A writer is caught between her calling and the man she loves in this “joyous, funny and bittersweet” novel (Newsday). Isaac and Nora haven’t seen each other in five years, yet when Nora phones Isaac late one night, he knows who it is before she’s spoken a word. Isaac, a photographer, is relinquishing his artistic career, while Nora, a writer, is seeking to rededicate herself to hers. Fueled by their rediscovered love, Nora is soon on fire with the best work she’s ever done, until she realizes that the story she's writing has turned into a fictionalized portrait of Isaac, exposing his frailties and compromises and sure to be viewed by him as a betrayal. How do we remain faithful to our calling if it estranges us from the people we love? How do we remain in love after we have seen the very worst of our loved ones? These are some of the questions explored in a novel that critics are calling “an absolute pleasure” (The Seattle Times). From the author of Florence Gordon and Starting Out in the Evening, this is a “novel of two star-crossed but self-absorbed artists facing crises of the heart and conscience. . . . An intriguing look at the nature of love and the need for acceptance” (Booklist). “I loved this book.” —Alice Sebold
“A literary theft, a death and the sparking of desire make for a tumultuous year in the lives of four New Yorkers . . . [a] polished, affecting novel.” —People Adam Weller is a moderately successful novelist, past his prime—but squiring around a much younger woman and still longing for greater fame and glory. His former wife, Eleanor, is unhappily playing the role of the overweight, discarded woman. Their daughter, Maud, has just begun a frankly sexual affair with an Arab American man that unexpectedly becomes life-changing. Into each of these lives the past intrudes in a way that will test them to their core. Navigating nimbly between sharp humor and deeply felt emotion, the award-winning author of Florence Gordon tells a story of love, friendship, literary treachery, and what each of us owes to the past. “Inside [Morton’s] broad comedy of manners is a heartfelt novel about the redemptive power of suffering.” —The New Yorker “Morton is the rare writer equally invested in people and ideas. . . . [He] creates some of the most complex and real female characters of any writer.” —San Francisco Chronicle
A Washington Post Best Nonfiction Book of the Year In the spirit of Fierce Attachments and The End of Your Life Book Club, acclaimed novelist Brian Morton delivers a “superb” (Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air), darkly funny memoir of his mother’s vibrant life and the many ways in which their tight, tumultuous relationship was refashioned in her twilight years. Tasha Morton is a force of nature: a brilliant educator who’s left her mark on generations of students—and also a whirlwind of a mother, intrusive, chaotic, oppressively devoted, and irrepressible. For decades, her son Brian has kept her at a self-protective distance, but when her health begins to fail, he knows it’s time to assume responsibility for her care. Even so, he’s not prepared for what awaits him, as her refusal to accept her own fragility leads to a series of epic outbursts and altercations that are sometimes frightening, sometimes wildly comic, and sometimes both. Clear-eyed, “deeply stirring” (Dani Shapiro, The New York Times Book Review), and brimming with dark humor, Tasha is both a vivid account of an unforgettable woman and a stark look at the impossible task of caring for an elderly parent in a country whose unofficial motto is “you’re on your own.”
Meet Florence Gordon: blunt, brilliant, cantankerous and passionate, feminist icon to young women, invisible and underappreciated by most everyone else. At seventy-five, Florence has earned her right to set down the burdens of family and work and shape her legacy at long last. But just as she is beginning to write her long-deferred memoir, her son Daniel returns to New York from Seattle with his wife and daughter, and they embroil Florence in their dramas, clouding the clarity of her days with the frustrations of middle-age and the confusions of youth"-- Provided by publisher.
