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GENERAL FICTION

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ENGLISH, AUGUST: An Indian Story

MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

By Upamanyu Chatterjee

English, August: An Indian Story is a thought-provoking novel that delves into the life and experiences of Agastya Sen, a young Indian civil servant posted in a small town. As Agastya navigates the complexities of his new surroundings, he grapples with issues of identity, culture clash, and personal growth. Through a blend of humor, introspection, and sharp social commentary, the book offers a unique insight into contemporary India and the inner world of its protagonist. A classic in Indian literature, English, August is a compelling exploration of tradition, modernity, and the quest for self-discovery.

Rupa. Faber and Faber. 1990. 305p.

Ficciones

By Jorge Luis Borges

From the cover: ". unquestionably the most brilliant South American writing today. . .one of the genuine prose talents of our pe- riod. Written with a classical economy of means and under the control of a mind of wide culture and deep sensitivity, his stories will continue echoing in the minds of his readers as do those of Franz Kafka." -Herald Tribune Books

NY. Grove Press. 1962. 164p. USED BOOK. CONTAINS MARK-UP.

The History Man

By Malcolm Bradbury

FROM THE COVER: Howard Kirk is the trendiest ofradical tutors at a fashionable campus university. Timid Vice- Chancellors pale before his threats of disruption; reactionary colleagues are crushed beneath his merciless Marxist logic; women are drawn by his progressive promiscuity. A self-appointed revolutionary hero, Howard always comes out on top. And Malcolm Bradbury dissects him in this savagely funny novel that has been universally acclaimed as a comic masterpiece. 'Malcolm Bradbury has come up with a novel that simply must be read' — THE TIMES.

London Arrow Books. 1975. 233p. USED BOOK. COMNGAINS MARK-UP

Labyrinths: Selected Stories And Other Writings

By Jorge Luis Borges. Edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby

FROM THE PREFACE: Jorge Luis Borges is a great writer who has composed only little essays or short narratives. Yet they suffice for us to call him great because of their wonderful intelligence, their wealth of invention and their tight, almost mathematical, style. Argentine by birth and temperament, but nurtured on univer- sal literature, Borges has no spiritual homeland. He creates, outside time and space, imaginary and symbolic worlds. It is a sign of his importance that, in placing him, only strange and perfect works can be called to mind. He is akin to Kafka, Poe, sometimes to Henry James and Wells, always to Valéry by the abrupt projection of his paradoxes in what has been called 'his private metaphysics'.

London. Penguin. 1964. 276p. USED BOOK. CONTAINS MARK-UP

The Way We Live Now

By Anthony Trollope

From Wikipedia: The Way We Live Now is a satirical novel by Anthony Trollope, published in London in 1875 after first appearing in serialised form. It is one of the last significant Victorian novels to have been published in monthly parts. The novel is Trollope's longest, comprising 100 chapters, and is particularly rich in sub-plot. It was inspired by the financial scandals of the early 1870s; Trollope had just returned to England from abroad, and was appalled by the greed and dishonesty those scandals exposed. This novel was his rebuke. It dramatised how such greed and dishonesty pervaded the commercial, political, moral, and intellectual life of that era.

London Chapman and Hall. 1875. 1080p.

Phineas Finn: The Irish Member

By Anthony Trollope

Fron Wikipedia: “Phineas Finn is a novel by Anthony Trollope and the name of its leading character. The novel was first published as a monthly serial from October 1867 to May 1868 in St Paul's Magazine.[1] It is the second of the "Palliser" series of novels. Its sequel, Phineas Redux, is the fourth novel in the series. The character of Phineas Finn is said to have been partly inspired by Sir John Pope Hennessy (grandfather of the museum director of the same name),[2] a Roman Catholic from Cork, who was elected as an "Irish Nationalist Conservative" Member of Parliament for King's County in 1859.[3] It deals with both British parliamentary politics of the 1860s, including voting reform (secret ballot and eliminating rotten boroughs and Irish tenant-right) and Finn's romances with women of fortune, which would secure his financial future.

London. George Virtue. 1869. 751p.

