Cleveland Amory
The proper Bostonians
En Anglais – A Chicago banking firm once asked a Boston investment house for references on a Beacon Hill scion. Promptly the Chicago bank was informed that the applicant descended from Cabots, Lowells, Saltonstalls – in short could not bo more acceptable. « We were not, » the Chicago firm replied curtly, « contemplating using Mr — for breeding purposes ….. That story is legendary, but basic to an understanding of Boston and the Proper Bostonian, for he is the charter member of a Society called the most exclusive in America. Clevaland Amory’s scintillating and devastating analysis of that Society is an established bestseller, a modern classic ….
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Begraven dromen
En néerlandais – Dr. Victoria McClellan schrijft een biografie over het turbulente leven van de dichteres Lydia Brooke, vijf jaar na haar tragische zelfmoord. Naarmate Vic meer in de ban raakt van Lydia’s poëzie en leven, groeien haar twijfels over de toedracht van Lydia’s dood. Was het werkelijk zelfmoord? Vic besluit haar ex-man Duncan Kincaid, hoofdinspecteur bij Scotland Yard, om hulp te vragen. Kincaids adjudant en geliefde Gemma James ziet het hernieuwde contact tussen de ex-echtgenoten met gemengde gevoelens aan. Maar als Vic in groot gevaar blijkt te zijn, kan Gemma niet langer aan de zijlijn blijven staan.
Adam Runaway
En Anglais – « It is 1721 and young Adam Hanaway, devastated by his father’s sudden death, leaves England to seek his fortune in Lisbon, where his uncle is a successful merchant. But almost nothing turns out as Adam planned. His family’s welcome is cool, and Adam’s rise to the top is thwarted by Bartolomeu Gomes, his uncle’s treacherous clerk. » « As Adam attempts to overcome these obstacles he is handicapped by a certain personal trait. Not, he insists, that he is a coward exactly, but he is inclined to boldly put himself in dangerous situations and then at the last minute run away from them – hence the nickname given to him by friends who had observed this failing once too often. » « While Adam’s mother and sisters wait in England for him to rescue them from poverty, Adam is preoccupied with more compelling women: the beautiful, older half-Portuguese lady Maria Beatriz Hutchinson; the spoiled, rich Gabriella Lowther; and his charming young cousin Nancy. But Adam commits a social faux pas so severe he forever ruins his chances for making a good match – yet no one dares tell him what he has done wrong! » « Adam certainly has a lot to learn. …
Toujours Provence
En Anglais – Taking up where his beloved A Year in Provence leaves off, Peter Mayle offers us another funny, beautifully (and deliciously) evocative book about life in Provence. With tales only one who lives there could know—of finding gold coins while digging in the garden, of indulging in sumptuous feasts at truck stops—and with characters introduced with great affection and wit—the gendarme fallen from grace, the summer visitors ever trying the patience of even the most genial Provençaux, the straightforward dog « Boy »—Toujours Provence is a heart-warming portrait of a place where, if you can't quite « get away from it all, » you can surely have a very good time trying.
Il giovane holden
En italien – Sono passati più di sessant'anni da quando è stato scritto, ma continuiamo a vederlo, Holden Caufield, con quell'aria scocciata, insofferente alle ipocrisie e al conformismo, lui e tutto quello che gli è cascato addosso dal giorno in cui lasciò l'Istituto Pencey con una bocciatura in tasca e nessuna voglia di farlo sapere ai suoi. La trama è tutta qui, narrata da quella voce spiccia e senza fronzoli. Ma sono i suoi pensieri, il suo umore rabbioso, ad andare in scena. Perché è arrabbiato Holden? Poiché non lo si sa con precisione, ciascuno vi ha letto la propria rabbia, ha assunto il protagonista a « exemplum vitae », e ciò ne ha decretato l'immenso successo che dura tuttora. Torna, in una nuova traduzione di Matteo Colombo, il libro che ha sconvolto il corso della letteratura contemporanea influenzando l'immaginario collettivo e stilistico del Novecento.