Massimo Bocchiola Boeken

Oskar Schell is uitvinder, sieradenontwerper, amateur-entomoloog, francofiel, slagwerker, verwoed schrijver van fanmail, pacifist, archeoloog van Central Park, romanticus, Groot ontdekkingsreiziger, juwelier, acteur (Yorick in de schoolvoorstelling van Hamlet), inconsequent veganist, verzamelaar van: zeldzame munten, vlinders die een natuurlijke dood zijn gestorven, Beatles-spullen, miniatuurcactussen en halfedelstenen. Hij is negen jaar. Oskar heeft zijn vader verloren bij de aanslagen op het WTC in New York. In zijn vaders kledingkast vindt Oskar een vaas, en wanneer hij die per ongeluk laat vallen ontdekt hij een vreemd uitziende sleutel. Dan begint voor de jonge Oskar een zoektocht die hem door heel New York zal voeren, in een poging betekenis te geven aan de zinloze dood van zijn vader. Jonathan Safran Foer (1977) studeerde filosofie aan Princeton. ‘Alles is verlicht’ werd in vele talen vertaald, bekroond met diverse prijzen en is een wereldwijde bestseller.

*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* Mark Renton is finally a success. An international jet-setter, he now makes significant money managing DJs, but the constant travel, airport lounges, soulless hotel rooms and broken relationships have left him dissatisfied with his life. He's then rocked by a chance encounter with Frank Begbie, from whom he'd been hiding for years after a terrible betrayal and the resulting debt. But the psychotic Begbie appears to have reinvented himself as a celebrated artist and - much to Mark's astonishment - doesn't seem interested in revenge. Sick Boy and Spud, who have agendas of their own, are intrigued to learn that their old friends are back in town, but when they enter the bleak world of organ-harvesting, things start to go so badly wrong. Lurching from crisis to crisis, the four men circle each other, driven by their personal histories and addictions, confused, angry - so desperate that even Hibs winning the Scottish Cup doesn't really help. One of these four will not survive to the end of this book. Which one of them is wearing Dead Men's Trousers? Fast and furious, scabrously funny and weirdly moving, this is a spectacular return of the crew from Trainspotting.

The contemporary classic from 'our supreme post-modernist' (Ian McEwan) - expanding the possibilities of the noir detective novel - whose writing 'shines with intelligence and originality' (Don DeLillo) The New York Trilogy is the most astonishing work by America's most consistently astonishing writer: three interconnected novels that exploit the riveting elements of classic detective fiction to achieve a radical new genre - a profound and unsettling existentialist enquiry in the tradition of Kafka or Borges. In each story the search for clues leads to remarkable coincidences in the universe as the simple act of trailing a man ultimately becomes a startling investigation of what it means to be human. The result is the modern novel at its finest which will shock, transfix and astound every reader. 'Marks a new departure for the American novel.' Observer 'A shatteringly clever piece of work . . . Utterly gripping, written with an acid sharpness that leaves an indelible dent in the back of the mind.' Sunday Telegraph 'One of the great American prose stylists of our time.' New York Times 'Auster really does possess the wand of the enchanter.' New York Review of Books

Een jonge Amerikaan, Jonathan Safran Foer geheten, reist naar het platteland van Europa. Slechts gewapend met een vergeelde foto gaat hij op zoek naar Augustine, de vrouw die, zo is hem verteld, zijn grootvader uit de handen van de nazi's heeft gered. Vergezelf door de onvergetelijke Alex, zijn jonge Oekraënse tolk die behept is met een komisch spraakverwarrend accent, maakt Jonathan een donquichotachtige zoektoch door een verwoest langschap, terug naar een hartverscheurend verleden.

Six months after losing his wife and two sons in a plane crash, Professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in grief. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon the great silent comedian Hector Mann. His growing obsession with the mystery of Mann's true life story will take Zimmer on a strange and intense journey into a shadow-world of lies, illusions and unexpected love . . .

