Joseph Conrad

Chinua Achebe dies at 82; Nigerian writer

2013-03-23 00:00:00

JOHNANNESBURG, South Africa — When Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe was in college, a European professor assigned "Mister Johnson," which portrayed Africa as a land of grinning, shrieking savages. Time magazine called it "the best novel ever written...

Remembering Chinua Achebe, a writer who connected us to the world

2013-03-22 16:00:00

When I think about Chinua Achebe, who died Thursday in Boston at age 82, I remember an event, five years ago, at Manhattan’s Town Hall. The occasion was a commemoration, sponsored by PEN American Center, of the 50th anniversary of Achebe’s...

Chinua Achebe, author of 'Things Fall Apart,' dies at 82

2013-03-22 07:35:00

Nigerian-born author Chinua Achebe has died. The 82-year-old was best known for his gorgeously written historical novel that served as an indictment of colonialism, "Things Fall Apart." Published in 1958, "Things Fall Apart" soon became an international...

Indonesia: Maluku Islands offer an underwater wonderland

2013-03-10 00:00:00

MALUKU ISLANDS, Indonesia — Perched on the edge of a skiff, I felt a trickle of sweat inch down my cheek. A heavy scuba tank pulled at my back as I adjusted my mask, feeling claustrophobic in all this gear and anxious about making this dive. How...

In 'Restless,' William Boyd spies overlooked World War II chapter

2012-12-01 12:00:00

British novelist and screenwriter William Boyd doesn't buy the conventional wisdom that a writer should never adapt his own books. His long list of industry credits includes scripts based on his own work (the miniseries "Any Human Heart"), novels by the...

Salman Rushdie, freedom writer

2012-10-03 00:00:00

In the 1990s, he was the world-famous novelist few people officially laid eyes on. Of Salman Rushdie's dozen-plus novels, it was "The Satanic Verses" (1988) that raised a hue and cry and sent him undercover: Its supposedly sacrilegious portrayal of the...

Tablets: Downloadable classic books are in abundance

2011-12-04 00:00:00

Let's say you're getting, or giving, a new tablet or an e-reader (iPad, Kobo, Nook or Kindle Fire) for the holidays. Here's an idea for what to do with it: Load it first with free books. Thanks to Project Gutenberg, as well as the cultural gift known as...

Review: Juan Gabriel Vásquez's 'The Secret History of Costaguana'

2011-08-07 00:00:00

The Secret History of Costaguana A Novel Juan Gabriel V�squez Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean Riverhead: 287 pp., $26.95 "The Secret History of Costaguana" is an intricately detailed, audacious reframing of "Nostromo," the classic 1904...

Book review: 'State of Wonder'

2011-06-05 00:00:00

State of Wonder A Novel Ann Patchett Harper: 368 pp., $26.99 In Ann Patchett's new novel, "State of Wonder," an ordinary woman winds up in increasingly extraordinary circumstances. That woman is Marina Singh, a 42-year-old pharmaceutical researcher...

Summer reading: Fiction, poetry

2011-05-22 00:00:00

Busy Monsters William Giraldi W.W. Norton: $24.95 When a mediocre writer's bride-to-be leaves him to search for a legendary giant squid, he treks across the continent seeking counsel from nefarious creatures on how to win back her affections. (August)...

L.A. director Andy Bruntel wins Vimeo's best music video competition for Liars clip

2010-10-27 16:34:33

'The Amazing Race' recap: Keeping the hog wound down

2011-04-25 16:36:13

A guest soaking at an Oriental Bangkok pool has taken a dip in history, so to speak. The Oriental was established in 1876 and, in ensuing years, earned a reputation as one of the world's best, favored by such writers as Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene and No�l Coward.

2013-05-02 17:26:00

The Seven Seas, a traditional Indonesian wooden schooner -- the kind that inspired Joseph Conrad's novel "Lord Jim." This one, at 108 feet, is painted red and designed expressly for scuba divers who want to go to the ends of the Earth in comfort.

2013-03-05 15:54:36

's "The Secret Agent" -- is the kind of cake that arrives with a file hidden in the middle of it. The most character-oriented and emotionally daring of the director's early thrillers, it's about espionage as shabby-genteel terrorism. Here, Hitchcock fuses suspense with empathy.

2010-05-19 14:38:31