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The Polysyllabic Spree
''The Polysyllabic Spree'' is a 2004 collection of Nick Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns in '' The Believer''. The book collates his columns from September 2003 to November 2004, inclusive. It also includes excerpts from such authors as Anton Chekhov and Charles Dickens. In it, Hornby lists the books he bought each month, and the books he actually read. For instance, he might buy Dickens, but read J.D. Salinger. He then writes a column revolving around what he read, bought, and what he intends/intended to read. The title is a reference to the choral symphonic-rock group The Polyphonic Spree. In the book, Hornby describes the people who run ''The Believer'' as being "all dressed in white robes and smiling maniacally, sort of like a literary equivalent of the Polyphonic Spree." (pg. 30) There are three follow-up books, ''Housekeeping vs. The Dirt'' (2006), ''Shakespeare Wrote for Money'' (2008) and ''More Baths Less Talking'' (2012). List of books September 2003 B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Hornby
Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir ''Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. He has received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for ''An Education'' (2009), and ''Brooklyn'' (2015). Early life and education Hornby was born in Redhill, Surrey, the son of Sir Derek Hornby, the chairman of London and Continental Railways, and Margaret Audrey Withers. He was brought up in Maidenhead, and educated at Maidenhead Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he read English. His parents divorced when he was eleven. Prior to his car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel ''Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for an absurd or contradictory choice. Early years Heller was born on May 1, 1923 in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York,. the son of poor Jewish parents, Lena and Isaac Donald Heller, from Russia. Even as a child, he loved to write; as a teenager, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland and sent it to the New York '' Daily News'', which rejected it. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller spent the next year working as a blacksmith's apprentice, a messenger boy, and a filing clerk. In 1942, at age 19, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Two years later he was sent to the Italian Front, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier. His unit was the 488th Bombardment Squadron, 340th Bomb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fortress Of Solitude (novel)
''The Fortress of Solitude'' is a 2003 semi-autobiographical novel by Jonathan Lethem set in Brooklyn and spanning the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. It follows two teenage friends, Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude, one white and one black, who discover a magic ring. The novel explores the issues of race and culture, gentrification, self-discovery, and music. The novel's title is a reference to the Fortress of Solitude, a fortress constructed for Superman. Characters Dylan Ebdus – the son of Rachel and Abraham, an artist father and a Brooklyn native mother. He has a hard time adjusting to the neighborhood until he meets Mingus Rude. As time passes on, they grow apart. Dylan goes to Camden College in Vermont, while Mingus goes to prison in Brooklyn. Dylan attempts to find and rescue his friend and restore their relationship. Abraham Ebdus – Dylan's father, an avant-garde artist. After Rachel abandons the family, he becomes more introverted, shutting himself in the attic to paint cels of hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Conroy (author)
Frank Conroy (January 15, 1936 – April 6, 2005) was an American author. He published five books, including the highly acclaimed memoir ''Stop-Time''. Published in 1967, this ultimately made Conroy a noted figure in the literary world. The book was nominated for the National Book Award. Early life and education Frank Conroy was born on January 15, 1936, in New York, New York, to an American father and a Danish mother. Conroy graduated from Haverford College, and was director of the influential Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa for 18 years, from 1987 until 2005, where he was also F. Wendell Miller Professor. He was previously the director of the literature program at the National Endowment for the Arts from 1982 to 1987. Writing Conroy's published works include the memoir ''Stop-Time'' (1967); a collection of short stories, ''Midair'' (1985); a novel, ''Body and Soul'' (1993), which is regarded as one of the finest evocations of the experience of being a musicia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stop-Time
In tap dancing, jazz, and blues, stop-time is an accompaniment pattern interrupting, or stopping, the normal time and featuring regular accented attacks on the first beat of each or every other measure, alternating with silence or instrumental solos. Stop-time occasionally appears in ragtime music. The characteristics of stop-time are heavy accents, frequent rests, and a stereotyped cadential pattern. Stop-timing may create the impression that the tempo has changed, though it has not, as the soloist continues without accompaniment. Stop-time is common in African-American popular music including R&B, soul music, and led to the development of the break in hip hop.Ramsey, Guthrie Jr.Stop-Time! (Fall 1998), ''Colum.edu''. Stop-time is, according to Samuel A. Floyd Jr., "a musical device in which the forward flow of the music stops, or seems to stop, suspended in a rhythmic unison, while in some cases an improvising instrumentalist or singer continues solo with the forward fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court behavior, which frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities. McEnroe is the only male player in tennis history to hold the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles simultaneously. Only one other male player, Stefan Edberg, ever attained No. 1 in both, although at different times. McEnroe finished his career with 77 singles titles on the ATP Tour and 78 doubles titles; this remains the highest men's combined total of the Open Era. He is the only male player to win more than 70 titles in both the men's singles and the men's doubles categories. He also won 25 singles titles on the ATP Champions tour. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles (four at the US Open and three at Wimbledon), nine Grand Slam men's doubl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoë Heller
