Lake Wobegon Days begins Keillor’s epic creation of a mythical and nostalgic world, entire unto itself.
The obvious analogy is the world of P. G. Wodehouse. But Wodehouse centres his world on the English country estate, and the froth and frolics of the toffs (albeit undercut by the wily wisdom of Jeeves), whereas Keillor takes us deep into the American heartland, where life is lived close to the soil, and the humour is tinged with the darkness of hard choices and wrong turns - and imbued with the absurdity of the human condition.
There’s fun and laughter aplenty because it’s the only possible response to the odds against us; but every character, howsoever absurd, is redeemed by a pervasive compassion. This was always a fine book – in the broad tradition that runs from Mark Twain to James Thurber – and it has now become a politically important one.
"Lake Wobegon Days is about the way our beliefs, desires and fears tail off into abstractions--and get renewed from time to time. . . this book, unfolding Mr. Keillor's full design, is a genuine work of American history." The New York Times
"A comic anatomy of what is small and ordinary and therefore potentially profound and universal in American life...Keillor's strength as a writer is to make the ordinary extraordinary." Chicago Tribune
"Keillor's laughs come dear, not cheap, emerging from shared virtue and good character, from reassuring us of our neighborliness and strength....His true subject is how daily life is…
This extraordinary novel deftly creates a
compelling vision of the world of women in Renaissance Tuscany while telling a
timeless tale of the most unexpected of romantic encounters: a richly imagined
historical novel that delivers an entirely modern view of women’s resilience in
the face of adversity.
The tale is told with wit, guile, and a pervasive and
sometimes sly humor that recurrently undercuts the pompous posturing of the
privileged and powerful.
WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.
“I could not stop reading this incredible true story.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club Pick)
"O’Farrell pulls out little threads of historical detail to weave this story of a precocious girl sensitive to the contradictions of her station...You may know the history, and you may think you…
I love reading Kate Atkinson, especially her
crime novels with the irresistible hero Jackson Brodie. One Good Turn is both a literary drama with an extensive cast of quirky characters and an
addictive and fast-paced thriller.
Best of all, it is the funniest book she has
written to date, and that says a lot. I read it for the third or fourth time,
and I was captivated all over again. Read and enjoy.
"Atkinson's bright voice rings on every page, and her sly and wry observations move the plot as swiftly as suspense turns the pages of a thriller."-San Francisco ChronicleTwo years after the events of Case Histories left him a retired millionaire, Jackson Brodie has followed Julia, his occasional girlfriend and former client, to Edinburgh for its famous summer arts festival. But when he witnesses a man being brutally attacked in a traffic jam - the apparent victim of an extreme case of road rage - a chain of events is set in motion that will pull the wife of an unscrupulous…
This book explains how the real power in the
democracies of the world is still held by oligarchic actors and organizations.
No surprise for the countries of Latin America, perhaps, but the United States
is no exception to the rule. Nor are the other leading democracies in the
world. The key here is the process of State formation, deeply influenced by
oligarchic actors in ways that create a porous division between private
oligarchic interests and the public sphere of democratic politics.
However, oligarchies must adapt to survive and move between distinctive modes of
oligarchic rule in response to democratic demands and pressures. Oligarchies
are currently more powerful than ever, while democratic politics is reduced to
populist posturing and shallow promises of renewal.
