Dictionary of the Khazars is an imaginary book of knowledge about the Khazars, a people who flourished somewhere beyond Transylvania between the seventh and ninth centuries. This lexicon novel combines the dictionaries of the world's three major religions with entries that leap between past and future.

Featuring three unruly wise men, a book printed in poison ink, suicide by mirrors, a chimerical princess, and a sect of priests who can infiltrate one's dreams, this novel is a romance between the living and the dead and much more.

The 14th century gives us back two contradictory images: a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and a dark time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world plunged into a chaos of war, fear and the Plague. Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the century, revealing both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived.

It is the now-classic story of two fathers and two sons and the pressures on all of them to pursue the religion they share in the way that is best suited to each. And as the boys grow into young men, they discover in the other a lost spiritual brother, and a link to an unexplored world that neither had ever considered before. In effect, they exchange places, and find the peace that neither will ever retreat from again...

In the days before the Civil War, there lived in New Orleans the gens de couleur libre - copper-skinned half-castes, liberated by their owners, but confined by their color to a life of political nonexistence and social subordination.

Still, an aristocracy would emerge in this society: artists, poets, and musicians, plantation owners, scientists, and craftsmen whose talents and reputations would extend far beyond the limits of their small world.

Mega-selling author Anne Rice's probing, lyrical style sweeps us into their midst as she introduces Marcel, the sensitive, blue-eyed scholar, Marie, his breathtakingly beautiful sister, whose curse is to pass for white; Christophe, novelist and teacher, the idol of all young gens and stunning Anna Bella, whose allure for the well-to-do white man would become legend.

Here is a compelling and richly textured tale of a people forever caught in the shadows between black and white.

In 1831, Nat Turner awaits death in a Virginia jail cell. He is a slave, a preacher, and the leader of the only effective slave revolt in the history of 'that peculiar institution'. William Styron's ambitious and stunningly accomplished novel is Turner's confession, made to his jailers under the duress of his God. Encompasses the betrayals, cruelties and humiliations that made up slavery - and that still sear the collective psyches of both races.

Roman Tetralogi Buru mengambil latar belakang dan cikal bakal nation Indonesia di awal abad ke-20. Dengan membacanya waktu kita dibalikkan sedemikian rupa dan hidup di era membibitnya pergerakan nasional mula-mula, juga pertautan rasa, kegamangan jiwa, percintaan, dan pertarungan kekuatan anonim para srikandi yang mengawal penyemaian bangunan nasional yang kemudian kelak melahirkan Indonesia modern.

Roman bagian pertama; Bumi Manusia, sebagai periode penyemaian dan kegelisahan dimana Minke sebagai aktor sekaligus kreator adalah manusia berdarah priyayi yang semampu mungkin keluar dari kepompong kejawaannya menuju manusia yang bebas dan merdeka, di sudut lain membelah jiwa ke-Eropa-an yang menjadi simbol dan kiblat dari ketinggian pengetahuan dan peradaban.

Pram menggambarkan sebuah adegan antara Minke dengan ayahnya yang sangat sentimentil: Aku mengangkat sembah sebagaimana biasa aku lihat dilakukan punggawa terhadap kakekku dan nenekku dan orangtuaku, waktu lebaran. Dan yang sekarang tak juga kuturunkan sebelum Bupati itu duduk enak di tempatnya. Dalam mengangkat sembah serasa hilang seluruh ilmu dan pengetahuan yang kupelajari tahun demi tahun belakangan ini. Hilang indahnya dunia sebagaimana dijanjikan oleh kemajuan ilmu .... Sembah pengagungan pada leluhur dan pembesar melalui perendahan dan penghinaan diri! Sampai sedatar tanah kalau mungkin! Uh, anak-cucuku tak kurelakan menjalani kehinaan ini. Kita kalah, Ma, bisikku. Kita telah melawan, Nak, Nyo, sebaik-baiknya, sehormat-hormatnya.