Zoë Kate Hinde Heller (born 7 July 1965) is an English journalist and novelist long resident in New York City. She has published three novels, ''Everything You Know'' (1999), ''Notes on a Scandal'' (2003), and ''The Believers'' (2008). ''Notes on a Scandal'' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and was adapted for a feature film in 2006. Biography Early life Heller was born in St Pancras, north London, as the youngest of four children of Caroline (née Carter) and Lukas Heller, a successful screenwriter; her parents separated when she was five. Her father was a German Jewish immigrant and her mother was English and a Quaker. Her paternal grandfather was the political philosopher Hermann Heller. Her brother is screenwriter Bruno Heller. Her sister, Lucy Heller, is Chief Executive of education charity Ark and previously Managing Director of Times Supplements Ltd, the former educational publishing wing of News UK. She attended Haverstock School in north London where she was a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notes On A Scandal
''Notes on a Scandal'' (''What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal'' in the U.S.) is a 2003 novel by Zoë Heller. It is about a female teacher at a London comprehensive school who begins an affair with an minor (law), underage pupil. Heller said to ''The Observer'' in 2003 that the real life controversy of American middle-school teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau's affair with a student was the inspiration for the novel. A Notes on a Scandal (film), film adaptation was released in 2006, starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. The film received four Academy Award nominations, including nominations for Dench and Blanchett. Plot summary Art teacher Bathsheba "Sheba" Hart falls in love with a 15-year-old pupil, Steven Connolly, who is from a deprived background and has Dyslexia, literacy problems. Although they frequently have sex in risky places, including at school and in the open on Hampstead Heath, the couple successfully conceal their affair from colleagues and family. Sheba tells he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blake Bailey
John Blake Bailey (born July 1, 1963) is an American writer and educator. Bailey is known for his literary biographies of Richard Yates, John Cheever, Charles Jackson, and Philip Roth. He is the editor of the Library of America omnibus editions of Cheever's stories and novels. In April 2021, his agency dropped him after several of his former eighth grade students came forward with accounts of rape and sexual abuse committed when they were adults. Background Bailey grew up in Oklahoma City and attended high school at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School, where he was friends with another future author, Dan Fagin. He was a student at Tulane University, from which he graduated in 1985. Bailey and his family lost their house and most of their possessions in Hurricane Katrina, an experience he wrote about in a series of articles for '' Slate''. In 2009–2010, Bailey was Writer in Residence at The College of William and Mary in Virginia. From 2010 to 2016, he was the Mina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Yates (novelist)
Richard Yates (February 3, 1926 – November 7, 1992) was an American fiction writer identified with the mid-century "Age of Anxiety". His first novel, '' Revolutionary Road'', was a finalist for the 1962 National Book Award, while his first short story collection, '' Eleven Kinds of Loneliness'', brought comparisons to James Joyce. Critical acclaim for his writing, however, was not reflected in commercial success during his lifetime. Interest in Yates has revived somewhat since his death, partly because of an influential 1999 essay by Stewart O'Nan in the ''Boston Review'', a 2003 biography by Blake Bailey and the 2008 Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning film '' Revolutionary Road'' starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Life and career Born in Yonkers, New York, Yates came from an unstable home; his parents divorced when he was three and much of his childhood was spent in many different towns and residences. He first became interested in journalism and w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Harris (novelist)
Robert Dennis Harris (born 7 March 1957) is a British novelist and former journalist. Although he began his career in journalism and non-fiction, his fame rests upon his works of historical fiction. Beginning with the best-seller ''Fatherland'', Harris focused on events surrounding the Second World War, followed by works set in ancient Rome. His most recent works centre on contemporary history. Harris was educated at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he was president of the Cambridge Union and editor of the student newspaper '' Varsity''. Early life and education Robert Harris spent his childhood in a small rented house on a Nottingham council estate. His ambition to become a writer arose at an early age, from visits to the local printing plant where his father worked. Harris went to Belvoir High School in Bottesford, Leicestershire, and then King Edward VII School, Melton Mowbray, where a hall was later named after him. There he wrote plays and edited the school magazine. Harri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pompeii (novel)
''Pompeii'' is a novel by Robert Harris, published by Random House in 2003. It blends historical fiction with the real-life eruption of Mount Vesuvius on 24 August 79 AD, which overwhelmed the town of Pompeii and its vicinity. The novel is notable for its references to various aspects of volcanology and use of the Roman calendar. In 2007, a film version of the book had been planned and was to be directed by Roman Polanski with a budget of US$150 million, but was cancelled due to the threat of a looming actors' strike. Plot Marcus Attilius Primus arrives in the Bay of Naples from Rome to take charge as ''aquarius'' (hydraulic engineer) of the Aqua Augusta, the aqueduct that supplies water to the towns in the region encompassing the Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius. The nine important towns are, in order, Pompeii, Nola, Acerrae, Atella, Napoli, Puteoli, Cumae, Baiae, and Misenum. Attilius's predecessor, Exomnius, has mysteriously vanished as the springs that flow through the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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