Manguel, Alberto

The dictionary of imaginary places by Alberto Manguel ( Book )
51 editions published between 1980 and 2010 in 6 languages and held by 2,930 libraries worldwide
"From Atlantis to Xanadu, this Baedeker of make-believe takes readers on a tour of more than 1,200 realms invented by storytellers from Homer's day to our own." "Most every fanciful world from books and film is included: Shangri-La and El Dorado are here, as is Utopia, Tolkien's Middle-earth, and Carroll's Wonderland, as well as the Beatles' Pepperland, the Marx Brothers' Freedonia, and a strange little town called Stepford. The history and behavior of the inhabitants of these lands are described in detail and supplemented by more than 220 maps and illustrations that depict the lay of the land in a host of elsewheres." "Now brought up-to-date with dozens of new entries for such places as Jurassic Park, Salman Rushdie's Sea of Stories, and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, this volume is even more comprehensive and entertaining."--BOOK JACKET.

A history of reading by Alberto Manguel ( Book )
67 editions published between 1995 and 2008 in 19 languages and held by 2,642 libraries worldwide
At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book - that string of confused, alien ciphers - shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader. Noted essayist Alberto Manguel moves from this essential moment to explore the 6000-year-old conversation between words and that magician without whom the book would be a lifeless object: the reader. Manguel lingers over.

The secret supper by Javier Sierra ( Book )
20 editions published between 2004 and 2007 in English and held by 2,266 libraries worldwide
Sent to oversee the completion of Da Vinci's "The Last Supper," Dominican inquisitor Fray Agustin Leyre investigates the artist's omission of key elements and use of symbolic imagery, which suggests that there is a coded message in the painting.

The library at night by Alberto Manguel ( Book )
35 editions published between 2003 and 2009 in 9 languages and held by 1,353 libraries worldwide
Inspired by the process of creating a library for his home near the Loire, in France, Alberto Manguel, writer on books and reading, has taken up the subject of libraries. "Libraries have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can remember I've been seduced by their labyrinthine logic." In this personal, deliberately unsystematic, and wide-ranging book, he offers a meditation on the meaning of libraries. Manguel, a guide of irrepressible enthusiasm, conducts a unique library tour that extends from his childhood bookshelves to the Internet, from Ancient Egypt and Greece to the Arab world, from China and Rome to Google. He ponders the personal libraries of Charles Dickens, Jorge Luis Borges, and others. He recounts stories of people who have struggled against tyranny to preserve freedom of thought, oral "memory libraries" kept alive by prisoners, libraries of banned books, and the library of books never written.--From publisher description.

Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey : a biography by Alberto Manguel ( Book )
23 editions published between 2007 and 2009 in 5 languages and held by 950 libraries worldwide
Examines "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" from their origins, the colorful characters and events chronicling the Trojan War and its aftermath, and their legacy for Western culture.

Other fires : short fiction by Latin American women ( Book )
9 editions published between 1985 and 1992 in English and held by 827 libraries worldwide

A reading diary by Alberto Manguel ( Book )
50 editions published between 2004 and 2008 in 7 languages and held by 782 libraries worldwide
"While traveling in Canada, Alberto Manguel was struck by how the novel he was reading (Goethe's Elective Affinities) seemed to mirror the social chaos of the world he was living in. An article in the daily paper would be suddenly illuminated by a passage in the novel; a long meditation would be prompted by a single word. He decided to keep a record of these moments, rereading a book a month and forming A Reading Diary: a volume of notes, reflections, and impressions of travel, of friends, of events public and private, all elicited by his reading." "From Don Quixote (August) to The Island of Dr. Moreau (February) to Kim (April), Manguel leads us on an enthralling adventure in literature and life, and demonstrates how, for the passionate reader, one is utterly inextricable from the other."--BOOK JACKET.

Into the looking-glass wood : essays on books, reading, and the world by Alberto Manguel ( Book )
21 editions published between 1998 and 2008 in 4 languages and held by 768 libraries worldwide
Alberto Manguel has enchanted hundreds of thousands of readers with his bestselling books, including The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. Now he has assembled a personal collection of his own essays that will enchant anyone interested in reading, writing, or the world. Through personal stories and literary reflections, in a style rich in humor and gentle scholarship, Manguel leads his readers to reflect on the links that bind the physical world to our language that describes it. The span of his attention in these twenty-three essays is enthralling: from "Who Am I?, " in which he recounts the first adventures of childhood reading, to "Borges in Love, " a memoir of the great blind writer's passions; from his first encounters with the evils of prejudice to a meditation on the death of Che Guevara; from a tour of his library to evocations of such of his favorite writers as Cortazar and Chesterton. A voyage deep into the subversive heart of words, Into the Looking-Glass Wood is fired by the author's humanity, insatiable curiosity, and steadfast belief in the essential power, mystery, and delight of the written word.

Reading pictures : a history of love and hate by Alberto Manguel ( Book )
12 editions published between 2000 and 2008 in English and Portuguese and held by 705 libraries worldwide
"We say that every picture tells us a story--but does it really? Can we read a painting the way that we read a book? Is there a vocabulary we can learn that will help tease out its meaning? In 'Reading Pictures', Alberto Manguel ... offers a spirited, endlessly entertaining meditation on the questions we ask ourselves when we stand in front of a work of art." "Manguel coaxes the reader to look at art not from the perspective of a critic but as a curious student of life. Taking a handful of great works of art-- photographs, paintings, buildings, sculptures-- he explores, with delight and erudition, how each one attempts to tell a story that we, the viewer, must either decipher or invent. Whether delving into Picasso's treatment of his mistresses, and its impact on his painting, revisiting the riddles of the past in the paintings of Caravaggio and Robert Campin, or decrypting the fearful dreamscapes of Marianna Gartner and the ghoulish portraits of Lavinia Fontana, he invites us to explore, interrogate, and revel in what we see." -- Book Jacket

The anatomist by Federico Andahazi ( Book )
10 editions published between 1997 and 2000 in English and held by 648 libraries worldwide
After testing scores of prostitutes, Mateo Colombo, a 16th century Italian physician, finally discovers the organ governing woman's love--the clitoris. But the publication of his discovery attracts the attention of the Inquisition, Colombo is thrown in jail for heresy and must find a way to clear his name.