Nancy Mitford meets Nora Ephron in the pages of The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff's delightful travelogue about her "bucket list" trip to London.

When devoted Anglophile Helene Hanff is invited to London for the English publication of 84, Charing Cross Road—in which she shares two decades of correspondence with Frank Doel, a British bookseller who became a dear friend—she can hardly believe her luck. Frank is no longer alive, but his widow and daughter, along with enthusiastic British fans from all walks of life, embrace Helene as an honored guest.

Eager hosts, including a famous actress and a retired colonel, sweep her up in a whirlwind of plays and dinners, trips to Harrod's, and wild jaunts to their favorite corners of the countryside. A New Yorker who isn't afraid to speak her mind, Helene Hanff delivers an outsider's funny yet fabulous portrait of idiosyncratic Britain at its best.

And whether she is walking across the Oxford University courtyard where John Donne used to tread, visiting Windsor Castle, or telling a British barman how to make a real American martini, Helene always wears her heart on her sleeve. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is not only a witty account of two different worlds colliding but also a love letter to England and its literary heritage—and a celebration of the written word's power to sustain us, transport us, and unite us.

After years of study in Europe, the young narrator of Season of Migration to the North returns to his village along the Nile in the Sudan. It is the 1960s, and he is eager to make a contribution to the new postcolonial life of his country. Back home, he discovers a stranger among the familiar faces of childhood—the enigmatic Mustafa Sa’eed.

Mustafa takes the young man into his confidence, telling him the story of his own years in London, of his brilliant career as an economist, and of the series of fraught and deadly relationships with European women that led to a terrible public reckoning and his return to his native land.

But what is the meaning of Mustafa’s shocking confession? Mustafa disappears without explanation, leaving the young man—whom he has asked to look after his wife—in an unsettled and violent no-man’s-land between Europe and Africa, tradition and innovation, holiness and defilement, and man and woman, from which no one will escape unaltered or unharmed.

Season of Migration to the North is a rich and sensual work of deep honesty and incandescent lyricism. In 2001 it was selected by a panel of Arab writers and critics as the most important Arab novel of the twentieth century.

The story of a remarkable spiritual journey, the first awesome steps on the road to becoming a man of knowledge, the road that continues with A Separate Reality and Journey To Ixtlan. Includes The Teachings and A Structural Analysis.

من هذا الطفل الذي يناديه الجميع بالشيطان الصغير ويصفونه بقط المزاريب؟ وأي طفل هذا الذي يحمل في قلبه عصفورا يغني؟ "شجرتي شجرة البرتقال الرائعة" للكاتب خوسيه ماورو دي فاسكونسيلوس عمل يدرس في المدارس البرازيلية وينصح الأساتذة في المعاهد الفرنسية طلبتهم بقراءته... إنه عمل مؤثر وإنساني على لسان شاعر طفل لم يتجاوز عمره خمس سنوات... عمل لا يروي حكاية خرافية ولا أحلام الصغار في البرازيل فحسب، بل يروي مغامرات الكاتب في طفولته، مغامرات الطفل الذي تعلم القراءة في سن الرابعة دون معلم، الطفل الذي يحمل في قلبه عصفورا وفي رأسه شيطانا يهمس له بأفكار توقعه في المتاعب مع الكبار... هذه رواية عذبة عذوبة نسغ ثمرة برتقال حلوة... رواية إنسانية تصف البراءة التي يمكن لقلب طفل أن يحملها، وتعرفنا إلى روح الشاعر الفطرية... حكاية طفل يحمل دماء سكان البرازيل الأصليين، طفل يسرق كل صباح من حديقة أحد الأثرياء زهرة لأجل معلمته... وهو يتساءل بمنتهى البراءة: ألم يمنح الله الزهور لكل الناس؟

ثرثرة فوق النيل is set in the late sixties, a time of significant social change. The story follows a group of friends who gather night after night on a houseboat on the Nile. Under the moonlight, they smoke, chat, and inhabit a cozy and enchanted world. However, one night, Art and Reality collide with unforeseen consequences.

