SKU: 3501162929

Known and Strange Things: Essays

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Known and Strange Things: EssaysA blazingly intelligent first book of essays from the award winning author of Open City and Every Day Is for the Thief NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time The Guardian Harper's Bazaar San Francisco Chronicle The Atlantic Financial Times Kirkus Finalist for the PEN Diamonstein Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay and PEN Jean Stein Book Award With this collection of more than fifty pieces on politics, photography, travel, history, and

A blazingly intelligent first book of essays from the award-winning author of Open City and Every Day Is for the Thief

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
Time - The Guardian - Harper's Bazaar - San Francisco Chronicle - The Atlantic - Financial Times - Kirkus

Finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay and PEN/Jean Stein Book Award

With this collection of more than fifty pieces on politics, photography, travel, history, and literature, Teju Cole solidifies his place as one of today's most powerful and original voices. On page after page, deploying prose dense with beauty and ideas, he finds fresh and potent ways to interpret art, people, and historical moments, taking in subjects from Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare, and W. G. Sebald to Instagram, Barack Obama, and Boko Haram. Cole brings us new considerations of James Baldwin in the age of Black Lives Matter; the African American photographer Roy DeCarava, who, forced to shoot with film calibrated exclusively for white skin tones, found his way to a startling and true depiction of black subjects; and (in an essay that inspired both praise and pushback when it first appeared) the White Savior Industrial Complex, the system by which African nations are sentimentally aided by an America "developed on pillage."

Persuasive and provocative, erudite yet accessible, Known and Strange Things is an opportunity to live within Teju Cole's wide-ranging enthusiasms, curiosities, and passions, and a chance to see the world in surprising and affecting new frames.

Praise for Known and Strange Things

"On every level of engagement and critique, Known and Strange Things is an essential and scintillating journey."--Claudia Rankine, The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)

"A heady mix of wit, nostalgia, pathos, and a genuine desire to untangle the world, or at the least, to bask in its unending riddles."--The Atlantic

"Brilliant . . . Known and Strange Things] reveals Cole's extraordinary talent and his capacious mind."--Time

" Known and Strange Things] showcases the magnificent breadth of subjects Cole] is able to plumb with . . . passion and eloquence."--Harper's Bazaar

" Cole is] one of the most vibrant voices in contemporary writing."--LA Times

"Cole has fulfilled the dazzling promise of his novels Every Day Is for the Thief and Open City. He ranges over his interests with voracious keenness, laser-sharp prose, an open heart and a clear eye."--The Guardian

"Remarkably probing essays . . . Cole is one of only a very few lavishing his focused attention on that most approachable (and perhaps therefore most overlooked) art form, photography."--Chicago Tribune

"There's almost no subject Cole can't come at from a startling angle. . . . His is a] prickly, eclectic, roaming mind."--The Boston Globe

" Cole] brings a subtle, layered perspective to all he encounters."--Vanity Fair

"In page after page, Cole upholds the sterling virtue of good writing combined with emotional and intellectual engagement."--The New Statesman

" Known and Strange Things possesses] a passion for justice, a deep sympathy for the poor and the powerless around the world, and a fiery moral outrage."--Poets and Writers

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Random House Trade
Published: 08/09/2016
ISBN: 9780812989786
Pages: 416
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 1.00d

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 03/15/2016 pg. 90
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2016
Publishers Weekly 05/23/2016
Booklist 07/01/2016 pg. 14
BookPage 08/01/2016
Library Journal 03/15/2016
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SKU: 3501162929

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NLB
Houston, US
★★★★★ 5
Interesting
Format: Kindle
So I will say I enjoyed the story, for sure had its moments where it dragged but it was a great story. I really liked that omegas picked their alphas/make the pack. Normally the Alphas make it and the omega fits in with them which is great but I enjoyed this new version where all the power basically went to the omega. It was a nice change of pace. I can admit some of the weird bedroom stuff with her being pregnant was odd, it’s really not hard to do stuff when pregnant (I know I’ve had two and it’s normal and even encouraged at the end especially if you want the baby out). But I like the story as a whole and will read the second, I do hope the next one isn’t dragged bc it stopped being action or tense after she met her alphas and I don’t think it was brought up or properly done when they tried to do it. More sweet after she left.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2024
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Altairjones
Chelsea, US
★★★★★ 3
I’m a little disappointed.
Format: Kindle
I usually like Jillian West’s books but this one was missing a lot for me. The pregnancy didn’t come across as real. She’s on her feet for 12 hour days but is perfectly healthy at 8 months pregnant? Yet the week she moves in all of a sudden she’s not? She is planning on actually running during one of the plot buildups. But at 8 months pregnant that’s incredibly hard to do. The lack of breathing ability and lung space, the change in body center, mass, and gravity. All of it prohibits running, unless you’re an athlete this didn’t come off as at all realistic. I didn’t feel any connection with the alphas. There wasn’t any emotional connection. It could be because of the tense it was written in. But I didn’t get any deep feelings out of this. It came across as checking off boxes. Even the spicy scenes weren’t really believable for me. I wanted to see them fall for her, and it just kind of all fizzled. Even Bishop. One thing I did really like was the ending. I did not see it coming and I’m interested in reading book two because of it. But on the whole this book was mostly disappointing for me.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2024
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Melissa Williams
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 4
4.25 stars
Format: Kindle
Vale is an 8 month pregnant omega working as a waitress at a strip club and a cam girl. She starts to get very creepy vibes from a regular at the club, and her baby daddy ghosted her. She has had an online relationship with a man named Bishop through her cam girl status. One night, bishop was paying to watch her sleep and ansthe creepy regular Andrew break in and watch her sleep he tells vale to come to him at his business now. She flees and finds herself at a large security company with some.hot of alphas who are there to help her. This imegaverse is a little different than I have read, but I am thoroughly enjoying it. Vale is not a traditional omega she was raised by a single beta mom, and the alphas are not normal alphas they have never really loved pack life. But they are ruthless mercenaries. They need her, and she needs them. I love the aspect of the stalker and now the plot twists at the end, so so good. Sometimes, it seemed a little slow and stale mated, but since this a duet, I think It was just her starting to have Vale get to know her alpha suitors. Cliffhanger for sure with this one.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2024
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Austin & Cambria
Cuba, US
★★★★★ 5
That ending 😫
Format: Kindle
I fell into a false sense of security and really thought this was gearing towards a happy ending. Then I realized there’s no work they don’t punish Andrew. I really liked Vale’s character. I don’t normally read books with pregnancy but going into this knowing she was pregnant made it more enjoyable for me. I loved Bishops devotion to her and her happiness. I also loved that Holt and Mercy couldn’t fight their attraction to her. I love scent matches so very much. I’m so curious to see how this duet will end up. And I need to pay more attention and notice that a book I’m starting is a duet to begin with lol
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Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2025
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Sarah A
Carnegie, US
★★★★★ 5
oh wow
Format: Kindle
I just knew there was something about Cooper! I’m wondering if he’s about to be included but damn I’m glad he’s at least not a rapist and creepy guy, he just got called on assignment and had to go! This should be interesting! She’s gonna run and then what’s his face is gonna grab her. I’m worried! Wow that was a great book and cliffhanger! Loving this!
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Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2025

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