Saga tveggja borga
1.290 kr.Charles Darnay er franskur aðalsmaður sem er ranglega sakaður um landráð. Sydney Carton er svallsamur lögmaður sem er fenginn til að verja hann. Báðir bera þeir ástarhug til sömu konunnar. Örlög þeirra ráðast í blóðugum átökum í upphafi frönsku byltingarinnar sem hófst með árás á Bastilluna 14. júlí 1789.
Saga tveggja borga kom út árið 1859 þegar margir óttuðust að bylting kynni að vofa yfir víða í Evrópu. Fáir skynjuðu betur en breski rithöfundurinn Charles Dickens að djúpstætt félagslegt óréttlæti gat leitt til byltingarástands. Honum var líka ljóst að háleitar hugsjónir áttu ekki samleið með ofbeldi og stjórnelysi.
Í Sögu tveggja borga lýsir Dickens með mögnuðum hætti og af einstöku innsæi þeim vonum sem margir báru í brjósti við upphaf frönsku byltingarinnar og þeim hryllingi sem hún leiddi til.
Eitt af meistaraverkum heimsbókmenntanna.
What I Loved
990 kr.This is the story of two men who first become friends in 1970s New York, of the women in their lives, and of their sons, born the same year. Both Leo Hertzberg, an art historian, and Bill Weschler, a painter, are cultured, decent men, but neither is equipped to deal with what happens to their children – Leo’s son drowns when he’s 12, while Bill’s son Mark grows up to be a delinquent, and the acolyte of a sinister, guru-like artist who spawns murder in his wake. Spanning the hedonism of the eighties and the chill-out nineties, this multi-layered novel combines a plot of mounting menace with a deeply moving account of familial relationships and a superbly observed portrait of an artist, set against the backdrop of a society reaching new depths of depravity in its frenetic quest for the next fashion, drug and thrill.
The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer
4.390 kr.One winter evening bestselling crime author, Elín S. Jónsdóttir goes missing.
There are no clues to her disappearance and it is up to young detective, Helgi, to crack the case before it’s leaked to the press.
As he interviews the people closest to her – a publisher, an accountant, a retired judge – he realises that Elín’s life wasn’t what it seemed. In fact, her past is even stranger than her stories.
As the case of the missing crime writer becomes more mysterious by the hour, Helgi must uncover the secrets of a very unexpected life . . .
Annah, Infinite
5.490 kr.This is an escape story.
In Annah, Infinite, the dominant narratives surrounding Paul Gauguin’s famous painting Annah la Javanaise (1893-94) are turned upside down. The book argues a simple point: what if the portrait is not one of a consenting muse, but a child in pain?
Annah, Infinite questions the colonial power that has defined the infamous subject’s unknown history. Through the mythology of Annah, Okka draws attention to the systems of ablenormativity, racism, and sexism that shape what we learn of art history and what we see on museum walls.
Alongside her critique, the author engages with Annah la Javanaise through poetry, fiction, and visual art. A work of emotional heft, Okka asks us to acknowledge the possibility of pain in every single portrait, as well as the possibility of escape.
Capitalists Must Starve: A novel
4.390 kr.Set against the backdrop of Japanese-occupied Korea, Capitalists Must Starve follows a sharp-tongued, big-hearted heroine who dares to love, rebel, and carve out space for working-class women in a world determined to silence them.
Echoing the unflinching narratives of Alias Grace and the sweeping historical vision of Pachinko, this feminist historical novel balances raw grit with unexpected tenderness and a defiant streak of dark humour.
A stirring portrait of resistance from below: fierce, funny, and full of fight.
Scorsese on Filmmaking and Faith
4.390 kr.Over the course of eight years, Martin Scorsese and Jesuit theologian Antonio Spadaro discussed filmmaking and faith.
From his Catholic upbringing amidst the brutality of 1950s New York to the heights of Hollywood, Scorsese sketches a unique self-portrait. And from Mean Streets to Killers of the Flower Moon – and especially the spiritual reckonings of The Last Temptation of Christ and Silence – he grants readers a new understanding of his films. Reflecting on grace and violence, fear and hope, passion and belief, these rich and intimate conversations offer a remarkable insight into the director’s life and work.
The Setting Sun
3.690 kr.Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozamu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made “people of the setting sun” a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.
The Wedding People
3.490 kr.Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people – but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall Inn who isn’t here for the big event.
When the bride discovers her elaborate destination wedding could be ruined by a divorced and depressed stranger, she is furious. Lila has spent months accounting for every detail and every possible disaster – except for, well, Phoebe . . . Soon, both women find their best-laid plans derailed and an unlikely confidante in one another.
Hilarious and moving, The Wedding People is an irresistible novel about love, friendship, dysfunctional families, and the unexpected paths that lead to happiness.
Service
4.390 kr.What’s this book about? Is there a restroom? Do you have gluten-free bagels? Do you work here? Do you have a restroom? Do I buy books or rent books or what?
Still a bookseller in his late forties, Sean knows that the worst thing about a bookshop is the customers. Then there’s the gift-wrapping, the invoicing, the Yelp reviews. The overwhelming sense of self-loathing after another day of not writing a novel yourself.
While Sean’s book remains unfinished, his city has changed around him. As have friends and acquaintances, at least the ones who keep in touch. The service industry is different, too. But what, or whom, is he serving anyway?
Biting, hilarious and self-aware, John Tottenham’s debut novel is a razor-sharp dissection of gentrification, friendship, jealousy and the role of literature in a digital age.
Wild Dark Shore
3.490 kr.Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny weather-lashed island that is home to the world’s largest seed bank. As Shearwater risks being lost to rising sea levels, the island’s researchers have fled, and only the Salts remain.
Until, during the worst storm in living memory, a stranger washes ashore. The family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, but it seems she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she’s there. And when Rowan stumbles upon sabotaged radios and a recently dug grave, she realises that she’s not the only one on the island with a secret.
A novel of breathtaking twists and dizzying beauty, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love.
Disappoint Me
3.490 kr.Max didn’t mean to fall for Vincent – a corporate lawyer and hobby baker whose trad friendship group are a world away from her life as a trans woman. But after years of bad dates and dysphoria he’s a breath of fresh air. Their connection seems genuine, his care feels real.
But Vincent is carrying his own baggage. On his gap year in Thailand a decade prior, he vies for the attention of a gorgeous traveller, Alex, with secrets of her own. Is Vincent really the new face of the Enlightened Man, or will the ghosts of his past sabotage his and Max’s happiness?
Disappoint Me is an incisive reckoning with forgiveness and the complexity of modern relationships, told with Nicola Dinan’s trademark wit and heart.
Riot Days
3.690 kr.People who believe in freedom and democracy think it will exist forever.
That is a mistake. What happened in Russia – what happened to me – could happen anywhere.
When I was jailed for political protest, I learned that prison doesn”t just teach you to follow the rules. It teaches you to think that you can never break them.
It”s inevitable that the prison gates will open at some point. But this doesn”t mean that you leave the ”prisoner” category and go straight into the category of ”the free”.
Freedom does not exist unless you fight for it every day.
This is the story about how I made a choice.