In this thrilling and deeply serious tale, Mahfouz exposes the human and artistic dilemmas of modern times, skillfully blending philosophical musings with social commentary.

حالا همه‌چیز به رنگ خاکستری بنفش متمایل بود و برف شل و چسبنده‌.

سرما به همه جای آدم سر می‌کشید و دنبال قلب می‌گشت. در اطرافشان کوچکترین اثری از حرکت محسوس نبود. سکونی بود که انسان را فرو می‌بلعید و مغز را که هنوز زنده بود و آنها همه در شخص دیگری می‌گذشت.

دیگر نه در درون انسان اثری از کثافت‌کاری‌های روانی بود نه در بیرون. لنی کم‌کم داشت به قدری به این مسائل بی‌اعتنا می‌شد که حتی امکان داشت برگردد و...

Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü is a masterpiece by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, known for using a symbolist language in his poetry and a realistic style addressing social issues in his novels. This book is a cornerstone novel that examines the struggle of the Turkish people between the East and the West.

The book draws its content and themes from its characters: Nuri Efendi (the Clock Master), Mübarek (an old English wall clock), Halit Ayarcı, and the intricate relationship between time, clocks, and humans. The narrative, with Tanpınar's unique symbolic storytelling, transforms as the events unfold, highlighting how people's obsession with popularity and money can lead to sudden changes in their demeanor.

This critical novel satirizes the misguided attitudes and behaviors of a society caught between two civilizations. The story is structured around the memoirs of Hayri İrdal, whose childhood spans the reign of Abdülhamit II, the Constitutional Monarchy, and the Republic periods. The novel is divided into four parts: Great Expectations, Small Truths, Towards the Morning, and Every Season Has an End.

Lima sahabat telah menjalin persahabatan selama tujuh tahun. Mereka adalah Arial yang paling tampan, Riani sebagai satu-satunya wanita dalam kelompok itu, Zafran yang berlagak seperti seorang penyair, Ian yang paling subur badannya, dan Genta yang dianggap sebagai leader dalam kelompok itu.

Kegemaran mereka adalah mengeksekusi hal-hal yang tidak mungkin dan mencoba segala hal, mulai dari kafe paling terkenal di Jakarta, sampai nonton layar tancap. Semuanya penggemar film, dari film Hollywood sampai film yang nggak kelas—kecuali film India karena mereka punya prinsip bahwa semua persoalan di dunia atau masalah pasti ada jalan keluarnya, tapi bukan dalam bentuk joget.

Suatu saat, karena terdorong oleh rasa bosan di antara satu dan yang lain, mereka memutuskan untuk tidak saling berkomunikasi dan bertemu satu sama lain selama tiga bulan. Selama tiga bulan berpisah itulah telah terjadi banyak hal yang membuat hati mereka lebih kaya dari sebelumnya.

Pertemuan setelah tiga bulan yang penuh dengan rasa kangen akhirnya terjadi dan dirayakan dengan sebuah perjalanan. Sebuah perjalanan yang penuh dengan keyakinan, mimpi, cita-cita, dan cinta. Sebuah perjalanan yang telah mengubah mereka menjadi manusia sesungguhnya, bukan cuma seonggok daging yang bisa berbicara, berjalan, dan punya nama.

Ada yang pernah bilang kalau idealisme adalah kemewahan terakhir yang dimiliki oleh generasi muda….

But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? Are all sports destined for extinction? Is it possible that the greatest artist of our era is currently unknown (or--weirder still--widely known, but entirely disrespected)? Is it possible that we "overrate" democracy? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we've reached the end of knowledge? Kinetically slingshotting through a broad spectrum of objective and subjective problems, But What If We're Wrong? is built on interviews with a variety of creative thinkers--George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Nick Bostrom, Dan Carlin, and Richard Linklater, among others--interwoven with the type of high-wire humor and nontraditional analysis only Klosterman would dare to attempt. It's a seemingly impossible achievement: a book about the things we cannot know, explained as if we did. It's about how we live now, once "now" has become "then."

