The Labrador Fiasco

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Furui Yoshikichi

"Furui Yoshikichi's work has long dealt with the human dramas of growing up and growing old, but by probing further into the recesses of the mind and memory, he also touches upon the deepest mysteries of human existence. As if to balance the somber themes of madness and death, Furui shows a great sensitivity to the dark humor inherent in everyday life. White-haired melody is no exception; it is the record of the daily experiences of a man approaching old age. It delves into the essential but hidden nature of his daily life, employing prose that is relentless in its re-creation of detail. This novel is a meditative exploration of the strange borderland around the inner experience of aging and approaching death. Yet, rather than follow a conventional plot, the novel develops by means of an intricate weaving together through time of key experiences of the narrator and his friends to build a compelling portrait of human experience. Those familiar with Furui's writings will find here a fascinating new development of earlier themes. White-haired melody, a work by one of Japan's finest contemporary novelists writing at the height of his power, is not to be missed."--BOOK JACKET.

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Robert Ramsay & Randall Toye

A gleeful guide to the tearful partings of men and women--from movies, literature, and life--with quavering quotes, soulful scenes and comforting commentary to get you through the night.

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Orlando Ortiz

Con Una muerte muy saludable Orlando incursiona de nuevo en ese terreno para él tan conocido y nos presenta a Pablo Mistral, que apunta a ser un personaje capaz de emprender una saga llena de acción, intriga y situaciones, todo ello salpimentado con detalles de humor y apoyado en una narración muy ágil. Con él aparecen, también, un Ministerio Público latinista (Cernícalo González) y un comandante o policía (Juan Cabrales Aquilino), digno de serlo por torpe, prepotente, y casi iletrado, pero no tonto. Así, aparecen finamente hilvanados los escenarios, personajes y trazos narrativos de esta novedosa novela policiaca.

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Amélie Nothomb

""I lived everything during these three years: heroism, glory, treachery, love, indifference, suffering, humiliation. It was China, I was seven years old."". "So announces the narrator of Loving Sabotage, Amelie Nothomb's novel about a young girl who seems already stripped of illusions. The daughter of diplomats posted to Peking for three years in the mid-seventies, she charges about the grim confines of the gated government housing ghetto of San Li Tun on her "horse" (bicycle). In a tireless battle against boredom, she concocts a fantasy life as rich as her surroundings are bleak. During one of her tours of duty as a pathfinder in a war that has broken out in the ghetto between the children of various nations - a hilarious microcosm of "adult" world politics - she encounters a young Italian girl, Elena: beautiful, aloof, disdainful of silly games. Our heroine is instantly infatuated, and comes to realize the only fight worthy of her energies is shattering Elena's indifference."--BOOK JACKET.