A Panther book
Description
An imaginative portrait of an unscrupulous individual, the story also serves as commentary on Mexican society, most notably on the abuse of power--a theme that runs throughout Fuentes' work. As the novel opens, Artemio Cruz, former revolutionary turned capitalist, lies on his deathbed. He drifts in and out of consciousness, and when he is conscious his mind wanders between past and present. The story reveals that Cruz became rich through treachery, bribery, corruption, and ruthlessness. As a young man he had been full of revolutionary ideals. Acts committed as a means of self-preservation soon developed into a way of life based on opportunism. A fully realized character, Cruz can also be seen as a symbol of Mexico's quest for wealth at the expense of moral values.
How the series evolves
Books in this Series
Muerte de Artemio Cruz
An imaginative portrait of an unscrupulous individual, the story also serves as commentary on Mexican society, most notably on the abuse of power--a theme that runs throughout Fuentes' work. As the novel opens, Artemio Cruz, former revolutionary turned capitalist, lies on his deathbed. He drifts in and out of consciousness, and when he is conscious his mind wanders between past and present. The story reveals that Cruz became rich through treachery, bribery, corruption, and ruthlessness. As a young man he had been full of revolutionary ideals. Acts committed as a means of self-preservation soon developed into a way of life based on opportunism. A fully realized character, Cruz can also be seen as a symbol of Mexico's quest for wealth at the expense of moral values.
Sparks fly upward
In 1910, when a family of Russian Jews moves from Saskatchewan to Winnipeg, Canada, twelve-year-old Rebecca must live with Christians temporarily and struggles with anti-Semitism, confusion about God, and changing relationships with family and friends.
No fond return of love
Dulcie Mainwaring, the heroine of the book, is one of those excellent women who is always helping others and never looking out for herself- especially in the realms of love. The novel has a delicate tangle of schemes and unfulfilled dreams, hidden secrets and a castle or two.
Barracks
Elizabeth Regan, after years of freedom - and loneliness - marries into the enclosed Irish village of her upbringing. The children are not her own, and her husband is straining against his job in the police force. Moving between tragedy and savage comedy, desperation and joy, this is a novel of haunting power.
Treasure Up in Smoke
Mark Treasure mysteries #3 King Charles Island, a sleepy British colony in the West Indies, comes suddenly awake after the terrible murder of its most influential citizen. The supposed culprit is the hapless Peregrine Gore - assistant to banker-sleuth Mark Treasure - but he'd rather flee than stop and sample the island's rudimentary justice system. Treasure arrives on the island with his actress-wife Molly to find it in mayhem, and volunteers to help the baffled Chief Inspector find the real villain from among a bewildering bunch of suspects. But this time he may have bitten off more than he can chew - it will be hard to prove Peregrine's innocence when he was discovered clutching the victim's severed head... Treasure up in Smoke is the third bombastic installment in David Williams' wonderfully witty series of murder mysteries about urbane banker and detective, Mark Treasure.
False dawn
In 1840s Europe, Lewis Raycie follows his domineering father's orders to purchase art, but ends up being disinherited when he follows his intuition and selects pieces that are ahead of their time.
The floating opera
Missing pages 60 to 61, can be viewed by clicking the link provided.
The shapes of sleep
Ben Sterndale prides himself on being a good fact-finding journalist, and in his book that means a thorough researcher and, most important of all, honest. When he is recruited by a top advertising agency to investigate the theft of a sheet of figures for a bit of pin money, he scans the local newspapers for clues. In one he discovers that a London stamp dealer has been knocked down in a hitand-run accident and when he visits the man in hospital there seem to be rather too many strangers paying courtesy calls. Then the stamp dealer whispers the mysterious phrase 'the shapes of sleep', and Sterndale suspects that at last he is on to a scoop. Following a trail that takes him through nightclubs, smart hotels and eventually to the pretty university town of Göttingen on the German frontier, Sterndale encounters some intriguing characters — including a fresh-face American girl with a fine left hook — and uncovers a disturbing story of espionage, bluff and double-bluff that leads him into increasingly dangerous territory.
