Sailor ​Song

Jack Kerouac - The ​Dharma Bums
The ​Dharma Bums was published one year after On the Road made Jack Kerouac a celebrity and a spokesperson for the Beat Generation. Sparked by his contagious zest for life, the novel relates the adventures of an ebullient group of Beatnik seekers in a freewheeling exploration of Buddhism and the search for Truth.

Jack London - The ​White Silence / A fehér csend
A ​kétnyelvű olvasókönyvek eredeti, átdolgozatlan irodalmi szövegeket tartalmaznak és magyar műfordításaikat. Az angol szöveg alatt szereplő szómagyarázatok és a szemközti oldalon közölt magyar fordítás a nyelvtanulók számára lehetővé teszik a szöveg szótárazás nélküli, folyamatos olvasását. A szómagyarázatokat, az egyes fordítási megoldásokat elemző kommentárokat és az angol és a magyar szövegben kiemelt, egymásra utaló kifejezéseket a nyelvtanulók sokféleképpen hasznosíthatják: a könyv fejleszti a szókincset, javítja a szövegértési készséget, és segítséget nyújt fordítási problémák megoldásához.

Richard Avedon - Woman ​in the Mirror
Among ​the significant projects of the last year of his life, Richard Avedon (1923-2004) completed a book of his photographs of women. Always transcending categorization-he was both a fashion photographer and known as a "poet of portraiture"-Avedon was interested in seeing how elemental facts of modern life and human existence were reflected in his work. And what could be more elemental than women, who have mesmerized artists across the centuries? Looking at his work in this way, Avedon was able to create an unparalleled view of women in his time, a tumultuous half century of rapidly changing social facts, cultural ideals, popular styles, and high fashion. As an artist, Avedon was deeply responsive to nuances of expression, gesture, and comportment, and his photographs unfailingly opened a window to the interior lives of his subjects. These ranged from celebrities (Marilyn Monroe), artists (Marguerite Duras, June Leaf), and high-fashion models (Suzy Parker, Dovima) to anonymous people that simply drew his attention. Like the best of art and literature, they evoke rich lives and complex experiences. An incisive essay by art historian Anne Hollander offers an overview of a half century of Avedon's images of women.

William S. Burroughs - Jack Kerouac - And ​the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
In ​1944, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs were charged as accessories to murder. One of their friends, Lucien Carr, had stabbed another, David Kammerrer. Carr had come to each of them and confessed; Kerouac helped him get rid of the weapon neither told the police. For this failing they were arrested. Months later, the two writers unpublished at the time collaborated on And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, a fictionalized account of the summer of the killing.

Paul Auster - The ​Book of Illusions
Six ​months after losing his wife and two young sons in a plane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon a lost film by the great silent comedian Hector Mann, and finds himself entranced. His growing obsession with the mystery of Mann's true life story will take Zimmer on a strange and intense journey into a shadow-world of lies, illusions and unexpected love...

Ethan Zuckermann - Rewire
A ​rousing call to action for those who would be citizens of the world—online and off. In an age of connection supercharged by the Internet, we often assume that more people online means a smaller, more cosmopolitan world. In reality, it is easier to ship bottles of water from Fiji to Atlanta than it is to get news from Tokyo to New York. In Rewire media expert Ethan Zuckerman draws on contemporary research in psychology, sociology, and his own work on how humans “flock together” to explain why the technological ability to reach someone does not inevitably lead to increased human connection. For those who seek a wider picture—a picture now critical for global success—Zuckerman highlights the challenges, and the headway already made, by attempts to bridge cultures through translation, cross-cultural inspiration, and the search for new, serendipitous experience. Rich with Zuckerman’s personal experience and wisdom, Rewire offers a map of the social, technical, and policy innovations needed to more tightly connect the world.

Mary Higgins Clark - Two ​Little Girls in Blue
In ​a riveting thriller, worldwide bestselling suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark brilliantly weaves the mystery of twin telepathy into a mother's search for a kidnapped child, presumed dead. When Margaret and Steve Frawley come home to Connecticut from a black-tie dinner in New York, their three-year-old twins, Kathy and Kelly, are gone. The police found the babysitter unconscious, and a ransom note from the "Pied Piper" demands eight million dollars. Steve's global investment firm puts up the money, but when they go to retrieve the twins, only Kelly is in the car. The dead driver's suicide note says he inadvertently killed Kathy. At the memorial, Kelly tugs Margaret's arm and says: "Mommy, Kathy is very scared of that lady. She wants to come home right now." At first, only Margaret believes that the twins are communicating and that Kathy is still alive. But as Kelly's warnings become increasingly specific and alarming, FBI agents set out on a desperate search.

