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American Pastoral
Philip Roth
Fiction
Amazon.com ReviewPhilip Roth's 22nd book takes a life-long view of the American experience in this thoughtful investigation of the century's most divisive and explosive of decades, the '60s. Returning again to the voice of his literary alter ego Nathan Zuckerman, Roth is at the top of his form. His prose is carefully controlled yet always fresh and intellectually subtle as he reconstructs the halcyon days, circa World War II, of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, a high school sports hero and all-around Great Guy who wants nothing more than to live in tranquillity. But as the Swede grows older and America crazier, history sweeps his family inexorably into its grip: His own daughter, Merry, commits an unpardonable act of "protest" against the Vietnam war that ultimately severs the Swede from any hope of happiness, family, or spiritual coherence. From Library JournalIn his latest novel, Roth shows his age. Not that his writing is any less vigorous and supple. But in this autumnal tome, he is definitely in a reflective mood, looking backward. As the book opens, Roth's alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, recalls an innocent time when golden boy Seymour "the Swede" Levov was the pride of his Jewish neighborhood. Then, in precise, painful, perfectly rendered detail, he shows how the Swede's life did not turn out as gloriously as expected?how it was, in fact, devastated by a child's violent act. When Merry Levov blew up her quaint little town's post office to protest the Viet Nam war, she didn't just kill passing physician Fred Conlon, she shattered the ties that bound her to her worshipful father. Merry disappears, then eventually reappears as a stick-thin Jain living in sacred povery in Newark, having killed three more people for the cause. Roth doesn't tell the whole story blow by blow but gives us the essentials in luminous, overlapping bits. In the end, the book positively resonates with the anguish of a father who has utterly lost his daughter. Highly recommended.-?Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Budding Prospects: A Pastoral (Contemporary American Fiction)
T. Coraghessan Boyle
Literature & Fiction
All Felix Nasmyth and friends have to do is harvest a crop of Cannabis Sativa... ...and half a million tax-free dollars will be theirs. But they haven't reckoned on nosy Northern California-style neighbors, torrential rain, demands of the flesh, and Felix's improbable new love, a wayward sculptress on whose behalf he undertakes a one-man vendetta against a drug-busting state trooper named Jerpbak. As their deal escalates through crises into nightmare, their dreams of easy money get nipped in the bud.

Pastoral
Nevil Shute
Fiction / Nonfiction
World War II pilot Peter Marshall leads the most successful bombing crew at his airbase, having survived an unusual number of extremely dangerous missions over Germany. However, when Peter falls hopelessly in love with an attractive WAAF officer—one who insists that wartime duties should take precedence over emotions—his concentration begins to suffer. Soon it looks as though his perfect run of successful missions may be at risk—along with the lives of Peter and his men—unless she can be persuaded to relent.

English Pastoral
James Rebanks
THE SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEARA Telegraph, Financial Times, New Statesman, Telegraph and Observer Book of the Year 2020The new bestseller from the author of The Shepherd's Life'A heartfelt book and one that dares to hope' Alan Bennett'A beautifully-written story of a family, a home and a changing landscape' Nigel Slater 'I was thrilled by it' Philip Pullman As a boy, James Rebanks's grandfather taught him to work the land the old way. Their family farm in the Lake District hills was part of an ancient agricultural landscape: a patchwork of crops and meadows, of pastures grazed with livestock, and hedgerows teeming with wildlife. And yet, by the time James inherited the farm, it was barely recognisable. The men and women had vanished from the fields; the old stone barns had crumbled; the skies had emptied of birds and their wind-blown song. English...

The Pastoral Symphony
André Gide
Nonfiction / Outdoors & Nature / History
In beautiful, evocative prose, Gide's short novel explores such themes as love, blindness, honor, and mortality.

Pastoral Affair
Charles A. Stearns
Science Fiction
This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

The Pastoral Symphony
André Gide
Nonfiction / Outdoors & Nature / History
This is a classic book of Gide. It is with this book that Gide won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947. A country priest adopts a blind orphan girl, does almost everything for her, and tries hard to inspire her mind and heart to help her get rid of the state of ignorance and lead her to see the wonderful world which she could not see. Though he is doing this out of pity, the priest falls in love with the girl. It causes great pains to his wife who dares not to face the fact. The blind girl mistakes gratitude for love. Nevertheless when her eyes are healed, she realizes that she is in love with the son Jacque instead of his father. She is also aware that her love is nothing different from crime which brings to the family only misfortune.**

Pastoral
André Alexis
Literature & Fiction
Praise for André Alexis's previous books:"Astonishing . . . an irresistible, one-of-a-kind work."—Quill & Quire"Alexis [has an] astute understanding of the madly shimmering, beautifully weaving patterns created by what we have agreed to call memory."—Ottawa CitizenThere were plans for an official welcome. It was to take place the following Sunday. But those who came to the rectory on Father Pennant's second day were the ones who could not resist seeing him sooner. Here was the man to whom they would confess the darkest things. It was important to feel him out. Mrs Young, for instance, after she had seen him eat a piece of her macaroni pie, quietly asked what he thought of adultery.André Alexis brings a modern sensibility and a new liveliness to an age-old genre, the pastoral.For his very first parish, Father Christopher Pennant is sent to the sleepy town of Barrow. With more sheep than people, it's...

Cold Pastoral
Margaret Duley
Mary Immaculate is just twelve years old the day she goes missing. Berry-picking in the woods near her village in outport Newfoundland, Mary has an encounter with something from another world. When she is finally found, Mary is taken to hospital in St. John's, where her attending doctor makes the decision to adopt her out of poverty. Duley's authentic portrayal of outport life sits in stark contrast to life in upper-level St. John's, making this a novel as much about class distinction as it is a stunning narrative of a woman's life in pre-Confederation Newfoundland. Originally published in 1939 to acclaim in Britain and the US, Cold Pastoral was the second novel by Margaret Duley, the acknowledged "first novelist" from Newfoundland.