Tag Archive for "Fiction" - Beaufort Books

Posts Tagged ‘Fiction’

Red Carpets and White Lies

In a city known for its never-ending parties, Miami socialite Leigh Anatole White’s annual Charity Ball, an extravagant star-studded benefit for troubled teens, is the most highly anticipated event of the season.

This year the pressure is on: At the tenth anniversary of the Ball, Leigh is going to give Miami one last blowout before relinquishing her title as hostess. With help from her committee, a few close friends, a masterful personal assistant and her supportive husband, Leigh is poised to deliver. Even the dirty secrets and entanglements of pseudo-friends, gossip girls, drag queens, and botoxed backstabbers, can’t slow her down.

When an influential art dealer shows up, offering to provide high-end artwork for the Charity Ball’s auction, Leigh is thrilled. This is just what the gala needs to set it apart from previous years, and after all of Leigh’s hard work, it looks as though the last Charity Ball may just live up to the hype. But as always in the world of Miami’s rich and shameless, a scandal is never far off, and this one hits everyone close to home.

About: Lea Black

Hardcover: $24.95 (ISBN: 9780825307485)

E-book: $24.95 (ISBN: 9780825307027)

Contemporary/Women’s Fiction

320 pages

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Notes from Underground

Set in the twilight years of the Czechoslovak communist regime, this novel describes a doomed love affair between two young people trapped by the system. Roger Scruton evokes a world in which every word and gesture bears a double meaning, as people seek to find truth amid the lies and love in the midst of betrayal. Underground Notes tells the story of Jan Reichl, condemned to a menial life by his father’s alleged crime, and of Betka, the girl who offers him education, opportunity, and love, but who mysteriously refuses to commit herself.

Through his encounter with the underground culture and the underground church, Jan comes to understand that truth will always elude those who pursue it, and will come only when they least expect it, often, as in this case, with devastating results. As the story moves to its tragic conclusion the communist system enters its death throes. Jan enjoys freedom at last, only to understand that he has lost the love that would have made freedom meaningful.

Roger Scruton gives an unforgettable portrait of Prague and its underground life, as it was during the 1980s, and before the communist collapse. And he provides a unique insight into the fears and hopes of young people, at a time when it was often a crime to be young.

About: Roger Scruton

Hardcover: $24.95 (ISBN: 9780825307287)

Paperback: $14.94 (ISBN: 9780825307850)

E-book: $14.95 (ISBN: 9780825306617)

Political Fiction

Pages: 216 (hardcover, e-book); 244 (paperback)

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Free to a good home: book, gently used

Monday, September 23rd, 2013

In my quest to read the poor abandoned books on my shelf I was bound to pick up a dud at some point, and I did. I then continued to read it for about five days or so before finally abandoning it. When passersby asked me how the book was going (family members, coworkers, confused strangers), I responded with my complaints about the book thus far. Most accepted my frustrations. One finally asked, “So why are you putting up with it?” It’s a good question. If I hated it so much, why didn’t I just stop reading it? The answer is that I felt, in some ways, that I owed something to the author. As if abandoning the book a quarter of the way through would insult the author (who happens to be deceased), or insult the book itself. So that got me thinking- are there rules about when you can abandon a book? What is the threshold one must pass before deeming a book unworthy? Does it depend on the book, on the general esteem of the author, or something else?

This brings me to this article by goodreads.com:

According to goodreads, most readers will finish the book regardless of their frustrations. It surprised me to find that so many people will finish a book despite disliking it, but I suppose there could be contributing factors- bragging rights for something like Ulysses, staying current in pop culture for something like Twilight. Coming in second is ditching the book after 50-100 pages. This is the method I seem to hold with most often, as I think I finished around 60 pages or so. It’s enough time to allow the book to pick up the pace if it has been slow thus far, and enough time to establish whether or not I think it will be worth my while in the near future.

But am I being unfair to the book, or to the author? I think this article makes my case for me. Says the author, “Stop reading a book if [you] don’t enjoy it…I’ve put down several books over the last few weeks–and it is such a relief. More time for reading good books! Less time reading books out of a sense of obligation.” Personally, I agree. I read books while traveling, more often than not- on the train, on a break at work, while walking down the street. I don’t want to be unhappy and frustrated while doing those things. I’d rather read a book that makes me happy…like the 30 pound Game of Thrones book in my bag which I tote around everywhere.