The Prince and the Pauper

By Mark Twain

From Wikipedia: The Prince and the Pauper is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States.[1] The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547, it tells the story of two young boys who were born on the same day and are identical in appearance: Tom Canty, a pauper who lives with his abusive, alcoholic father in Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London, and Edward VI of England, son of Henry VIII of England. Plot: Tom Canty, the youngest son of a very poor family living in Offal Court located in London, has been abused by his father and grandmother, but is encouraged by the local priest, who taught him to read and write. Loitering around the palace gates one day, he sees Edward Tudor, the Prince of Wales. Coming too close in his intense excitement, Tom is caught and nearly beaten by the Royal Guards. However, Edward stops them and invites Tom into his palace chamber. There, the two boys get to know one another and are fascinated by each other's life. They have an uncanny resemblance to each other and learn they were even born on the same day, so they decide to swap clothes “temporarily". The Prince hides an item, which the reader later learns……

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By Mark Twain

From Wikipedia: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885.

Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, the narrator of two other Twain novels (Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective) and a friend of Tom Sawyer. It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The book is noted for "changing the course of children's literature" in the United States for the "deeply felt portrayal of boyhood".[2][better source needed] It is also known for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. Set in a Southernantebellum society that had ceased to exist over 20 years before the work was published, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing satire on entrenched attitudes, particularly racism and freedom. Perennially popular with readers, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has also been the continued object of study by literary critics since its publication. The book was widely criticized upon release because of its extensive use of coarse language and racial epithet. Throughout the 20th century, and despite arguments that the protagonist and the tenor of the book are anti-racist,[3][4] criticism of the book continued due to both its perceived use of racial stereotypes and its frequent use of the racial slur "nigger".

USA. Chatto & Windus / Charles L. Webster And Company.. 1884. 440p.

Getting Even

By Woody Allen

From the cover. In Getting Even Woody Allen revenges himself upon such significant subjects as death, obe­sity, organized crime, the invention of the sandwich, adult education, laundry lists of famous people, and Latin American revolu­tionaries. Here is Woody Allen at his philo­sophical deepest: •    "... Death is an acquired trait.'' •    "If man were immortal, do you realize what his meat bills would be?" •    "Why pork was proscribed by Hebraic law is still unclear, and some scholars believe that the Torah merely suggested not eating pork at certain restaurants." •    "Eternal Nothingness is OK if you're dressed for it." •    "My mind can never know my body although it has become quite friendly with my legs."

NY. Random House. 1978. 124p.

The First Circle

By Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Translated from the Russian by Michael Guybon. “*The First Circle asks to be compared to Dostoevsky. Solzhenitsyn is in the great story-telling tradition. When he introduces a character, he fills in the complete background. His portrait of a Soviet prosecutor and his family circle is unforgettable. So are chapters devoted to the brooding Stalin. A future generation of Russians will be able to come to terms with their history through books like Dr. Zhivago and The First Circle.'“ David Pryce-Jones, Financial Times.

London Collins. Fontana Books. 1970. 680P.

One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

By Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Translated from the Russian by Ralph Parker. With an Introduction by Marvin L. Kalb. Foreword By Alexander Tvardovsky. From the cover: This extraordinary novel is one of the most significant and outspoken literary documents ever to come out of Soviet Russia. It is both a brutally graphic picture of life in a Stalinist work camp and a moving tribute to man's will to prevail over relentless dehumanization. A masterpiece of modern Russian fiction, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH first brought to world attention the work of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, brilliant author of THE CANCER WARD and THE FIRST CIRCLE.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was born in 1918, a year after the Bolsheviks stormed to; power through­out Russia. He studied at the University of Rostov and served with distinction in the Russian Army dur­ing World War II. In 1945 he was arrested and im­prisoned in a labor camp for eight years because he allegedly made a derogatory remark about Stalin. He was released in 1953 after the death of Stalin, but was forced to live in Central Asia, where he remained until Premier Khrushchev’s historic “secret speech” denounced Stalin in 1956. Rehabilitated in 1957, Solzhenitsyn moved to Ryazan, married a chemistry student, and began to teach mathematics at the local school. In his spare time, he started to write. This novel is his first published work.

NY. A Signet Classic from New American Library. 1963. 158p.