Others: Overwhelmingly positive Letters written to F.X. Kappus during the years 1903-1908. Chronicle of Rilkes's life for the years 1903-1908 (p. 81-123).
Lists: …
John Milton
1667 · 333 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveJohn Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny. The struggle rages across three worlds - heaven, hell, and earth - as Satan and his band of rebel angels plot their revenge against God. At the center of the conflict are Adam and Eve, who are motivated by all too human temptations but whose ultimate downfall is unyielding love. Marked by Milton's characteristic erudition, Paradise Lost is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in ambition. For nearly 350 years, it has held generation upon generation of audiences in rapt attention, and its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of Western culture.
What made the match, strongest first
Helene Hanff
1970 · 97 pages · 6 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveIt all began with a letter inquiring about second-hand books, written by Helene Hanff in New York, and posted to a bookshop at 84, Charing Cross Road in London. As Helene's sarcastic and witty letters are responded to by the stodgy and proper bookshop employee Frank Doel, a relationship blossoms into a warm and charming long-distance friendship lasting many years.
What made the match, strongest first
Leonard Cohen
2018 · 288 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveA collection of lyrics, poems, notebook sketches, and self-portraits maps the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee's singular creative journey through the weeks just prior to his death. "The Flame is the final work from Leonard Cohen, the revered poet and musician whose fans span generations and whose work is celebrated throughout the world. Featuring poems, excerpts from his private notebooks, lyrics, and hand-drawn self-portraits, The Flame offers an unprecedentedly intimate look inside the life and mind of a singular artist. A reckoning with a life lived deeply and passionately, with wit and panache, The Flame is a valedictory work. 'This volume contains my father's final efforts as a poet,' writes Cohen's son, Adam Cohen, in his foreword. 'It was what he was staying alive to do, his sole breathing purpose at the end.' Leonard Cohen died in late 2016. But 'each page of paper that he blackened,' in the words of his son, 'was lasting evidence of a burning soul'"--Dust jacket.
What made the match, strongest first
Jean-Paul Sartre
1938 · 233 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveA fascinating existentialist novel, written in the form of a journal, about a historian who moves to a small port in northern France to research a biography he is intending to write. Whilst there his senses become dulled and he becomes increasingly disgusted by his own existence, finding no solace with friends or a woman he begins an affair with.
What made the match, strongest first
Martin Heidegger
1927 · 399 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveWhat is the meaning of being?" This is the central question of Martin Heidegger's profoundly important work, in which the great philosopher seeks to explain the basic problems of existence. A central influence on later philosophy, literature, art, and criticism -- as well as existentialism and much of postmodern though.
What made the match, strongest first
Evan Friss
2024 · 416 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveAn affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In The Bookshop, we see those stakes: what has been, and what might be lost. Evan Friss’s history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters, and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many. The story begins with Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia and takes us to a range of booksellers including The Strand, Chicago’s Marshall Field & Company, Gotham Book Mart, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk sellers of used books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books, and Parnassus. The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American bookselling, often impassioned eccentrics, and a history of how books have been marketed and sold over more than two centuries—including, for example, a 3,000-pound elephant who appeared to sign books at Marshall Field’s in 1944. The Bookshop is a love letter to bookstores, a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature, and essential reading to understand how these vital institutions have shaped American life—and why we still need them.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itAnd as an antidote to that feeling, I prescribe to you Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke... But this book always reminds me that no, you can only find the answers by actually living your life and living through the questions.
Loved itLetters to a Young Poet made me have so much respect for Rilke. This is a collection, obviously, of his letters, where he wrote so generously and openly and thoughtfully about his creative process, and that makes it fascinating to read.