Baldwin's haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality, and a classic of gay literature. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself unable to repress his impulses, despite his determination to live the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured by his sexual identity as he oscillates between the two.

Examining the mystery of love and passion in an intensely imagined narrative, Baldwin creates a moving and complex story of death and desire that is revelatory in its insight.

Kokoro (1914) is a novel by Natsume Sōseki. Set during a period of modernization in Japan, Kokoro is a story of family, faith, and tragedy that explores timeless themes of isolation and identity. Spanning generations, Kokoro is a classic novel from one of Japan's most successful twentieth century writers.

Tradition and change, life and death--such are the subjects of Sōseki's masterful, understated tale of unassuaged guilt. On vacation with a friend, the narrator meets an older man who becomes a patient mentor for the young student. Soon, he begins visiting Sensei and his wife at their home in Tokyo, where they live an affluent, simple life. As the years go by, the narrator becomes aware of a secret from Sensei's past, which his mentor promises to reveal when the time is right. When his father falls ill--around the time of the end of Meiji society--the narrator returns home to be closer to his family. As he tries to remain positive around so much sorrow, he begins to miss his Sensei, who is now getting old himself. As his father prepares to leave the mortal world, the narrator receives a lengthy letter from Tokyo, containing his Sensei's story within. As one era merges into the next, he reads of the suffering and mistakes his Sensei experienced and incurred on his path through life, drawing them closer and leaving the narrator with some wisdom to remember him by.

Eminently human, Kokoro is a beloved story of isolation, morality, and conflict from a master of Japanese fiction.

Sunny Foster waited her entire life to leave her truck stop home town of Beloit, Wisconsin. Her eighteen years had been nothing but pain and heartache, from the mysterious disappearance of her father to the fact that her first boyfriend left her for a world of drugs and addiction. And her mother, a high-school teacher, was in legal trouble for dating a nineteen-year old student.

Out of the wreckage of Sunny's life comes a way of hope in the form of Jahil, a Mexican immigrant, with a tragic past. Jahil has seen more of the world then Sunny could ever dream of, but there's a reason for that. When Sunny's mother goes missing the week of Christmas, the sheltered Midwestern girl must team with a modern-day rogue's gallery of punks, freaks, angels, demons and one Aztec demi-god, in a sexy, erotic, adventure down the rabbit hole of the Midwest.

Among the many things Peter doesn’t know, he doesn’t know he’s an archetype, the Prince of Coins incarnate. He doesn’t know his fiancé is a fortune teller either. He doesn’t know Russian culture, politics, or language, but he does know American business. And he knows his fiancé speaks Russian. He thinks she can make him the new Tsar of the timber industry, but first they must survive a weekend with the Russian mob.

Red Russia is the story of an American businessman and his interpreter in Russia, of business, lies, and deception, of fortunes bought and told.

في هذا الكتاب يبدو أن محمود درويش ما زال قادراً على الإدهاش ومنح الشعر العربي مزيداً من الأناقة والجاذبية المسيطرة في وقت يتراجع فيه ذلك الشعر ويسترسل في هذيانية بائسة وجهل مطبق.

هنا يسأل درويش الشعر ويقيم حواجز للبلاغة وينقضّ على العبارة المعلبة في تمرد أسلوبي على المعنى والصورة في سياق اختراق للمفاهيم المتعارف عليها والمكررة والمملة.

إنها أسئلة الشعر الأصلية من السرير وفاتورة الكهرباء إلى نخلة السومرية إلى نيويورك إلى وردة أريحا.. ونحن نلهث وراء الشاعر الذي يسابق الزمن ويحاول المستحيل.