Wim Scherpenisse Książki

Voor Mara, een alleenstaande moeder, is het leven nooit gemakkelijk geweest. Ze woont in een traditionele gemeenschap in Botswana waar de vrouwen de zware last van de kostwinning dragen, waar men op magie rekent om aids te genezen, en waar men ongeluk wijt aan een betoverende vloek. In het hedendaagse Botswana keren steeds meer jonge mensen zich af van de tradities van de Afrikaanse gemeenschap, en tot Mara's grote verdriet verwerpen ook haar eigen kinderen de eeuwenoude gebruiken. Haar zoon Stan is vervreemd van zijn moeder sinds hij naar school gaat, en haar rebelse dochter Mosa werd al heel jong zwanger. Nu is Mosa terug op school, vastbesloten haar leven weer op te pakken en de traditionele rol die vrouwen in Botswana hebben achter zich te laten. Zij zal voorbij de horizon gaan.

Born into an ancient indigenous Siberian culture, Irina Pantaeva grew up amidst a rich heritage of spirituality and creativity, often clashing with a world that stifled individuality. As a child, she linked the simple act of dressing with self-expression, a freedom that nearly landed her in a juvenile home. Discovered by a talent scout, she moved to Moscow, a city undergoing radical change as old ideologies crumbled. In this vibrant yet chaotic environment, Irina experienced the harsh realities of a nation in turmoil, losing a dear friend to political violence and witnessing the struggles of others with drugs and prostitution. She narrowly escaped death herself on a dark road outside the city. Against all odds, Irina embarked on a challenging journey to Paris, where she faced rejection in the fashion industry due to her exotic beauty. Her inspiring story culminates in her arrival in New York, where she rises to superstardom. This tale of determination and passion illustrates the contrast between her spiritual Siberian roots and the glamorous world of international fashion and film. Irina Pantaeva emerges as a remarkable young woman whose heart bridges both worlds.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS, this memoir intertwines family bonding and cutting-edge physics, appealing to fans of Brian Greene and Jim Holt. Amanda Gefter recounts how she forged a career as a science journalist, engaging with brilliant minds in the field. The journey begins with a simple question posed by her father at a Chinese restaurant: "How would you define nothing?" This prompts Amanda, a former geometry rebel, to explore general relativity and quantum mechanics alongside her dad. As a young magazine assistant, she sneaks into a conference for their physics hero, John Wheeler, where they receive cryptic insights about reality. Determined to decode these mysteries, they embark on a quest that takes them from New York to Los Alamos, encountering quirky scientists like Leonard Susskind and Stephen Hawking. Their discoveries reveal a monumental shift in cosmology, suggesting that reality is observer-dependent, challenging traditional notions of the universe. Throughout this journey, Amanda grapples with her own identity, evolving from an illusion of a journalist to a unique voice. By blending humor and profound insights, this memoir redefines how we perceive the universe and the concept of nothing.

Oto opowieść o niezwykłej odwadze i wytrwałości w obliczu jednej z najokrutniejszych wojen w historii świata. Bohater tej wstrząsającej powieści, Valentino Achak Deng, był jednym z tysięcy dzieci zwanych Straconymi Chłopcami, kt�rzy musieli opuścić wioski w Sudanie i przewędrować tysiące mil na własnych nogach. W czasie długiej podr�ży zmagał się on z żołnierzami i rebeliantami, nalotami bombowymi i dzikimi zwierzętami, przemierzając bezkresną pustynię. Kiedy po wieloletnim pobycie w obozach dla uchodźc�w trafił wreszcie do Stan�w Zjednoczonych, czekały na niego nowe wyzwania...

Exposes the national stories which turn out to be pseudo events manufactured by the PR industry, and the global news stories which prove to be fiction generated by a machinery of international propaganda. This book shows the impact of this on a world where consumers believe a mass of stories which are as false as the idea that the Earth is flat.

Tense and heartbreaking to its last page, 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' shows how life under seige creates impossible moral choices. When the everyday act of crossing the street can risk lives, the human spirit is revealed in all its fortitude - and frailty.

On the day that Homes was born in 1961, she was given up for adoption. Thirty years later, out of the blue, Homes was contacted by a lawyer on behalf of her birth mother, and they began to correspond; her biological father contacted her soon after. These two individuals and their effect on the adult Homes are strange and unexpected.

For almost a decade Rachel Caine has turned her back on home, kept distant by family disputes and her work monitoring wolves on an Idaho reservation. But now, summoned by the eccentric Earl of Annerdale and his controversial scheme to reintroduce the Grey Wolf to the English countryside, she is back in the peat and wet light of the Lake District.The earl's project harks back to an ancient idyll of untamed British wilderness - though Rachel must contend with modern-day concessions to health and safety, public outrage and political gain - and the return of the Grey after hundreds of years coincides with her own regeneration: impending motherhood, and reconciliation with her estranged family.The Wolf Border investigates the fundamental nature of wilderness and wildness, both animal and human. It seeks to understand the most obsessive aspects of humanity: sex, love, and conflict; the desire to find answers to the question of our existence; those complex systems that govern the most superior creature on earth.