-A Little Beau Told Me

Lolita? More like LOL-ita!

Thursday, September 5th, 2013

Hey reader. I’m Veronica, or There’s Always Money in the Beaunana Stand, one of the new interns at Beaufort, and I’m an Arrested Development addict. AD’s irreverent, awkward, and oftentimes completely insensitive and inappropriate humor is something that I find hilarious, both on television and in the real-world. Finding this particular nom de plume on the list of possible Beaufort puns in the office made me feel a lot more comfortable after I saw it on my first day. As you might expect from my pen-name and confessed interest in the wide world of comedy, I try to find the humor in life. I’ve been told that I laugh at anything, but that is not the case. I just happen to find normal, everyday things to be funnier than the average person might.

As an avid reader and over-all book enthusiast, I have found a general lack of humor in the books that I read. This could possibly be attributed to the fact that I generally read classics (since they are free on my Kindle: thank goodness for public domain books!). Also, I was a Literature major in college and, unfortunately, not many of my required readings were really all that funny. Unless you think Confessions of an Opium Eater is funny. But I didn’t. Due to the amount of depressing and dreary books I have read over the past four years, I have been trying to broaden my scope of potential books to include some more amusing content. I am still enjoying reading my classics (I am currently reading Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night), but I am breaking up these intense, serious reads with spurts of comedy. Or, at least, I’m trying to.

This past summer my brother gave me a book by John Hodgman, a correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (but better known as the guy that played PC in the old Apple versus PC commercials with Justin Long), for my college graduation.

Hodgman on left.

The book is entitled That is All, which my brother thought would be fitting considering I was ending my college career with no job prospects. Thanks brother. After letting the book sit on my desk all summer, mocking me, I finally decided that I would read it. I figured I needed some joy in my life, since I had just finished reading Lolita. If you have never read Lolita and are thinking about reading it, consider your mental state. If you are having a relatively nice time in your life and want to stay positive and upbeat, steer clear. If you are in a dark, dismal funk and want to travel further into the abyss, Lolita is the book for you.

Serious cover page, huh?

But after crawling out of the abyss that I found myself in from Lolita, That is All was the perfect rebound. Hodgman wrote the book in 2012, when the Mayan apocalypse was impending. He wrote the book as a continuation to his first two books (which I have plans to read, if my brother can ever find them in his room). His first two books are titled The Areas of My Expertise and More Information Than You Require. These two books function as fictionalized historical and informational books from the mind of Mr. Hodgman. He fabricates historical events and portrays them as seemingly common-knowledge facts (more specifically common knowledge to those with money and influence, which he finds to be an extremely important gateway to the world). That is All acts as a kind of training manual or preparatory instruction for the impending apocalypse, and hilarity ensues.

I devoured this book. After reading Lolita, this was exactly the kind of book that I was craving. It has sections entitled “How to be a Deranged Millionaire” and “A List of Seven Hundred Ancient and Unspeakable Gods.” I found myself laughing out-loud when reading many sections of this book, which was a new thing for me and got to be a little embarrassing when I read the book at the gym (although not as embarrassing as reading Lolita in the gym). Sometimes, when I read something funny I will giggle quietly or smirk, but this book had me chortling and having to take breaks from reading because I was laughing too hard. After finishing the book, I wanted to read more books that made me feel good, unlike most of the depressing, disheartening books that I normally read. My literary goal at the moment, therefore, is to change up the genre of books I read and steer myself in a more humorous direction. We’ll see how that goes.

-There’s Always Money in the Beaunana Stand

A Few Podcasts

Tuesday, August 20th, 2013

For the last two weeks I have been traveling forty five minutes in the morning and forty five minutes in the evening, participating in a ritual that modern humans refer to as a “commute.” I stand or sit in the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or Q trains, and I try not to touch the people near me, although sometimes this cannot be avoided. This morning I touched a rabbi’s hand, for example. I try to focus on my shoes and discretely look out the windows to see whether I am close to my stop (I have not yet attuned my circadian rhythms to the subway system) and inevitably make eye contact with someone across from me. I look back at my shoes.

