums of London, and the frightening results of sudden violence that can arrupt at any moment. A haunting portrait of a ...

Cape Cod (Nature Library, Penguin)

6 reviews
Henry David Thoreau

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1987

Leave your brain at the door.
You will forget about the outside world when you read this; nothing but sand, wind, and water. Plus some natural history, local folklore, a few shipwreck tales. Typical Thoreau; he finds beauty, interest, detail in the wilderness. The desolate landscape will help to clear your mind. Highly recommended.

CHRISTMAS CARD

2 reviews
Paul Theroux

Houghton Mifflin, 1978

VALUE THE GIFT
A few days before Christmas nine-year-old Marcel and his family are driving to their new house--an old farm deep in the snowy woods, then get lost. Luckily they find an old hotel which at first seemed to be closed. Marcel is fascinated by their quaint but kindly host, Pappy, who promises to provide them with directions to their destination the next day. But the man mysteriously ...

The Maine Woods

1 review
Henry David Thoreau

Princeton University Press, 1983

A day by day look at Thoreau
"Oct. 22nd, 1837. 'What are you doing now?' he asked, 'Do you keep a journal?'-- So I make my first entry today." Thus begins Thoreau's Journal, made up of more then two million words and covering about twenty-five years of his life. No other work of Thoreau's better exhibits his discipline as a writer and his devotion to the natural world. In the Journal can be found the fragmented ...

Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds

11 reviews
Robert Coover, Maureen Gibbon, ...

Chronicle Books, 2007

buy it cheaper
Just as Taschen are releasing a 2nd edition of the massive 'Stanley Kubrik Archives' on October 8, so too are Chronicle Books, releasing a 2nd edition of this huge book of Playboy centrefolds with a $50 retail and $36.50 Amazon pre-order price. - Oct.4 At this moment, Amazon has a very large discount ($150, not $500) on the first printing, probably due to the spreading awareness of the future ...

Saint Jack

6 reviews
Paul Theroux

Ballantine Books, 1976

Great Novel of Singapore
Fine, absorbing literary novel follows the exploits of expatriate American stuck in Singapore because he has neither the ability nor the luck to go anywhere else. The novel has a nice atmosphere which reminded me of Graham Greene, Saul Bellow and Gore Vidal, and effectively evoked the sleazy underbelly of Singapore that still exists in that now outwardly squeaky-clean, but sinister city-state. ...

Jungle Lovers

1 review
Paul Theroux

Ivy Books, 1989

Calvinism
Calvin Mullet is a young man from Hudson, Massachusetts. Divorced, he is paying alimony. It is Christmas in Malawi. It doesn't feel like Christmas. Calvin's former wife was small souled. In marriage he felt lonely. Calvin's insurance office is near the British Council Library. He is traveling north and Major Beaglehole is a companion. Beaglehole is not ashamed of having killed his CO. ...

The Maine Woods: (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau)

3 reviews
Henry David Thoreau

Princeton University Press, 2004

With Thoreau in the Maine Woods
In 1848, 1853,and 1857, Henry David Thoreau travelled to the wilderness -- forests, lakes, rivers, and mountains in the northwest part of Maine. He wrote three lengthy essays describing each of his journeys, and they were gathered together, as Thoreau had wished, and published after his death, together with an appendix, as "The Maine Woods." It is a moving book, a classic work of American ...

Nowhere Is a Place Travels in Patagonia a Sierra Club Book (Hardback)

1 review
Bruce Chatwin, Paul Theroux

Yolla Bolly Press / Sierra Club Books, 1986

A fascinating book about a fantastic place.
This book is about Patagonia, the southern part of South America. Windswept, cool, rainy or dry, depending on one's location, Patagonia is the uttermost realm of the Earth. This book, out of many, is the best I have ever seen on the area. The writers, Paul Theroux, and the late Bruce Chatwin, are both very well acquainted with the region, Each writer has a differing style, and each writer's ...

The Mosquito Coast

71 reviews
Paul Theroux

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1996

Dark, disturbing and utterly enthralling
Who hasn't dreamed of leaving the world behind and venturing into the unknown to recreate the world without imperfections? Seeking to escape globalisation, commercialism, and a multitude of abominations and maladies, inventor and genius Allie Fox abandons civilisation and heads for the Honduran rain forest, taking his family. Whereas the missionaries he so despises use the pretence of ...

