Philippe Djian staat bekend als een Franse auteur met een rauwe eerlijkheid en een indringende kijk op de menselijke psyche. Zijn werken verkennen vaak thema's als passie, obsessie en de kwetsbaarheid van menselijke relaties. Djian's stijl kenmerkt zich door zijn energie en zijn vermogen om rauwe emoties en spanningen tussen personages te vangen. Zijn schrijven trekt lezers mee in de donkerdere en lichtere aspecten van de menselijke ervaring.
Francis, ooit een succesvol schrijver, is op zijn retour. Hij verdient de kost door algenpillen en voedingssupplementen aan de man te brengen in het literaire wereldje waar hij deel van uitmaakt. Om zijn creatieve crisis te doorbreken (en om brood op de plank te hebben) spoort zijn vrouw Edith hem aan het scenario voor een pornofilm te schrijven. Met in de hoofdrol: Francis zelf en Nicole, de vrouw van een bevriende, jonge, succesvolle schrijver. Maar komt dit vrijmoedige artistieke advies eigenlijk wel van Edith?
In the West, legendary explorers like Christopher Columbus, Ernest Shackleton
and Sir Edmund Hillary are a recognized part of our history. But in China,
that legend belongs to the great explorer Zheng He (1371-1433), who lived
during China's renowned Ming Dynasty. Zheng He, the Great Chinese Explorer is
a bilingual (English and Chinese) tale of his adventures. When he was a child,
Zheng He dreamed of foreign lands, his imagination was inspired by the travels
of his father and grandfather and the wonderful items they brought back from
trading trips to the West. A simple but exotic porcelain vase in cobalt, a
color not found in China at the time, drove Zheng He to discover the origins
of this unique color--and become one of the most famous explorers in China's
history. From military brilliance to sea captain and diplomat, Zheng He's life
was never quiet! After serving the Emperor in the military and helping China
achieve peace and prosperity, Zheng He was chosen to command great sea
voyages, engaging in trade and establishing relations with foreign
governments. Over the course of 28 years, Zheng He made seven major
expeditions by sea to South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and even
reaching as far as the east coast of Africa. And after all that travel, his
childhood dream finally came true. On the Arabian Peninsula he discovered the
beautiful color for which he had been searching, and this unique shade of blue
became a trademark of the porcelain of the Ming Dynasty.
They were predicting storms for the end of the day but the sky stayed blue and the wind died down. I went to take a look in the kitchen - make sure things weren't getting clogged up in the bottom of the pot. Everything was just fine. I went out onto the porch armed with a cold beer and stayed there for a while, my face in the sun. It felt good. It had been a week now that I'd been spending my mornings in the sun, squinting like some happy idiot - a week now since I'd met Betty.' BETTY BLUE remains a cult book and film nearly twenty years since its first outing. The extraordinary story of an erotic, doomed love affair has transfixed hundreds of thousands of readers around the world.
Set in long-ago China, this is the story of a nomadic family who, through a
drawing on the back of their white horse, learn how to plant their crops in
alignment with the changing seasons, leading them to have bountiful harvests
year after year. Illustrations.
This fancifully illustrated multicultural children's book tells a famous
Chinese myth about a young boy's quest to save his village. Long ago, in a
remote village in China, there lived a kind and generous little boy. He spent
his days in the forest, collecting wood to trade for food. One day, the boy
made a wondrous discovery: a magic stone that caused his money jar and rice
crocks to overflow, both of which he shared with the poor villagers. But
strange things began to happen. It no longer rained. The crops died. The
rivers dried up. A terrible drought had struck and would not release its grip.
The brave young boy, full of dreams of a white, water-spewing Dragon, took his
magic stone on a journey--and discovered how to save his village.
In this electrifying psychological drama, two veterans readjusting to civilian life find their friendship tested when ugly truths come to light. Yemen. Iraq. Afghanistan. After returning from combat to a quiet garrison town, Dan and Richard struggle in their different ways to regain a sense of normality. Dan, desperate to prove to his bourgeois neighbors that he isn’t the violent, unstable veteran they’d expect, sticks to a rigorous routine and keeps his head down. Richard, on the other hand, doesn’t resist his impulses, repeatedly flouting the law and spending money he doesn’t have. All the while, his home life is gradually falling apart—unbeknownst to him, his wife has been having an affair, and his teenaged daughter is becoming increasingly distant and even hostile. The arrival of Richard’s sister-in-law, Marlene—a woman with a reputation for sleeping around and bringing bad luck wherever she goes—threatens to destroy what little peace the two men have, calling into question their seemingly unbreakable bond.
A college professor finds himself in a harrowing situation when he wakes up next to the lifeless body of a student. As the plot unfolds, the tension escalates, leading to a gripping exploration of guilt, morality, and the consequences of one's actions. This literary thriller delves into the chaos that ensues, revealing the darker aspects of human nature and the complexities of the professor's life as he grapples with the aftermath of this shocking event.
Long long ago, the world was a colourless, gray place. It had stayed that way
for thousands of years. People never expected anything different until one
day, the colourful Snake Goddess, Nuwa, fell from the sky. She was determined
to bring colour and beauty to the gray nothingness of the earth, but all the
colours kept running out through a giant hole in the sky. To fix the hole and
bring colour to the world, Nuwa would have journey near and far to find the
five magical coloured stones that were her only hope for fixing the sky. Join
the Snake Goddess on her journey to bring colour to a desolate world.
After Ming's exciting adventures in the Forbidden City, Ming and his father
travel to the Great Wall to learn more about the creation of the longest
structure ever build by humans. On their way, they take a wrong turn, leading
to a great adventure as Ming and his father get to tour the wall and encounter
all sorts of important figures from history and literature!