9780670031092 - My Sky Blue Trades: Growing Up Counter in a Contrary Time von Birkerts, Sven (8 Ergebnisse)

Zustand: Good. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc.

Zustand: Good. Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.

Hardcover. Zustand: Very Good. No Jacket. Missing dust jacket; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Hardcover. Zustand: As New. No Jacket. Pages are clean and are not marred by notes or folds of any kind. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Hardcover. Zustand: As New. No Jacket. Pages are clean and are not marred by notes or folds of any kind. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Hardcover. Zustand: New. In shrink wrap.

Soft cover. Zustand: Fine. No Jacket. Special Edition. Advance Reading Copy of Uncorrected Proofs in paperback. Bright, clean & tight copy, unread, in FINE condition. "In the widely acclaimed Gutenberg Elegies, Sven Birkerts won attention as a graceful and thoughtful essayist, an eloquent advocate of literature in an age of electronic media. Now he shows what only literature can do, in a moving, compelling, brilliantly written memoir that probes what it means to be an American with roots in a distant culture. As a boy growing up in suburban Detroit, Birkerts always felt intensely uncomfortable with his family's ties to Latvia--the birthplace of all four of his grandparents. And yet his struggle to find his own path led inexorably back through the overgrown garden of family lore. Birkerts deftly interweaves his own history (from struggles with his overbearing father to adventures at Woodstock, from lost loves to his emergence as a writer) with episodes from his ancestors' lives--scenes from Riga and Moscow during the Russian Revolution, tales of Paris and mistresses and family scandals. MY SKY BLUE TRADES is a classic exploration of the immigrant experience and the writer's inner life." [publisher copy] "He writes, 'I do not have a sustained narrative to present, only a cluster of episodes and characterizations. I want to understand my relation to the family past, to figure out why the contemplation of it should unsettle me so.' He speaks of familiar things: the Hardy Boys, a best friend, pellet guns. After adolescence, he describes hippie nights, early jobs and searching for a girlfriend. He infuses every topic with a sense of curiosity about his place in the world and in his family. Every riff about going barefoot or drinking wine has the kind of grace achieved only through the combination of hindsight and exceptional writing skill. The book gets its title from a line in Dylan Thomas's poem about childhood, 'Fern Hill.' It's appropriate, because Birkerts often adopts Thomas's dreamy tone and knack for crisp language. As his ruminations about being a kid gently give way to descriptions of adult excursions, there's a sense of maturation, both in the writing and the subject matter. Although the realm of early experience is overly trod terrain, Birkerts makes it fresh, compelling and well worth another trip."--Publishers Weekly. "To read Birkerts is to hear (and enjoy hearing) the voice of literary conscience."--Seamus Heaney. Pristine paperback ARC w/brilliant corners & crisp edges, a square & tight binding w/no creases in spine & no jacket as issued.

Hardcover. Zustand: Near Fine. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Fine. First edition. Front fly removed else near fine in fine dustwrapper. Inscribed by Birkerts to author Nicholas Delbanco. Autobiography.