Jan Morris - Free Library Land Online - Self Help

Hav (New York Review Books Classics)

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:06:45 +0200

Thinking Again

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 15:10:46 +0200

Jan Morris, one of "Britain's greatest living writers" (Times, UK), returns with this whimsical yet deeply affecting volume on life as a redoubtable nonagenarian.

The irrepressible Jan Morris—author of such classics as Venice and Trieste—is at it again: offering a vibrant set of reminiscences that remind us "what a good, wise and witty companion Jan Morris has been for so many readers for so long" (Alexander McCall Smith, New York Times Book Review).

"Like Michel de Montaigne" (Danny Heitman, Wall Street Journal), Morris waxes on the ironies of modern life in all their resonant glories and inevitable stupidities—from her daily exercise (a "statutory thousand paces of brisk walk") to the troubles of Brexit; her enduring yet complicated love for America; and honest reflections on the vagaries and ailments of aging. Both intimate and luminously wise, Thinking Again is a testament to the virtues of embracing life, creativity, and,...

The Best Traveled Man on Earth

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 22:12:01 +0200

Six centuries ago, the Islamic world was the pinnacle of civilization. What was it really like? The answer is in the twelfth-century diaries of Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan traveler who spent thirty years journeying some 73,000 miles. Here, in this short-form book from acclaimed writer and bestselling author Jan Morris, in the little-known story of perhaps the greatest traveler of all time.

In My Mind's Eye

Sun, 18 Nov 2018 12:12:58 +0200

'I have never before in my life kept a diary of my thoughts, and here at the start of my ninth decade, having for the moment nothing much else to write, I am having a go at it. Good luck to me.'So begins this extraordinary book, a collection of diary pieces that Jan Morris wrote for the Financial Times over the course of 2017.A former soldier and journalist, and one of the great chroniclers of the world for over half a century, she writes here in her characteristically intimate voice - funny, perceptive, wise, touching, wicked, scabrous, and above all, kind - about her thoughts on the world, and her own place in it as she turns ninety. From cats to cars, travel to home, music to writing, it's a cornucopia of delights from a unique literary figure.

Coast to Coast

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:44:17 +0200

Fresh from her successful scoop reporting the first ascent of Everest in 1953, Jan Morris spent a year journeying across the United States, by car, train, ship and aeroplane. In herwords a "period piece", Coast to Coast describes an American identity markedly different from today. In her brilliant prose, Morris records with exuberence and curiosity a time of innocence in the US - when television was in its infancy, the Big Mac had not been invented and the popular song of the day was "Chattanooga Choo-Choo".

Coronation Everest

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:44:18 +0200

FAF1000 - FAF

Venice

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 18:52:58 +0300

The classic evocation of Venice, acclaimed as one of the finest books ever written about the city. 'Entertaining, ironical, witty, high spirited and appreciative . . . Both melancholy and gay and worldly, I think of it now as among the best books on Venice; indeed as the best modern book about a city that I have ever read.' Geoffrey Grigson 'One of the most diverse and diverting books ever written about Venice . . . A taut and personal report, wholly absorbing, quickened by vivid prose and astringent humour.' Sunday Times 'For those of whom Venice is a memory, a treat in store, or even a dream, the broad canvas of this book covering a thousand years in the life of one of the most complex, original, and active communities the world has ever seen, is a work of lasting interest.' Guardian

Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 18:52:58 +0200

A homage to the city of Trieste, rich with history and tinged with the melancholy of remembrance. "Morris at the peak of her form." —The Atlantic Monthly

Conundrum

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 09:44:18 +0200

The great travel writer Jan Morris was born James Morris. James Morris distinguished himself in the British military, became a successful and physically daring reporter, climbed mountains, crossed deserts, and established a reputation as a historian of the British empire. He was happily married, with several children. To all appearances, he was not only a man, but a man's man.

Except that appearances, as James Morris had known from early childhood, can be deeply misleading. James Morris had known all his conscious life that at heart he was a woman.

Conundrum, one of the earliest books to discuss transsexuality with honesty and without prurience, tells the story of James Morris--s hidden life and how he decided to bring it into the open, as he resolved first on a hormone treatment and, second, on risky experimental surgery that would turn him into the woman that he truly was.

Hav

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:12:57 +0200

A New York Review Books Original

Hav is like no place on earth. Rumored to be the site of Troy, captured during the crusades and recaptured by Saladin, visited by Tolstoy, Hitler, Grace Kelly, and Princess Diana, this Mediterranean city-state is home to several architectural marvels and an annual rooftop race that is a feat of athleticism and insanity. As Jan Morris guides us through the corridors and quarters of Hav, we hear the mingling of Italian, Russian, and Arabic in its markets, delight in its famous snow raspberries, and meet the denizens of its casinos and cafés.

When Morris published Last Letters from Hav in 1985, it was short-listed for the Booker Prize. Here it is joined by Hav of the Myrmidons, a sequel that brings the story up-to-date. Twenty-first-century Hav is nearly unrecognizable. Sanitized and monetized, it is ruled by a group of fanatics who have rewritten its history to reflect their own blinkered view of the past....

Sydney

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:52:57 +0200

Renowned and much-loved travel writer Jan Morris turns her eye to Sydney: 'not the best of the cities the British Empire created ... but the most hyperbolic, the youngest at heart, the shiniest.' Sydney takes us on the city's journey from penal colony to world-class metropolis, as lively and charming as the city it describes. With characteristic exuberance and sparkling prose, Jan Morris guides us through the history, people and geography of a fascinating and colourful city. Jan Morris's collection of travel writing and reportage spans over five decades and includes such titles as Venice, Hong Kong, Spain, Manhattan '45, A Writer's World and the Pax Britannica Trilogy. Hav, her novel, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. 'Sydney should be flattered. A great portrait painter has chosen it for her recent subject . . . Few writers - a handful of novelists apart - have got so far under...

Farewell the Trumpets

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:12:58 +0200

Heaven’s Command

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:12:59 +0200

Pax Britannica

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:52:57 +0200

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