A New York Times Notable Book: A friendship evolves between an aging author and a young grad student in a novel by the acclaimed author of Florence Gordon. A PEN/Faulkner Award Nominee and one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of the Year Leonard Schiller is a novelist in his seventies, a second-string but respectable talent who produced only a small handful of books. Heather Wolfe is an attractive graduate student in her twenties. She read Schiller’s novels when she was growing up and they changed her life. When the ambitious Heather decides to write her master’s thesis about Schiller’s work and sets out to meet him—convinced she can bring Schiller back into the literary world’s spotlight—the unexpected consequences of their meeting alter everything in Schiller’s ordered life. What follows is a quasi-romantic friendship and intellectual engagement that investigates the meaning of art, fame, and personal connection. “Nothing less than a triumph,” Starting Out in the Evening is Brian Morton’s most widely acclaimed novel to date (The New York Times Book Review).
A biography of popular twentieth-century Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Internationally esteemed, Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich is widely considered to have been the last great classical symphonist, and his reputation has continued to increase since his death in 1975. Shostakovich wrote his First Symphony at the age of nineteen, then he soon embarked on a dual career as a concert pianist and composer. His early avant-gardism resulted in the triumph of his 1934 opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Though at first highly praised by Stalin, Shostakovich would later suffer from a complex and brutalizing relationship with the Soviet dictator and the governments that followed him. Despite this persecution, his Seventh Symphony was embraced as a potent symbol of Russian resistance to the invading Nazi army in both the USSR and the West. Though his later years were marked by ill health, his rate of composition remained prolific. His music became increasingly beloved as he established himself as the most popular composer of serious music in the middle of the twentieth century.
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). It is September 1919 - a meeting hall in a small mid-Western city. A thin man is speaking to a sceptical audience about peace. He has already met the city fathers and has been warned that 'out here' what happens in Europe means very little. Even the late war scarcely impinged on the place, though it had been recognised that it hadn't been altogether good for trade and one or two local boys had died on the fields of France in the very last days of the conflict. The speaker was obviously impassioned, with a preacher's cadence to his voice, and particularly so when he promoted the idea of an international League of Nations to guarantee future peace and ensure that the war into which America had been lured in 1917 really was 'a war to end all wars'. It is noticed that the man is sweating and pale and that he pauses frequently to dab his lips. The price of his campaign for peace - and peace conducted with principle - seems to be a terrible struggle between strong belief on the one hand and failing reserves on the other. Woodrow Wilson will live for another five years, but his battle to convince America to join the League is lost and much of the vigour that marked his time as President of his country, as president of Princeton University, even as an enthusiastic college football coach, was left behind in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. This book will look at the life of Wilson, from his early years during the American Civil War, through his academic and political career and America's involvement in the First World War, to Wilson's role at Versailles, including the construction of his Fourteen Points, his principles for the reformation of Europe, and the consequences of Versailles for America and on later conflicts.
A compelling few hours' reading for anyone with an interest in 20th-century music.' Kenneth Clarke, The Daily Mail Miles Davis (1926-91) was one of the great jazz musicians, bandleaders and composers. His recordings include several of the most acclaimed and popular jazz album, from the relaxed style of Birth of the Cool to the orchestral Sketches of Spain and the iconic Kind of Blue. And he never ceased to innovate. As the 1960s moved into the 1970s, he developed a darker, more complex sound and began increasingly to use electric instruments. The crowning achievement of his experiments, Bitches Brew (1969), became the bestselling jazz album of all time. In this biography, noted jazz critic Brian Morton takes us through the musical history of this remarkable and influential artist and illuminates the personality behind the sound.
Prince Rogers Nelson released his first album in 1978. In the years that followed until his death in April 2016, he became a superstar, a recluse, an inspiration, an enigma, a slave and a symbol. He was a master of reinvention, but the one constant in his astonishing career was his genius: as a singer, a songwriter, a performer and a musician. He sold more than 100 million albums, won seven Grammys, a Golden Globe and an Oscar. His ability to fuse styles and genres made him one of the most unique, influential and beloved artists in music history. In Prince: A Thief in the Temple, acclaimed journalist and broadcaster Brian Morton reveals the highs and lows of a remarkable musical life.