Such is the true life cliché that I live, a Californian transplant in New York City, used to my hermetically sealed box with wheels that modern humans refer to as a “car” but thrust into the sardine box/melting pot/other anthropological-food metaphor that is the MTA. It is both nerve-wracking and utterly boring, and so I have had to develop a few habits to keep my mind occupied in a productive way. Of course by habits I mean “podcasts,” and by develop I mean “find.” So, without further ado, here are some of the (writing-relevant) programs I have been listening to:

1. The New Yorker Fiction Podcast

Are you a fan of Italo Calvino, Colum Mcann, John Cheever, Donald Antrim, Donald Barthelme, Denis Johnson, George Saunders, or any other authors published in the New Yorker? Do you appreciate an ethos of studious consideration of and respect for literature? Did you enjoy having stories read to you in soft tones as a child? Welcome to the New Yorker Fiction Podcast, brought to you by Deborah Treisman, the magazine’s very own fiction editor.

In this podcast, Treisman welcomes a New Yorker author, has them read their favorite story published in the magazine, and concludes by discussing with them the story they have read. The podcast is like a double feature in this way: not only do you hear the work of great literary geniuses that the magazine helped establish, you also learn the names and writer-ly habits of the next generation of literary geniuses fostered in its offices. Check in on the first of every month for a new update.

2. The New Yorker Political Scene

Dorothy Wickenden, who I recently heard lecture at Columbia, hosts this weekly podcast, in which she discusses new political events with New Yorker writers. Wickenden is the Executive Editor at the magazine; shrewd and gracious, she has a great radio presence. She also has the uncanny ability to speak in fully-formed paragraphs and speaks with an awesome but unplaceable accent. I highly recommend any of the podcasts that feature George Packer, famous for his books Assassin’s Gate and The Unwinding (and his general pessimism about America’s future). Check in on Wednesdays or Thursdays for new updates.

3. The New Yorker Out Loud

The New Yorker Out Loud has two hosts. The first is Colin Fox, who is an editor of the website and introduces the podcast. The second host, Sasha Weiss, who is the literary editor of the magazine, usually interviews one New Yorker writer about their piece that came out that week. It’s great and highly variable. My favorites are the ones with Emily Nussbaum, the magazine’s TV critic, a former PhD candidate and writer for Lingua Franca. Check in on Mondays for new updates.

4. Longform

Longform.org is a website that aggregates long-form journalism from both the past and the present. You can find both the famous “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” and the newest profile in GQ, so long as it isn’t behind a pay wall. They are also lucky to have their offices right across the hall from the Atavist, a similar upstart founded by Evan Ratliff, Jefferson Rabb, and Nicholas Thompson that created a platform for multimedia storytelling.

I haven’t quite figured out whether these two companies distinguish between themselves (since Evan Ratliff often serves as a host and has been interviewed on the podcast and in his interview referred to “the office” as if it was the Atavist office), nor can I figure out who the host is. Regardless, they have managed to interview really awesome talents like Jay Caspian Kang, Molly Young, and Emily Nussbaum. Writers interviewing writers about writing is the premise; the shows last for 45 minutes to an hour; check in Wednesdays for new content.

All of these podcasts are free and available on iTunes. So go subscribe! Expand your mind amidst the metal squeals and casual intimacy of Gotham’s subway.

Happy listening,

BEAUseph Conrad

Short Stories, Little Patience

Monday, August 19th, 2013

A Little Beau here! Mind blowing news update—I have actually kept my promise. If you read my last blog post, you might remember my tendency to buy books and then never read them. I vowed to pick up one of those poor, neglected books, and this morning I did! (To be honest, the real reason is that I finished book four of Game of Thrones and haven’t managed to pick up book five yet, but let’s focus on the positives here).

Here’s what I picked up:

I bought this sometime around last January at Book Revue in Huntington. The book is a collection of short stories written by Connolly that share a common theme: they’re all somewhat on the other side of creepy. I’m only on the first story so far, entitled “The Cancer Cowboy Rides.” It’s about a man who has some sort of affliction (possibly an alien parasite? some kind of supernatural power?) that causes him to fill with a black cancer. The only way to rid himself of this is to touch others and cause them to fall prey to the black cancer. The story takes place in various locations of Small Town America and reminds me of The Twilight Zone. So far I’m very much enjoying it, though perhaps my decision to read it on the train in a dark tunnel wasn’t such a great idea. Will this stop me from doing it again tomorrow? Not a chance.