'I was looking for a quiet place to die. Someone recommended Brooklyn, and so the next morning I traveled down there from Westchester to scope out the terrain...' So begins Paul Auster's remarkable new novel, The Brooklyn Follies. Set against the backdrop of the contested US election of 2000, it tells the story of Nathan and Tom, an uncle and nephew double-act. One in remission from lung cancer, divorced, and estranged from his only daughter, the other hiding away from his once-promising academic career, and, indeed, from life in general. Having accidentally ended up in the same Brooklyn neighbourhood, they discover a community teeming with life and passion. When Lucy, a little girl who refuses to speak, comes into their lives, there is suddenly a bridge from their pasts that offers them the possibility of redemption. Infused with character, mystery and humour, these lives intertwine and become bound together as Auster brilliantly explores the wider terrain of contemporary America - a crucible of broken dreams and of human folly.

Shortlisted for the 2015 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction A rampaging force of nature is wreaking havoc on the streets of Edinburgh, but has top shagger, drug-dealer, gonzo-porn-star and taxi-driver, ‘Juice’ Terry Lawson, finally met his match in Hurricane ‘Bawbag’? Can Terry discover the fate of the missing beauty, Jinty Magdalen, and keep her idiot-savant lover, the man-child Wee Jonty, out of prison? Will he find out the real motives of unscrupulous American businessman and reality-TV star, Ronald Checker? And, crucially, will Terry be able to negotiate life after a terrible event robs him of his sexual virility, and can a new fascination for the game of golf help him to live without… A DECENT RIDE? A Decent Ride sees Irvine Welsh back on home turf, leaving us in the capable hands of one of his most compelling and popular characters, ‘Juice’ Terry Lawson, and introducing another bound for cult status, Wee Jonty MacKay: a man with the genitals and brain of a donkey. In his funniest, filthiest book yet, Irvine Welsh celebrates an un-reconstructed misogynist hustler – a central character who is shameless but also, oddly, decent –and finds new ways of making wild comedy out of fantastically dark material, taking on some of the last taboos. So fasten your seatbelts, because this is one ride that could certainly get a little bumpy…

Several months into his recovery from a near-fatal illness, novelist Sidney Orr enters a Brooklyn stationery shop and buys a blue notebook. It is September 18th, 1982, and for the next nine days Orr will live under the spell of this blank book, within a world of eerie premonitions.

Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon - private eye Doc Sportello comes, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era as free love slips away and paranoia creeps in with the L.A. fogIt's been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend, Shasta Fay. Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. Easy for her to say. It's the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dodgy dentists.In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre, provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can remember the sixties, you weren't there . . . or . . . if you were there, then you . . . or, wait, is it . . .hang on. . .what

James Bond wordt naar een Frans casino in Royale-les-Eaux gestuurd met de opdracht de dodelijke Le Chiffre te elimineren door de meedogenloze SMERSH-agent failliet te laten gaan aan de baccarattafel. Wanneer het geluk echter aan de kant van zijn vijand staat, wordt 007 het doelwit van moordenaars en folteraars in een spel met hoge inzetten van kat-en-muis.

L'amore secondo Irvine Welsh: una storia ambienta in un'anonima cittadina di una popolosa regione a nord di Edimburgo e raccontarla in prima persona dai due protagonisti, Jason King e Jenni Cahill da Cowdenbeath, Fife centrale, Scozia. Lui, ventisei anni e poco più di un metro e mezzo d'altezza, ha archiviato le giovanili speranze di diventare un fantino professionista e si barcamena in un presente non troppo radioso da sottoccupato cronico e stella locale del subbuteo. Tra una partita e l'altra del «meraviglioso gioco da tavolo» e lavoretti più o meno leciti, Jason inganna la monotonia delle giornate di provincia ascoltando Cat Stevens, scolandosi quantità esagerate di Guinness e tampinando quasi ogni ragazza gli capiti a tiro. Da un po', però, a dare materia alle sue fantasie sono le morbide forme della dolce Jenni Cahill. Cavallerizza di scarso talento, con una passione per Marilyn Manson e vaghe aspirazioni suicide, lei non sembra tuttavia troppo entusiasta di ricambiare le attenzioni di quel «nanerottolo schifoso» di Jason. Ma si sa, le apparenze possono ingannare e al cuor non sempre si comanda, e saranno prima il caso e poi un tragico incidente a far scoprire ai due ragazzi di poter condividere qualcosa: il sogno di una nuova vita, lontana dal grigiore di ogni Cowdenbeath del mondo.