O Zone

8 reviews
Paul Theroux

Putnam Adult, 1986

Great SF from a 'serious' writer
Another surprise from a writer who keeps reinventing his art, O-Zone is a book about the future we fear, but filled with characters we know and can relate to. Theroux's greatest talent, it seems to me, is the authority with which he creates the various worlds he presents in his novels. From the jungles of the Amazon, to big city melodrama, to the fantasy tale of Millroy the Magian or the harsh ...

Millroy the Magician

14 reviews
Paul Theroux

Penguin Putnam~trade, 1994

A modern miracle
Milroy is a prophet for our times - hilarious, earnest, quirky and sincere. As he preaches the Gospel of Bibical eating, he invents a new way of life - one that is destined to change the world. Of course, it soon becomes apparent that this tale follows the Christ story (in explicit detail) - from the ragtag group of followers, to the shunning masses (who STILL don't get the real message), to ...

The Comedians (Penguin Classics)

25 reviews
Graham Greene

Penguin Classics, 2005

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
This is a late review and I won't go over what has already been said about this novel. Papa Doc's reign of terror is now historical fact. But if one reads this tight political thriller and one of Greene's best, you can see history repeating itself in the not too recent Hussein reign of terror or go back on a grander scale to Hitler. It goes on and on and THE COMEDIANS deliberately gives the main ...

The Worst Journey in the World : Antarctic 1910-1913 (Explorers Club Classic)

53 reviews
Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Paul Theroux, 2004

One of my all-time favorites; I recommend it to everybody.
You will NOT be sorry to embark upon this wonderfully written, dramatic, brave and heartbreaking story by a man who survived infinitely more than you and I ever will. With typical English stoicism, but with a beautiful and compassionate effort, he tried to understand Scott and all the others who travelled with him. And when you're finished, read "Cherry", an authorized biography by Sara ...

The Last Place on Earth (Modern Library Exploration)

78 reviews
Roland Huntford

Modern Library, 1999

A Ripping Good Yarn
I saw a program on PBS about Amundsen and the Northwest Passage and decided I wanted to know more so I bought this book. Much has already been said and thus doesn't need repeating. If you hold to the hero status of Scott then you are apt to be severely disappointed. He does NOT fair well in the cold light of history. Amundsen comes across as someone who was at the peak of his game and was ...

Playboy Best of Fiction, v5 (Best of Playboy Fiction)

76 reviews
Paul Theroux, Ursula K. Leguin, ...

Playboy Audio, 1997

The year was 2007, and no one read short stories anymore...
Once ubiquitous as sitcoms, the short story has almost become an endangered species. The genre now barely ekes out an existence in obscure literary journals. That's too bad, because one read of "Welcome to The Monkey House" reveals just what short stories can do. From humanist science fiction to askew romance, Kurt Vonnegut mastered the form before he became one of the most popular writers of the ...

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar

9 reviews
Paul Theroux

Houghton Mifflin, 2008

Yet Another Winner...
This thoughtful book reflects the next level in the literary evolution of the incomparable Paul Theroux --- he's more vunerable, more reflective, and more compassionate (and less the rogue and rascal) --- now that he is in his 67th year. For his many fans, this is a good thing, as we get to know him more deeply. The "ghost train" referred to in the book's title is actually Theroux's inner travels ...

Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings

24 reviews
Paul Theroux

Mariner Books, 2001

Excellent travel/writing book
Paul Theroux is one of only a few writers for whom I will immediately buy their new hardcovers based on name only, with great anticipation. This one does not disappoint, and I'd rate it right up there with my favorites of his, "My Other Life" and "Sunrise With Seamonsters." His writing on how to travel and how to write and thus how to live one's life is outstanding and inspiring, including the ...

The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers (A Graywolf Memoir)

12 reviews
Moritz Thomsen

Graywolf Press, 1990

Life as it is, not as it should be
I found out about Thomsen from a Paul Theroux reference and like many of Theroux's references to other writers and books, this turned out to be a winner. It's the story of an expatriate, perhaps running from his father, or looking for life's answer, joins the Peace Corps at the age of 48. After leaving the Corps, he remains in Ecuador and scrapes out a living on a farm. After being forced off the ...

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