I can’t remember what exactly drew me to pick up the book but I know what caused me to buy it; I adore short stories. There’s just something about not having to be tied down to one story line and one cast of characters for 200 or so pages. With a collection of short stories you get just a taste of that world, discover the main conflict, and have it solved in just a few pages. And there’s always something left out in a short story—What happened to the main character after he got that job? What happened in her childhood that led this character to act out in that way? How did those characters manage to escape? A creative writing professor once told me that allowing your audience to interact with your book, by filling in some of the blanks or by leaving questions unanswered, makes for a gripping story. I’ve always found this to be true, and I think that’s something I love about short stories.

Speaking of that creative writing professor, here’s a book of short stories he assigned for our class that I loved:

This book is composed of very, very short stories. Often, the stories are no more than a page or two long. It’s a great way to pick up a book if you know you don’t have a lot of time to commit to it. I don’t think I can sum it up any better than this user review on the book’s Amazon page: “It’s like a big sampler box of chocolates, only there are no yucky ones, none of those jelly-centered losers.” Thanks, Lou Beach, I couldn’t have said it any better.

Do you have a favorite collection of short stories? Do you hate short stories with a burning passion? Post below in the comments!

-A Little Beau Told Me

A Little Beau Told Me

Monday, August 12th, 2013

Hi there! I’m Sarah, the new publicity intern. Henceforth I’ll go by A Little Beau Told Me, so chosen because of my family’s tendency to use nicknames based on birds.

Lately I’ve had a tendency to collect books faster than I can read them. I just can’t help picking up a book if, say, I peruse a used bookstore or if a friend is passing off a few unwanted titles. I give them a home on my increasingly overfilled bookshelf and it is there that they go to die under a layer of dust. But yes, I needed to buy that copy of Great Expectations because I was an English major and I should read that, shouldn’t I? And I just have to pick up this copy of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil from my friend who doesn’t even remember buying it because I liked that movie three years ago, didn’t I?

You really don’t want to know how many copies of Jane Eyre I’ve collected. There was a book I read, or possibly a movie I watched, where the protagonist once owned a book that had an inscription from her father. She proceeds to lose it, so she develops a habit of picking up copies of the book at used bookstores in an attempt to find the missing copy. Every time I mention this someone tells me what movie it’s from and every time I forget, but I still feel the need to own 5 copies of Jane Eyre. My favorite is a 100 year old copy that I picked up for £3 while studying abroad, but I digress.

These books deserve to be read, and I resolve to read them all! I must give Les Miserables another chance, I must try the silly novels I keep telling myself will be great for beach reading, and I must stop buying books that I know I won’t read. Or at least, I should try. At some point. Maybe after I’m done reading Game of Thrones.

I’ll get back to you on that.

A Questionable Life

Hard-charging Philadelphia banker Jack Oliver has always made tough choices and sacrifices to achieve success, but when his mid-sized banking group is bought out by a mega-chain, Jack finds himself knocked from the top rung to the bottom of the ladder. When the stress of the merger lands him in the hospital, he realizes that his wife and kids hate him and his mistress is only interested in the number of zeros in his paycheck. When Jack is approached by Benny, the old-fashioned president of a small Virginia bank, he doubts he could ever work for such a small-town guy after his cut-throat career. Left without the success he once craved and the family he undervalued, Jack may discover how to reclaim what he had taken for granted and lead a new kind of ‘questionable life.’

About: Luke Lively

Hardcover: $24.95 (ISBN: 9780825305214)

E-book: $4.99 (ISBN: 9780825305238)

Fiction

432 pages

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The Living Reed

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Buck_Living_bow With The Living Reed, Ms. Buck has created a story of Korea in transition to the modern world through her characters. The sweep of history and the excitement of great events provide only part of the book’s power: The story is of a closely knit family dedicated to the salvation of their homeland, the preservation of their culture, and a move into the modern world from the archaic ways of the past. Korea, the golden pawn in the midst of the past. Korea, the golden pawn in the midst of centuries of struggle between China, Russia, and Japan, is finally on the brink of becoming independent.

All major public events and characters are authentic—from the assassination plots early in the book to the landing of American troops at the end. The Living Reed is compelled by the vivid detail of a remarkable people and culture, the unveiling of three love stories, and Buck’s affinity for her subject.