In 1965, the happy Bedloe family is living an ideal, apple-pie existence in Baltimore.  Then, in the blink of an eye, a single tragic event occurs that will transform their lives forever--particularly that of seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe, the youngest son, who blames himself for the sudden "accidental" death of his older brother.Depressed and depleted, Ian is almost crushed under the weight of an unbearable, secret guilt.  Then one crisp January evening, he catches sight of a window with glowing yellow neon, the CHURCH OF THE SECOND CHANCE.  He enters and soon discovers that forgiveness must be earned, through a bit of sacrifice and a lot of love...A New York Times Notable Book

Mr Bones is the canine sidekick and confidant of Willy G. Christmas, a brilliant but troubled poet-saint from Brooklyn. Together they sally forth in search of Willy's beloved high-school teacher, who years ago knew him in his previous incarnation as William Gurevitch, son of Polish war refugees.

August Brill is recovering from a car accident. Plagued by insomnia, he tries to push back thoughts about his wife's death and the horrific murder of his granddaughter's boyfriend, Titus. He is joined in the early hours by his granddaughter, and he opens up to her and recounts the story of his marriage and confronts the reality of Titus' death.

Robert Maitland, een 35-jarige architect, rijdt met zijn Jaguar door de afrastering van de snelweg en komt ongedeerd terecht op een driehoekig grasland, ingesloten door de betonnen wanden van wegen en viaducten. Niemand schenkt aandacht aan het ongeluk, ook niet als hij oproepen om hulp in enorme lettters op het beton schrijft en zelfs zijn auto in brand steekt. Maar na enige tijd ontdekt hij dat hij niet alleen is tussen het beton: een verlopen trapezewerker, die bij een ongeluk zijn verstand is kwijtgeraakt, en een prostituée hebben er een woonplaats gevonden. En tegen dit decor speelt zich de ontmoeting af van Maitland met... zichzelf.

Qual è l'attività segreta che consente a un (apparentemente) rispettabile libraio antiquario londinese di condurre una vita lussuosa e spregiudicata, in compagnia della sua segretaria e amante? Be', sempre di libri si tratta, ma... Il lettore scoprirà il mistero lungo le avvincenti pagine di questo racconto, il cui epilogo imprevedibile è quello di una detective story, amara e scanzonata al tempo stesso. Al Libraio che imbrogliò l'Inghilterra fa seguito Lo Scrittore automatico , la storia di un giovane aspirante scrittore che, stanco di vedere le sue creazioni rifiutate dalle riviste letterarie, risolve il problema inventando una strana macchina... I due racconti, dunque, si fondono in un insieme perfettamente amalgamato, accomunati come sono dallo sguardo impietoso che Roald Dahl sa gettare sul mondo dei libri e della cultura, mostrando ancora una volta la sua originalità di visione, il suo stile rapido e graffiante, la sua straordinaria bravura nel delineare situazioni e personaggi.

De 57-jarige George Hall kijkt uit naar een welverdiend pensioen - maar dan ontdekt hij een verontrustend plekje dat hem doet geloven dat hij huidkanker heeft. Bovendien besluit zijn dochter te trouwen met haar totaal ongeschikte vriendje; zijn vrouw begint een affaire met zijn ex-collega; en zijn zoon kan zich er maar niet toe zetten zijn minnaar uit te nodigen voor de trouwerij van zijn zuster. Te midden van dit alles probeert George op een waardige manier gek te worden, zonder dat iemand last van hem heeft.

In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, the author tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own mortality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances. Intense, hilarious, provocative, and moving, A Long Way Down is a novel about suicide that is, surprisingly, full of life

Gautam Malkani tells of a Britain that has never before been explored in the novel: a country of young Asian and white boys (desis and goras) trying to work out a place for themselves in the shadow of the divergent cultures of their parent's generation.