Man,woman & Child Exp Ed
Bob and Sheila Beckwith had everything: rewarding careers, two wonderful daughters, and a perfect marriage ... almost perfect. For what Sheila didn't know was that Bob had once been unfaithful - only once, ten years ago during a business trip to France. What Bob didn't know was that his brief affair had produced a son. Now, a tragic accident and one fateful phonecall will change Bob and Sheila's life forever.
As if by magic
Hamo is a distinguished plant geneticist and a discoverer of a 'magic' rice, which is capable of trebling crop yields, but also a homosexual who is obsessed with adolescent male beauty.
It's an old country
Australian professor journeys to "swinging Britain" to find his long-missing father and encounters an assortment of campy characters.
Jailbird
Jailbird presents the memoir of one Walter F. Starbuck, recently released from jail after serving time for a minor role in the Watergate conspiracy. The novel relates the events of Starbuck’s first two days of freedom, during which he goes to New York City and encounters two people from his past. From enotes.com
The Science Fictional Solar System
Sun - essay by Isaac Asimov The Weather on the Sun - novelette by Theodore L. Thomas Mercury - essay by Isaac Asimov Brightside Crossing - novelette by Alan E. Nourse Venus - essay by Isaac Asimov Prospector's Special - novelette by Robert Sheckley Earth - essay by Isaac Asimov Waterclap - novelette by Isaac Asimov Mars - essay by Isaac Asimov Hop-Friend - short story by Terry Carr Asteroids - essay by Isaac Asimov Barnacle Bull - short story by Poul Anderson Jupiter - essay by Isaac Asimov Bridge - novelette by James Blish Saturn - essay by Isaac Asimov Saturn Rising - short story by Arthur C. Clarke Uranus - essay by Isaac Asimov The Snowbank Orbit - short story by Fritz Leiber Neptune - essay by Isaac Asimov One Sunday in Neptune - short story by Alexei Panshin Pluto - essay by Isaac Asimov Wait It Out - short story by Larry Niven Nikita Eisenhower Jones - novelette by Robert F. Young Comets - essay by Isaac Asimov The Comet, the Cairn and the Capsule - short story by Duncan Lunan (variant of Comet, Cairn and Capsule) Notes About the Authors (The Science Fictional Solar System) - essay by uncredited
Joshua Then and Now
Joshua Shapiro travels from Montreal to London, Ibiza and Hollywood, searching for the truth about himself and his generation.
Time of Desecration
Traces the life of a young Roman woman from her girlhood through her shooting, in her 20s, of a young Milanese Marxist and her mother's financial adviser, both of whom have made sexual attacks on her. The young woman, appropriately named Desideria, passes as the daughter of the wealthy Viola (the name means violet but here implies violated), who is "of Italian parentage but American by birth and upbringing." Moravia emphasizes this "two-sided" quality, as the translator unluckily renders it, telling us in Davidson's English that Viola "was different when seen from the front or the back" -- old and wasted in front, young, "graceful, sensual, provoking" from the rear. She is also placed between the past, as the widow of a Greek husband, and the present, as the holder of an American passport. And she acts two roles, as Desideria's apparent mother and her incestuous lover.
Lost empires
In 1913-1914 a young Yorkshire boy's uncle sweeps him away from a dreary office job into the nomadic, boozy, amorous life of Variety performers on tour.
A few green leaves
Completed barely two months before her death, Pym's last novel is an incisive and wry portrait of life in an English village in Oxfordshire. It is also certain to be considered by many her masterwork. In A Few Green Leaves the author combines the rural setting of her earliest novels with many of the themes--and even some characters--of her later ones. Switching points of view among many characters, she builds with accumulating effect the picture of life in a town forgotten by time yet affected dramatically by it. Historical time--represented by Druid ruins, the local eighteenth-century country manor, and the last aristocrats who occupied it in the 1920's--is juxtaposed against the banalities of life in today's world.