Praise for The Living Reed

“To a wide public, this will be the most powerful and informative book Ms. Buck has written in some years. In Ms. Bucks skilled hands, The Living Reed becomes a novel that glows.” – Book Week

About the Author: Pearl S. Buck

ISBN: 978-1-55921-022-5
480 pages
$14.95

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Jewel of Medina

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

jewel-cover-final-lo-res A’isha bint Abi Bakr is the daughter of a rich merchant from Mecca in the harsh, exotic world of seventh-century Arabia at the time of the foundation of Islam. When she is married to the Prophet Muhammad at the age of nine, she must rely on her wits, her courage, and even her sword in a struggle to control her own destiny and carve out a place for herself in the community, fighting religious persecution, jealous sister-wives, political rivals, and her own temptations. As she grows to love her kind, generous husband, her ingenuity and devotion make her an indispensable advisor to Muhammad. Ultimately, she becomes one of the most important women in Islam, and a fierce protector of her husband’s words and legacy.

Extensively researched and elegantly crafted, The Jewel of Medina evokes the beauty and harsh realities of life in an age long past, during a time of war, enlightenment, and upheaval. At once a love story, a history lesson, and a coming-of-age tale, The Jewel of Medina introduces readers to the turmoil that surrounded the birth of the Islamic faith through the eyes of a truly unforgettable heroine.

“Sherry Jones does an extraordinary service to Islam in popularizing – and humanizing – a Muslim heroine. It’s the kind of history that I never learned in my mosque or madressa. As a faithful, feminist Muslim, I say ‘mashallah’ for this riveting novel.” – Irshad Manji, Director, Moral Courage Project, New York University

“Enthralling from its first sand-swept pages, The Jewel of Medina is a story at once modern in its telling and ancient in its wisdom. A’isha’s blossoming into a woman of passion and fortitude in the midst of the birth of Islam captures the imagination as well as the heart.” – Marsha Mehran, author of Rosewater and Soda Bread

About the Author: Sherry Jones
Find the Author on the web: www.authorsherryjones.com

ISBN: 978-0-8253-0518-4
$24.95 Hardcover
Historical Fiction
432 pages 6×9

ISBN: 978-0-8253-0519-1
$9.99 E-book

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Above Empyrean

Anyone who read George Orwell’s 1984 before that date will remember being amazed at just how much his prophecy came true. In Above Empyrean, political pundit Bruce Herschensohn gives us another, equally frightening glimpse into a possible future.

Above Empyrean is a fictional projection of what the author believes lies ahead if the United States loses the Global War against Islamist Terrorism. Herschensohn explains, “Although this book is fictional, the descriptions of the U.S. takeover are based, with accuracy, on real, non-fictional takeovers of other nations and territories by tyrannical forces in recent times. This story of what could lie ahead was painful to imagine and even more painful to write. But the greatest pain of all will come not if it is written or read, but if it is lived.”

About: Bruce Herschensohn

Hardcover: $24.95 (ISBN: 9780825305160)

E-book: $4.99 (ISBN: 9780825305245)

Fiction

224 pages

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Chameleon

Intricately-plotted with unexpected twists and hair-raising turns, Chameleon is the story of Jon Phillips, a highly successful Wall Street bond trader whose excesses-a lavish Upper East Side apartment, gorgeous women with expensive drug habits, fancy cars, and his desire for millions-know no bounds. After years of selfishness and extravagance, he plans his exit through an unprecedented deal. As a last hurrah and a way to secure his financial future, he attempts to gain control of the U.S. Government bond market in one of the largest transactions ever seen on Wall Street. He will make millions, but the barely-legal procedure incurs enormous financial and regulatory risk for the investment bank he works for and requires the participation of some less-than-honorable investors. After the transaction goes spectacularly wrong, the bank immediately fires him. Worse, he soon finds himself on the run from a disreputable Russian financier/gangster who had invested in his scheme in order to launder money through the U.S. financial markets.

As the Russians desperately attempt to recover their lost millions, Jon becomes the target of an intense manhunt. Past lovers, new menaces, and numerous apparently accidental deaths line his trail, testing his ability to change and adapt. Female conquests come back to haunt him as this revealing look at the world of big money and the people who get caught up in it unfolds. Jon’s survival depends on putting the past behind him and becoming a calculated predator instead of the vulnerable prey.

About: Richard Hains

Hardcover: $24.95 (ISBN: 9780825305108)

E-book: $4.99 (ISBN: 9780825305504)

Fiction/Thriller

336 pages

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