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THE ANNOTATED TREASURE ISLAND

A sumptuous edition of a masterpiece that will captivate both youngsters and older fans interested in the history and lore...

The classic tale of pirates and their buried loot is enriched with explanatory footnotes, diagrams and illustrations in this fascinating annotated edition.

First published in 1883, Stevenson’s Treasure Island narrates the adventures of Jim Hawkins, an English teenager who in the 1750s discovers a map to a fabulous pirate treasure buried on a desert island; the ensuing voyage embroils him in a mutiny, fierce musket-and-cutlass fights and a twisty relationship with the pirate Long John Silver, a charismatic figure of noble courage and dastardly treachery. Featuring taut suspense, brisk action, an iconic coming-of-age theme and colorful characters, Treasure Island became the template for later genre pieces such as Pirates of the Caribbean. Barker-Benfield’s engaging introduction and comprehensive margin notes and sidebars explain many of the story’s details to an audience less familiar with age-of-sail conventions. Much of the narrative hinges on the handling of sailing ships, and he provides detailed, interesting accounts of their construction, rigging, navigation, protocols and jargon, which help explicate important plot points. He also delves into the evolving culture of the early-modern Atlantic-Caribbean region and the history, lifestyles and indispensable accouterments of pirates: Silver’s loquacious parrot is probably an African gray, we learn, while the refrain “yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum” prompts a disquisition on that beverage’s production and neurological effects. Intriguing conundrums and inconsistencies in the text are teased out; latitude and longitude figures put Treasure Island at one of four improbably cold locales, the author notes, while Silver’s life history makes his claimed age of 50 years a tad optimistic. Throughout, Barker-Benfield’s notes adroitly translate the richer flights of buccaneer lingo into respectable English. (“I’m a poor old hulk on a lee shore” is a pirate’s “dramatic way of saying he is nearing the end of his life.”) There are also detailed maps of the Caribbean, reproductions of portraits of real-life pirates and sea captains and meticulously detailed diagrams of ships, cannons and nautical equipment; these, along with Rhead’s atmospheric drawings of scenes from the story, add an exquisite visual dimension to the original text.

A sumptuous edition of a masterpiece that will captivate both youngsters and older fans interested in the history and lore underpinning Stevenson’s yarn.

Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014

ISBN: 978-1937075019

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Fine & Kahn

Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2014

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A LITTLE LIFE

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

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Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.

Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.  

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

Pub Date: March 10, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8

Page Count: 720

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

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TELL ME LIES

There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.

Passion, friendship, heartbreak, and forgiveness ring true in Lovering's debut, the tale of a young woman's obsession with a man who's "good at being charming."

Long Island native Lucy Albright, starts her freshman year at Baird College in Southern California, intending to study English and journalism and become a travel writer. Stephen DeMarco, an upperclassman, is a political science major who plans to become a lawyer. Soon after they meet, Lucy tells Stephen an intensely personal story about the Unforgivable Thing, a betrayal that turned Lucy against her mother. Stephen pretends to listen to Lucy's painful disclosure, but all his thoughts are about her exposed black bra strap and her nipples pressing against her thin cotton T-shirt. It doesn't take Lucy long to realize Stephen's a "manipulative jerk" and she is "beyond pathetic" in her desire for him, but their lives are now intertwined. Their story takes seven years to unfold, but it's a fast-paced ride through hookups, breakups, and infidelities fueled by alcohol and cocaine and with oodles of sizzling sexual tension. "Lucy was an itch, a song stuck in your head or a movie you need to rewatch or a food you suddenly crave," Stephen says in one of his point-of-view chapters, which alternate with Lucy's. The ending is perfect, as Lucy figures out the dark secret Stephen has kept hidden and learns the difference between lustful addiction and mature love.

There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.

Pub Date: June 12, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5011-6964-9

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018

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