Three Bedrooms in Manhattan

Three Bedrooms in Manhattan
Author: Georges Simenon
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2011-11-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1590175611

An actor, recently divorced, at loose ends in New York; a woman, no less lonely, perhaps even more desperate than the man: they meet by chance in an all-night diner and are drawn to each other on the spot. Roaming the city streets, hitting its late-night dives, dropping another coin into yet another jukebox, these two lost souls struggle to understand what it is that has brought them, almost in spite of themselves, together. They are driven—from moment to moment, from bedroom to bedroom—to improvise the most unexpected of love stories, a tale of suspense where risk alone offers salvation. Georges Simenon was the most popular and prolific of the twentieth century’s great novelists. Three Bedrooms in Manhattan—closely based on the story of his own meeting with his second wife—is his most passionate and revealing work.

Red Lights

Red Lights
Author: Georges Simenon
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2006
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781590171936

Publisher description

Ghosts of Manhattan

Ghosts of Manhattan
Author: Douglas Brunt
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2012-10-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1451672616

This instant New York Times bestseller offers a withering view of life on Wall Street from the perspective of an unhappy insider who is too hooked on the money to find a way out, even as his career is ruining his marriage and corroding his soul. It’s 2005. Nick Farmer is a thirty-five-year-old bond trader with Bear Stearns clearing seven figures a year. The novelty of a work-related nightlife centering on liquor, hookers, and cocaine has long since worn thin, though Nick remains keenly addicted to his annual bonus. But the lifestyle is taking a toll on his marriage—and on him. When a nerdy analyst approaches him with apocalyptic prognostications of where Bear’s high-flying mortgage-backed securities trading may lead, Nick is presented with the kind of ethical dilemma he’s spent a lifetime avoiding. Throw in a hot financial journalist who seems to be more interested in him than in the percolating financial Armageddon and the prospect that his own wife may have found a new romantic interest of her own, and you have the recipe for Nick’s personal and professional implosion. By turns hilarious and harrowing, Ghosts of Manhattan follows a winning but flawed protagonist as he struggles to find the right path in a complicated urban heart of darkness

Dirty Snow

Dirty Snow
Author: Georges Simenon
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2011-11-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1590175581

Nineteen-year-old Frank Friedmaier lives in a country under occupation. Most people struggle to get by; Frank takes it easy in his mother’s whorehouse, which caters to members of the occupying forces. But Frank is restless. He is a pimp, a thug, a petty thief, and, as Dirty Snow opens, he has just killed his first man. Through the unrelenting darkness and cold of an endless winter, Frank will pursue abjection until at last there is nowhere to go. Hans Koning has described Dirty Snow as “one of the very few novels to come out of German-occupied France that gets it exactly right.” In a study of the criminal mind that is comparable to Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me, Simenon maps a no man’s land of the spirit in which human nature is driven to destruction—and redemption, perhaps, as well—by forces beyond its control.

Tropic Moon

Tropic Moon
Author: Georges Simenon
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2005
Genre: Adultery
ISBN: 159017111X

A young Frenchman, Joseph Timar, travels to Gabon carrying a letter of introduction from an influential uncle.

Manhattan Monologues

Manhattan Monologues
Author: Louis Auchincloss
Publisher: HMH
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2002-07-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 054779049X

From a New York Times–bestselling author, short stories of the privileged class, spanning a century of New York history:“Urbane, humorous . . . a treat to read.” —Library Journal Sublime master of manners, exquisite critic of the upper crust, and beloved American author Louis Auchincloss is at his wry, brilliant best with this collection of ten short stories about New York aristocracy. Drawing on a century of Manhattan high society, Auchincloss weaves a set of perfectly crafted, intimate portrayals of the struggles and dramas of the elite. From a woman faced with choosing love or prestige when marrying to a man torn between loyalty to his family and country when called to war to a matchmaker handling a rogue romance, these glamorous yet all-too-human tales present a remarkable tableau of the American upper class. A series of “finely etched portraits of the kind of men we’ve become used to meeting in [Auchincloss’s] fiction,” Manhattan Monologues stands as a remarkable achievement of short fiction, a legend of American letters at his insightful best (The New York Times Book Review). “For the sheer elegance of his prose, Louis Auchincloss deserves a large and enthusiastic following.” —The Baltimore Sun

The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By

The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By
Author: Georges Simenon
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2016-11-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0141983264

A brilliant new translation of one of Simenon's best loved masterpieces. 'A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion ... disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers' Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man. Then he discovers that his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for - and something snaps. Kees used to watch the trains go by to exciting destinations. Now, on some dark impulse, he boards one at random, and begins a new life of recklessness and violence. This chilling portrayal of a man who breaks from society and goes on the run asks who we are, and what we are capable of. 'Classic Simenon ... extraordinary in its evocative power' Independent 'What emerges is the bare human animal' John Gray 'Read him at your peril, avoid him at your loss' Sunday Times

The Widow

The Widow
Author: Georges Simenon
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2011-11-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1590175638

The Widow is the story of two outcasts and their fatal encounter. One is the widow herself, Tati. Still young, she’s never had an easy time of it, but she’s not the kind to complain. Tati lives with her father-in-law on the family farm, putting up with his sexual attentions, working her fingers to the bone, improving the property and knowing all the time that her late husband’s sister is scheming to kick her out and take the house back. The other is a killer. Just out of prison and in search of a new life, Jean meets up with Tati, who hires him as a handyman and then takes him to bed. Things are looking up, at least until Jean falls hard for the girl next door. The Widow was published in the same year as Camus’ The Stranger, and André Gide judged it the superior book. It is Georges Simenon’s most powerful and disturbing exploration of the bond between death and desire.

Design Mom

Design Mom
Author: Gabrielle Stanley Blair
Publisher: Artisan
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 1579656552

New York Times best seller Ever since Gabrielle Stanley Blair became a parent, she’s believed that a thoughtfully designed home is one of the greatest gifts we can give our families, and that the objects and decor we choose to surround ourselves with tell our family’s story. In this, her first book, Blair offers a room-by-room guide to keeping things sane, organized, creative, and stylish. She provides advice on getting the most out of even the smallest spaces; simple fixes that make it easy for little ones to help out around the house; ingenious storage solutions for the never-ending stream of kid stuff; rainy-day DIY projects; and much, much more.