A long time ago in China, there existed three Books of Peace that proved so threatening to the reigning powers that they had them burned. Many years later Maxine Hong Kingston wrote a Fourth Book of Peace, but it too was burned–in the catastrophic Berkeley-Oakland Hills fire of 1991, a fire that
Anthony Burgess's epic masterpiece follows the lives of two men who each represent different kinds of earthly power. Kenneth Toomey is an eminent novelist, a man who has outlived his contemporaries to survive into luxurious old age as a celebrity of dubious notoriety. Don Carlo Campanati is a man
Realising that his New Year is probably going to be a disaster, as usual, our narrator, on impulse, walks into a travel agency to book a week in the sun. Sensitive to his limited means and dislike of Muslim countries, the travel agent suggests an island full of 21st century hedonism, set in a
From the Iranian hostage crisis through the Gulf War and the bombing of the World Trade Center, the American news media have portrayed "Islam" as a monolithic entity, synonymous with terrorism and religious hysteria. In this classic work, now updated, the author of Culture and Imperialism reveals
The marriage of Kaname and Misako is disintegrating: whilst seeking passion and fulfilment in the arms of others, they contemplate the humiliation of divorce. Misako's father believes their relationship has been damaged by the influence of a new and alien culture, and so attempts to heal the breach
A story of a country attempting to reconcile its new freedom with old rituals, secrets and betrayals. From behind the closed door, the man shouts, 'Be on your way - you have no business here!' 'Open up, I am the messenger of Death'. As spring arrives in the Albanian mountain town of B, some
In these seven stories, one of Japan's greatest modern writers explored the territory where love becomes self-annihilation, where the contemplation of beauty gives way to fetishism, and where tradition becomes an instrument of voluptuous cruelty. A beautiful blind musician exacts the ultimate
The title term, surrender the pink, is a colloquialism pertaining to male sexual advances to a female. It comes from the phrase, "They're all pink on the inside." This novel, like most of Fisher's books, is semi-autobiographical and fictionalizes events from her real life. It is said to be loosely