Don DeLillo - Ratner's ​Star
One ​of DeLillo's first novels, Ratner's Star follows Billy, the genius adolescent, who is recruited to live in obscurity, underground, as he tries to help a panel of estranged, demented, and yet lovable scientists communicate with beings from outer space. It is a mix of quirky humor, science, mathematical theories, as well as the complex emotional distance and sadness people feel. Ratner's Star demonstrates both the thematic and prosaic muscularity that typifies DeLillo's later and more recent works, like The Names (which is also available in Vintage Contemporaries).

Daniel Wallace - The ​Watermelon King
An ​endearing, often outrageous blend of fable, tall tale, and page-turner, The Watermelon King brings readers to Ashland, Alabama -- the fictional town immortalized in Daniel Wallace's Big Fish -- whose reputation is based on the long-ago abundance of watermelons. Thomas Rider knows almost nothing about his parents, only that his mother died the day he was born in Ashland. He travels there in search of his past, learning of the town's bizarre history. Gradually with the help of an offbeat, utterly unforgettable cast of characters, Thomas finds himself immersed in a series of events that turns everything he knows upside down. Comic, poignant, and wholly original, The Watermelon King is a magical novel steeped in the power of identity, myth, and good old-fashioned southern storytelling. About the Author Daniel Wallace is the author of the novels Big Fish and Ray in Reverse and is also an illustrator. His books have been translated into eight languages. The film version of Big Fish, directed by Tim Burton, will be released later this year.

Dan Brown - The ​Lost Symbol
The ​most anticipated publication of the decade, The Lost Symbol is the stunning new thriller featuring Robert Langdon. Six years in the writing, it is Dan Brown's extraordinary sequel to his internationally bestselling Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code. Nothing is ever what it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. Set over a breathtaking 12 hour time span, the book's narrative takes the reader on an exhilarating journey through a masterful and unexpected landscape as Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon, is once again called into action.

Kathy Reichs - Break ​No Bones
It's ​the second-to-last day of archaeological field school. Dr. Temperance Brennan's students are working on a site of prehistoric graves on Dewees, a barrier island north of Charleston, South Carolina, when a decomposing body is uncovered in a shallow grave off a lonely beach...The skeleton is articulated, the bone fresh and the vertebrae still connected by soft-tissue; the remains are encased in rotted fabric and topped by wisps of pale, blond hair - a recent burial, and a case Tempe must take. Dental remains and skeletal gender and race indicators suggest that the deceased is a middle-aged white male - but who was he? Why was he buried in a clandestine grave? And what does the unusual vertical hairline fracture of the sixth cervical vertebrae signify? While Tempe is trying to piece together the evidence, her personal life is thrown into turmoil. When a bullet - intended, perhaps, for her - puts Tempe's estranged husband Pete in hospital, her unexpectedly emotional response complicates her on-off relationship with Detective Andrew Ryan...But before long, another body is discovered - and Tempe finds herself drawn deeper into a shocking and chilling investigation, set to challenge her entire view of humanity...

Kathy Reichs - Bare ​Bones
It's ​one of the hottest summers on record and forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan is looking forward to a long-overdue vacation. But it's not to be... First, the bones of a newborn baby are found in a wood stover; the mother, hardly more than a child herself, has disappeared. Next, a Cessna flies into a rock face. The bodies of the pilot and passenger are burned beyond recognition, and covered in an unknown substance. And then a cache of bones is found in a remote corner of the county. But what happened there, and who will be the next victim? The answers lie hidden depp within the bones - if only Tempe can decipher them in time...

Jack Kerouac - On ​the Road
_On ​the Road_ chronicles Jack Kerouac's years traveling the North American continent with his friend Neal Cassady, "a sideburned hero of the snowy West." As "Sal Paradise" and "Dean Moriarty," the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience. Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz combine to make On the Road an inspirational work of lasting importance. Kerouac's classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be "Beat" and has inspired every generation since its initial publication more than forty years ago.

Patricia Cornwell - At ​Risk
A ​Massachusetts state investigator is called home from the National Forensic Academy in Tennessee. His boss, an attractive but hard-charging woman, is running for governor, and as a showcase plans to use a new crime initiative called At Risk - motto: "Any crime, any time." She's looking for a way to employ cutting-edge DNA technology, and thinks she's found it in a twenty-year-old murder- in Tennessee. If her office solves the case, they'll all look pretty good, right?

