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john berger   The pocket in question is a small pocket of resistance. A pocket is formed when two or more people come together in agreement. The resistance is against the inhumanity of the new world economic order. The people coming together are the reader, me and those the essays are about—Rembrandt, Palaeolithic cave painters, a Romanian peasant, ancient Egyptians, an expert in the loneliness of certain hotel bedrooms, dogs at dusk, a man in a radio station. And unexpectedly, our exchanges strengthen each of us in our conviction that what is happening to the world today is wrong, and that what is often said about it is a lie. I've never written a book with a greater sense of urgency. —John Berger
andre dubus   If you have yet to see the movie "In the Bedroom," shut down your computer now, check your local movie listings, and proceed directly to the next showing. This devastating film was adapted from the short story "Killings," which can be found in Andre Dubus' absolutely essential collection, Selected Stories. After a necessary day to recover, you'll want to go to your favorite bookstore to get this book and turn immediately to page 47. While there are many differences between the short story and its cinematic interpretation, and discovering them compounds the impact and appreciation of the tale, both are stunning examples of the power of deftly executed realism. Dubus, always a favorite of other writers, passed away a few years back. In addition to being a fine work of art in its own right, one hopes that "In the Bedroom" leads readers by the droves to discover the many treasures of Andre Dubus' writing. Presented here, proudly and insistently, is the first half of "Killings," just to whet your appetite.
sebastian faulks   Breaking away from his wartime European theater settings of the trilogy The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong, and Charlotte Gray (now a Gillian Armstrong film starring Cate Blanchett), Sebastian Faulks goes American with his latest novel On Green Dolphin Street. With the diplomatic intrigues of Washington, D.C. and New York of 1960 playing out in the background, the story focuses on the triangulated relationship between English diplomat couple Charlie and Mary van der Linden and American political journalist Frank Renzo. Respected and loved in Embassy circles, Charlie is nevertheless an alcoholic increasingly tortured by dark secrets from his past. Mary, in an effort to break away from the dual entanglements of her husband's despair and her mother's slow death, escapes to the freedom of New York where she embarks on an intense affair with Frank. Their difficulties parallel the conflicts raging within the country: the drama of the Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates, the perils of the burgeoning Cold War, and the spectre of Joseph McCarthy. Filled with the most American of details--apple pies, martinis, jazz (the title takes itself from a famous Miles Davis song)--On Green Dolphin Street presents a different perspective on a key moment in our history.
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