To the casual visitor, the Gulf of Mexico shores offer mainly sun, sand, and sea. Even the standard field guides, focused on one group of animals or plants, barely hint at the wealth and diversity of habitats and species along Gulf shores. Shore Ecology of the Gulf of Mexico, using a “whole habitat” approach, breaks new ground in describing all the conspicuous vascular plants, algae, birds, mammals, mollusks, crustaceans, and other invertebrates for each marine habitat. The area covered begins west of the Mississippi delta in Louisiana and follows the shores west and south to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Transitions between habitats also receive detailed treatment. The authors discuss changes in flora and fauna that result from differences in climate, shore geology, and patterns of precipitation in the succeeding habitats along the Gulf rim. They include discussion of more than 1,000 species of plants and animals, both on shore and in the near-shore subtidal zone, to give a virtually complete picture of western Gulf coast ecosystems. Excellent line drawings and photographs of over 800 species complement the text. For marine scientists, students, and knowledgeable beachcombers, this is a thorough source on Gulf coast marine life.
Wriggling and other stories is a collection of short stories which all have a sort of “what if?” about them and a slight whiff of danger. The protagonists could be children or adults, human or not! There are murders and mysterious happenings, ghostly goings on, and hopefully, you, the reader won't always know what's coming round the next corner. Look out, it might be Albert!
365 short texts written close to midnight each day for a year; often amusing, sometimes melancholy, wholly personal but always challenging, thoughtprovoking and witty.
Towards the end of his life, Eric Dolphy told an interviewer: "When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air; you can never recapture it again." It's a much-quoted comment, but posterity has reversed it. Dolphy's music survives and is increasingly admired, while his short life seems to have vanished into the ether, little examined and less understood. In Gone in The Air, Brian Morton tells a story that begins in California in the embrace of a loving family and ends alone in a Berlin hospital. He talks to friends, family, and to the many musicians Eric Dolphy worked with. He analyses Dolphy's complex contribution to modern jazz and his mastery of three different instruments, alto saxophone, bass clarinet and flute. The man who emerges is outwardly quiet and good - some describe him as a saint - but inwardly turbulent as he pursues an almost mystical devotion to music.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings is firmly established as the world's leading guide to recorded jazz, a mine of fascinating information and a source of insightful - often wittily trenchant - criticism. This is something rather different: Brian Morton (who taught American history at UEA) has picked out the 1000 best recordings that all jazz fans should have and shows how they tell the history of the music and with it the history of the twentieth century. He has completely revised his and Richard Cook's entries and reassessed each artist's entry for this book. The result is an endlessly browsable companion that will prove required reading for aficionados and jazz novices alike. 'It's the kind of book that you'll yank off the shelf to look up a quick fact and still be reading two hours later' Fortune 'Part jazz history, part jazz Karma Sutra with Cook and Morton as the knowledgeable, urbane, wise and witty guides ... This is one of the great books of recorded jazz; the other guides don't come close' Irish Times
Gideon seemed insignificant, not someone others considered to be leadership material. The story of how God used Gideon is a powerful example for today’s students who want to be bold, faithful followers of Christ. This character study helps them learn to live with integrity while growing spiritually. Each of the 8 studies includes the following: Main Bible passage Application questions for each lesson Leader’s guide
Hong Kong's position on the southern coast of China provides her with a great diversity of animals living in association with each other in the surrounding seas. The many examples of association used in the book reflect this diversity and explore some of the many ways marine life lives together.
A Day Trip To Norton A collection of poetry, which won't tax anything except your laughing muscles. From Ghosts and aliens to wizards by way of schoolchildren, dolphins and Vikings, the funnier side of life is here. The title poem is based on a real event in a real place not too far from here. Taking an irreverent look at things in life, past present and who knows....
This is a comprehensive catalogue of the living marine Bivalvia of China. Over 1,140 species are arranged in systematic order reflecting the phylogenetic relationships of the supraspecific taxa, together with almost 3,500 binomina which fall into synonymy. Bathymetric, substrate, and geographic distributional data are given.
Based on archival research in Europe and the United States, this authoritative study tells the fascinating story of Beaumarchais's role in the American War of Independence as an owner and outfitter of ships and as an arms merchant. It chronicles his dealings with Louis XVI, Vergennes, Benjamin Franklin, and the American Continental Congress and recounts his family's struggle to receive payment for the weapons and materials sent to the American colonists.