"A vibrant, intimate, hypnotic portrait of one woman's life, from an important new writer. Tess Lohan is the kind of woman that we meet and fail to notice every day. A single mother. A nurse. A quiet woman, who nonetheless feels things acutely--a woman with tumultuous emotions and few people to share them with. Academy Street is Mary Costello's luminous portrait of a whole life. It follows Tess from her girlhood in western Ireland through her relocation to America and her life there, concluding with a moving reencounter with her Irish family after forty years of exile. The novel has a hypnotic pull and a steadily mounting emotional force. It speaks of disappointments but also of great joy. It shows how the signal events of the last half century affect the course of a life lived in New York City. Anne Enright has said that Costello's first collection of stories, The China Factory, "has the feel of work that refused to be abandoned; of stories that were written for the sake of getting something important right. Her writing has the kind of urgency that the great problems demand" (The Guardian). Academy Street is driven by this same urgency. In sentence after sentence it captures the rhythm and intensity of inner life"--

Briljante studieresultaten katapulteren de slimme, maar naïeve Charlotte Simmons vanuit een klein geïsoleerd stadje in de bergen van North Carolina naar de (fictieve) elite-universiteit Dupont, waar al haar normen en waarden grof worden gebruskeerd. Waar ze onverzadigbare intellectuele honger bij haar medestudenten verwachtte, treft ze slechts geile bronstigheid, liederlijke drankzucht en excessieve aandacht voor sport. Iedereen lijkt er alleen maar op uit daarmee te stijgen op de ranglijst van 'cool'-heid. Charlotte houdt dapper stand in deze poel des verderfs, totdat...

Feeling overshadowed by his more-successful younger brother, Harold is shocked by his brother's violent act that irrevocably changes their lives, placing Harold in the role of father figure to his brother's adolescent children and caregiver to his aging parents.

Planowała tylko dwutygodniowy urlop, ale po przybyciu do Mombasy poznała mężczyznę swojego życia – masajskiego wojownika. Corinne, Szwajcarka, została na Czarnym Lądzie na ponad cztery lata. Opuściła ojczyznę, dobrze prosperujący sklep, matkę i przyjaciela. Zamieszkała w szałasie w kenijskim buszu. Doświadczyła problemów z żywnością, wodą, malarią. By poślubić Lketingę, pokonała dziesiątki biurokratycznych barier. Byłam w niebie i w piekle – opowiada Corinne i zabiera nas w zakątki, o których istnieniu nie mieliśmy pojęcia

Richard is a middle-aged divorcee trading stock out of his home in Los Angeles. He has done such a good job getting his life under control that he needs no one, until two incidents conspire to hurl him back into the world.

* Shortlisted for the Folio Prize 2014 * Attending a New England summer camp as an adolescent, young Erik Schroder - a first generation East German immigrant - adopts a new name and a new persona - Eric Kennedy - in the hopes that it will help him fit in. This fateful white lie will set him on an improbable and ultimately tragic course. Schroder relates the story of Eric's urgent escape years later through the New England countryside with his six-year-old daughter, Meadow, in an attempt to outrun the authorities amidst a heated custody battle with his wife, who will soon discover that her husband is not who he says he is. From a correctional facility, Eric surveys the course of his life in order to understand - and maybe even explain - his behaviour; the painful separation from his mother in childhood; a harrowing escape to America with his taciturn father; a romance that withered under a shadow of lies; and his proudest moments and greatest regrets as a flawed but loving father.

Exploring the intricacies of family secrets, this novel delves into the hidden past that shapes the lives of its characters. The narrative unfolds around a family's concealed history, revealing how these secrets influence relationships and personal identities. With a blend of emotional depth and compelling storytelling, the author invites readers to reflect on the impact of the past on the present, making for a poignant and thought-provoking read.

Jonggehuwden Clark en Charlotte Adair zijn net in hun eerste huis getrokken in het idyllische stadje Clementine, waar ze zich vol goede moed aan het ‘echte’ leven wagen. Clark heeft een baan gevonden als leerlingbegeleider op een school en Charlotte als boekhouder. Als twee kinderen die vadertje en moedertje spelen storten ze zich vol overgave in hun respectievelijke rol. De eerste scheurtjes in hun huwelijk ontstaan nadat Clarks moeder overlijdt en de verschillen tussen de echtgenoten pijnlijk duidelijk worden. In het eens gezellige huis ontstaat een claustrofobische sfeer. Diep weggestopte angsten steken de kop op en zorgen voor verwijdering. Wanneer Clark een jongetje van de verdrinkingsdood redt, zet hij een reeks gebeurtenissen in gang – sommige komisch, sommige schokkend – die de druk op het huwelijk vergroten

Dwight is only twenty-eight, but he's having a midlife crisis. Of course, living a dissolute, dorm like existence in a tiny apartment and working in tech support at Pfizer - are not especially conducive to wisdom. His biggest a chronic inability to make up his mind. Encouraged by one of his roommates, he swallows the first fateful pill.