Susan Maushart - The ​Winter of Our Disconnect
For ​any parent who's ever IM-ed their child to the dinner table - or yanked the modem from its socket in a show of primal parental rage - this account of one family's self-imposed exile from the Information Age will leave you ROFLing with recognition. But it will also challenge you to take stock of your own family connections, to create a media ecology that encourages kids - and parents - to thrive. When journalist and commentator Susan Maushart first decided to pull the plug on all electronic media at home, she realised her children would have sooner volunteered to go without food, water or hair products. At ages 14, 15 and 18, her daughters and son didn’t use media. They inhabited media. Just exactly as fish inhabit a pond. Gracefully. Unblinkingly. And utterly without consciousness or curiosity as to how they got there. Susan’s experiment with her family was a major success and she found that having less to communicate with, her family is communicating more. At the simplest level, The Winter of Our Disconnect is the story of how one family survived six months of wandering through the desert, digitally speaking, and the lessons learned about themselves and technology along the way. At the same time, their story is a channel to a wider view - into the impact of new media on the lives of families, into the very heart of the meaning of home.

Joanna Russ - The ​Female Man
Joanna's ​world is recognisable; it's very much like ours. So is Jeannine's - except that in hers the Second World War never happened, the Great Depression is still going on, and inequality is even more rampant. But Janet's world is rather different. On the planet Whileaway there is no problem of relations between the sexes because there is only one. Janet is unfettered, she is free to lead her life as she wants, as an able and competent being, as a female man.

Bill Watterson - The ​Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes
The ​week it hit the stores, Weirdos from Another Planet! touched down at No. 1 on Walden's and B. Dalton's bestseller lists and No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list. How do you top such success? With The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes, a large-format treasury of the cartoons from Yukon Ho! and Weirdos from Another Planet! (including full-color Sunday cartoons) plus a full-color original story unique to this collection. Its reservation on the top of the national bestseller lists is already confirmed! Millions of readers have responded ot the tremendous talent of Bill Watterson. His skill as both artist and writer brings to life a boy, his tiger, and the imagination and memories of his ardent readers. After five years of syndication and six bestselling collections, The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes picks up where The Essential Calvin and Hobbes left off - bringing more of the irresistible antics of Calvin and his magical sidekick Hobbes to millions of eager fans around the globe. As the strip's phenomenal success witnesses, Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes is the authority on humor.

Louisa May Alcott - Little ​Women / Good Wives
Little ​Women is one of the best-loved children's stories of all time, based on the author's own youthful experiences. It describes the family life of the four March sisters living in a small New England community, Meg, the eldest, is pretty and wishes to be a lady; Jo, at fifteen is ungainly and unconventional with an ambition to be an author; Beth is a delicate child of thirteen with a taste for music and Amy is a blonde beauty of twelve. The story of their domestic adventures, their attempts to increase the family income, their friendship with the neighbouring Lawrence family, and their later love affairs remains as fresh and beguiling as ever. Good Wives takes up the story of the March sisters, some three years later, when, as young adults, they must face up to the inevitable trials and traumas of everyday life in their search for individual happiness.

Nora Roberts - Blue ​Dahlia
Recently ​widowed, Stella Rothchild is no stranger to the ghosts of the past, but the move from Michigan back to her roots near Memphis, Tennessee is supposed to be about the future. Her two energetic young sons are thriving in their new school. Stella's got a great job managing successful nursery 'In the Garden' and an interesting boss and landlady in local legend Roz Harper. She even has a new friend in Hayley Phillips, the feisty young pregnant woman who turns up at Harper House, Stella's new home, looking for a job. More than that, Stella feels an instant attraction to 'In the Garden's' landscaper, Logan Kitridge, who gets under her skin and makes her feel truly alive for the first time in years. But there is someone at Harper House who isn't happy about Stella's growing feelings for Logan - the Harper Bride, an unidentified woman whose grief and rage have kept her spirit alive long past the death of her body. Love and loss broke her mind, and in her madness, she will stop at nothing to destroy the new passion that Logan and Stella have found.

Charlaine Harris - Definitely ​Dead
Sookie ​doesn't have that many relations, so she hated to lose one - but of all the people to go, she didn't expect it to be her cousin Hadley, a consort of New Orleans' vampire queen - after all, Hadley was technically already dead. But she is gone, beyond recall, and she's left Sookie an inheritance - one that comes with a bit of a risk - not least because someone doesn't want Sookie digging too deep into Hadley's past - or her possessions. Sookie's life is once again on the line, and this time the suspects range from the rogue werewolves who have rejected Sookie as a friend of the pack to her first love, the vampire Bill. Sookie's got a lot to do if she's going to keep herself alive . . . The Sookie Stackhouse books are delightful Southern Gothic supernatural mysteries, starring Sookie, the telepathic cocktail waitress, and a cast of increasingly colourful characters, including vampires, werewolves and things that really do go bump in the night.