Asian Marine Biology 14, the most recent volume, is a memorial volume for the late James Stephen Leatherwood, with Guest Editors Brian D. Smith and William F. Perriu. There are ten papers on Marine mammal survey techniques and various studies of dolphins.
Living in a culture that was hostile toward having faith in God, Daniel and his friends could have conformed to society. Instead, they learned to take a stand through God’s power for what they believed. By studying their integrity and faithfulness, students will be challenged to evaluate their priorities and embrace biblical values, no matter the cost. This 8-session study includes: Main Bible passage Application questions for each lesson Leader’s guide
In this expanded edition of the world's leading guide to recorded jazz, Richard Cook and Brian Morton have reassessed each artist's entry and updated the text to incorporate thousands of additional CD releases. This endlessly browsable companion has won a devoted audience among afficinados and jazz novices alike.
This is the annual journal of the Marine Biological Association of Hong Kong. It contains papers on marine subjects of interest to all Asian biologists.
Hong Kong is strategically located between the temperate Japonic and the great tropical Indo-West-Pacific zoogeographic provinces. Influenced by the currents of the South China Sea and the huge outflow of fresh water from the Pearl River, Hong Kong's marine flora and fauna are extremely diverse. Temperate species may appear, if only briefly, during the cooler winter months. Conversely, air and water temperatures remain high enough for a strong tropical component: Hong Kong is comparatively rich in mangrove stands and reef corals are well developed subtidally. There is a strong north-west to south-east salinity gradient further enhancing diversity. Geologically, the Hong Kong shore is a 'drowned' coastline, deeply incised and with former mountain peaks represented by numerous off-shore islands. This book reviews the factors creating and maintaining Hong Kong's living shore, and describes the wide range of plants and animals found within the intertidal boundaries of the shore. A full range from exposure to shelter is to be found, from communities of the sheer rock faces, beaten by the storm waves of the South China Sea, to the denizens of mudflats in high shelter at the heads of harbours and inlets. For the first time the occupants of these various shores are illustrated and described, both as individual species and as components of a rich mosaic of life. The factors of pollution and development that are destroying the diversity of the rich complex of shores are described.
Cordon Bleu and other stories is a collection of tales with a slightly science fiction, fantasy or simply quirky bias. If you like a little bit of magic and a taste of the unusual in your stories, then Cordon Bleu and other stories will be right up your street, or should that be your corner of the universe?
The Project and other stories, is a collection of short stories, covering varied subjects from science fiction, through historical reportage to psychological analysis, including a ship that goes missing, an expedition to climb a mountain and a fishing trip, all written with a smile or two.
This is the annual journal of the Marine Biological Association of Hong Kong. It contains papers on marine subjects of interest to all Asian biologists.
This is the annual journal of the Marine Biological Association of Hong Kong. It contains papers on marine subjects of interest to all Asian biologists.
College and career readiness is essential to promoting the success of all students. Educational and economic changes in today’s society demands well thought out strategies for preparing students to survive academically, socially, and financially in the future. African American students are at a disadvantage in this strategic planning process due to a long history of racism, injustice, and marginalization. African American Students’ Career and College Readiness: The Journey Unraveled explores the historical, legal, and socio-political issues of education affecting African American students and their career and college readiness. Each chapter has been written based on the authors’ experience and passion for the success of students in the African American population. Some of the chapters will appear to be written in a more conversational and idiomatic tone, whereas others are presented in a more erudite format. Each chapter, however, presents a contextual portrayal of the contemporary, and often dysfunctional, pattern of society’s approach to supporting this population. Contributors also present progressive paradigms for future achievements. Through the pages of this book, readers will understand and hopefully appreciate what can be done to promote positive college bound self-efficacy, procurement of resources in the high school to college transition, exposure and access to college possibilities, and implications for practice in school counseling, education leadership, and higher education.
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