Katia Bagnoli Boeken

I read it in one sitting Kate Kellaway Observer

Middlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides, and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City and the race riots of 1967 before moving out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret, and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.

A master of inventive fiction pens the story of an ex-con who is offered a job as a bodyguard for Mr. Wednesday, a trickster and a rogue. Shadow soon learns that his role in the man's schemes are far more dangerous and dark than he could have ever imagined.

Still traumatised by her brush with a psychopath, Detective Cassie Maddox transfers out of the Murder squad and starts a relationship with fellow detective Sam O'Neill. When he calls her to the scene of his new case, she is shocked to find that the murdered girl is her double. What's more, her ID shows she is Lexie Madison - the identity Cassie used, years ago, as an undercover detective. With no leads, no suspects and no clues to Lexie's real identity, Cassie's old boss spots the opportunity of a lifetime: send Cassie undercover in her place, to tempt the killer out of hiding to finish the job.

Yokohama, 1862. Japan staat op de rand van een burgeroorlog, met rivaliserende samoerai die strijden om de macht. Een groep jonge, idealistische krijgsheren wil de oude tradities herstellen en beschuldigt Yoshi Toronaga, de eerste Shogun, van het stelen van de keizerlijke macht. De volgelingen van de Shogun zijn vastbesloten om zijn gezag met geweld te verdedigen. In deze wereld van corruptie, eergevoel en intriges spelen de Gai-Jin, de gehate buitenlandse handelaren, een cruciale rol. Zij profiteren van de conflicten door te handelen met elke Japanse partij die hen betaalt, gedreven door de torenhoge winsten op oorlogsmaterieel. De Gai-Jin zijn onderling verdeeld: Britten tegenover Fransen, Pruisen tegenover Russen, en kooplui tegenover militairen. Een van de machtigste handelshuizen in Yokohama is Noble House, geleid door de jonge Malcolm Struan, kleinzoon van de legendarische Dirk Struan. Wanneer Malcolm levensgevaarlijk gewond raakt in een confrontatie met vijandige samoerai, lijkt het geluk de Struans en Noble House te verlaten. Ondertussen beraamt Tyler Brock, de aartsvijand van de Struan-familie, in het geheim plannen om de macht van Noble House voorgoed te breken.

Als Abie van haar familie een koffieplantage erft, keert ze terug naar haar geboorteland in Afrika. Daar treft ze een wereld die zich ophoudt tussen heden en verleden, tussen werkelijkheid en onwerkelijkheid. Haar vier tantes – Asana, Mary, Hawa, Serah – vertellen hun levensgeschiedenissen en maken haar deelgenoot van hun levendige herinneringen: aan de vaders die zij vreesden, de mannen die zij liefhadden, de moeders die hen verlieten, en, vooral, de geheimen die zij koesterden. Hun betoverende verhalen vol magie en bezwering roepen een Afrika op dat zich aangetrokken voelt tot de verleidingen van het Westen maar tegelijk probeert vast te houden aan de eigen gebruiken. Stuk voor stuk hebben de vrouwen geprobeerd de koers van hun lotsbestemming te veranderen en hun eigen identiteit te bepalen.

A Chinese writer whose marriage has fallen apart travels to Tibet. As he wanders through the countryside, the divide between fact and fiction becomes confused and the man is drawn deep into an alien culture that haunts his dreams.

Vagabondi, falliti, pezzenti, ubriaconi, giocatori d'azzardo di terz'ordine, prostitute e naturalmente il poeta stesso, fallito tra i falliti e pezzente tra i pezzenti: è questo il mondo di cui si popolano i versi di Bukowski, un mondo osservato a volte con il distacco sarcastico di chi ne scorge con chiarezza e lucidità i limiti e le piccolezze, altre volte con la genuina e partecipata commozione di chi non può tirarsene fuori, di chi si sente in qualche modo parte di quell'umanità sconfitta e umiliata.

With devastating wit and deep affection for his characters, Jeffrey Eugenides crafts a contemporary story that feels like an intimate journal of our lives. Set in the early 1980s during a deep recession, the narrative follows Madeleine Hanna, an English major writing her thesis on the marriage plot in literature. As she grapples with the shift from classic writers like Cheever and Updike to more avant-garde figures, her life takes a turn with the arrival of Leonard Bankhead, a charismatic and troubled college Darwinist. Their intense intellectual and erotic relationship complicates matters, especially with the reemergence of Mitchell Grammaticus, a friend obsessed with the idea that he and Madeleine are destined to be together. As the trio navigates post-college life, they are forced to reevaluate their beliefs and experiences. Leonard and Madeleine's move to a biology lab on Cape Cod reveals the struggles behind Leonard's charm, while Mitchell travels the world, confronting profound questions about love, existence, and faith. The story probes whether the great love narratives of the past are obsolete or if a new, modern tale can emerge, addressing contemporary issues like feminism, sexual freedom, and the complexities of relationships.

Zo kwamen we aan het eind speelt zich af op een Amerikaans reclamebureau tijdens de laatste stuiptrekkingen van de internethype. Prikborden, koffiebekers, ontslagbriefjes en moordende concurrentie - the American way of life, gezien door de ramen van een kantoortoren. In een klimaat van inkrimpingsoperaties moeten de medewerkers leren om dag in, dag uit op min of meer vreedzame wijze met elkaar om te gaan, ook al doen de onophoudelijke herrie en onmin het bureau eerder op een groot probleemgezin lijken.

He's the man everyone's talking about. He's taken on gun freaks, stupid white men and corporate crooks. Now Michael Moore is on a new mission: to get us of our behinds and kicking out the corrupt political elites who rule our lives.

Isobel ha nove anni e il suo compleanno si avvicina, ma non ci saranno regali per lei. L'unica cosa che la fa volare lontano dalle rigide regole familiari è la lettura, che deve praticare di nascosto poiché sua madre la considera inadeguata per una bambina. Crescendo, alimenta questa passione di notte, alla luce di una candela. A sedici anni, la sua vita cambia radicalmente: è costretta a lasciare tutto, cercandosi un lavoro e una nuova sistemazione. Per la prima volta, Isobel si confronta con un mondo al di fuori della sua famiglia e del suo quartiere, sentendosi inadeguata e fuori posto, come sua madre le ha sempre fatto credere. Quando incontra un gruppo di ragazzi appassionati di libri, inizialmente rimane in silenzio, spaventata dalla possibilità di esprimere se stessa. Tuttavia, le parole di grandi autori iniziano a far breccia nelle sue insicurezze, insegnandole il coraggio di esprimere le proprie opinioni e di rivendicare la cultura che ha costruito. Isobel scopre il sogno di scrivere e liberare le parole che ha trattenuto per troppo tempo. Amy Witting celebra la lotta per i diritti delle donne, rendendo "La lettrice testarda" un elogio della letteratura e un romanzo di formazione sulla scoperta del proprio posto nel mondo, con una protagonista pronta a sfidare le convenzioni per vivere in autonomia.