<div>The NPR reporter offers an &ldquo;engaging and enlightening&rdquo; window into late-90s Cuba, &ldquo;from the cafes in Havana to the mysterious lairs of Santiago de Cuba&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews). For NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu, reporting from Cuba on the eve of Pope John Paul II&rsquo;s 1998 visit was an opportunity to understand the realities of life in a country that has long been the subject of stereotypes and misconceptions. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba was the last place to witness a &ldquo;laboratory of pre-post-communism,&rdquo; as it toed the line between its socialist past and its uncertain future. On the streets of Havana and the beaches of Santiago de Cuba, Codrescu met people from all walks of life&mdash;from prostitutes and fortunetellers to bureaucrats and writers&mdash;eager to share their stories. Uncensored and compassionate, his interviews reveal a world where destruction and beauty, poverty and pride exist side by side. Traveling with photographer David Graham, whose powerful images illustrate the energy pulsing through everyday life in Cuba, Codrescu captures the humanity of a nation that is lost when it&rsquo;s reduced to a political symbol. With the United States resuming relations with Cuba for the first time in decades, Ay, Cuba! is more relevant now than ever before. </div>

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Ay, Cuba!

<div>At the end of the millennium, as Armageddon looms, two young women from opposite sides of the world unite as humanity&rsquo;s last hope for salvation In New Orleans, private investigator Felicity LeJeune has made it her mission to bring down the corrupt televangelist Reverend Mullin, leader of the United Ministries, who filched two million dollars in lottery winnings from Felicity&rsquo;s unassuming grandmother. Meanwhile, Mullin&rsquo;s flock of religious fundamentalists bombards the media with threats of catastrophic horror if people refuse to accept him as their savior. Across the globe, the mysterious Sarajevan orphan Andrea Isbik escapes a Serbian POW camp and finds asylum in Jerusalem, where she seduces cavalcades of religious scholars before finally landing in the Big Easy herself. There, amid the reverie of Mardi Gras, something dark is building. Surrounded by a wild cast of characters, Andrea and Felicity join forces to combat the impending apocalypse, fending off millennial fervor and Mullin&rsquo;s fanatical followers as the world&rsquo;s religions converge on New Orleans for the end of days. This riveting novel links our most ancient imaginings of Armageddon with our contemporary worship of technology. </div>

Messi@

<div>A &ldquo;brilliant&rdquo; novel of Elizabeth Bathory, the notorious sixteenth-century Hungarian aristocrat who bathed in the blood of virgins (St. Petersburg Times). Turmoil reigns in post-Soviet Hungary when journalist Drake Bathory-Kereshtur returns from America to grapple with his family history. He&rsquo;s haunted by the legacy of his ancestor, the notorious sixteenth-century Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who is said to have murdered more than 650 young virgins and bathed in their blood to preserve her youth. Interweaving past and present, The Blood Countess tells the stories of Elizabeth&rsquo;s debauched and murderous reign and Drake&rsquo;s fascination with the eternal clashes of faith and power, violence and beauty. Codrescu traces the captivating origins of the countess&rsquo;s obsessions in tandem with the emerging political fervor of the reporter, building the narratives into an unforgettable, bloody crescendo. Taut and intense, The Blood Countess is a riveting novel that deftly straddles the genres of historical fiction, thriller, horror, and family drama.</div>

The Blood Countess

<div>An erotic, comedic, and compulsively readable historical novel depicting the beguiling Giacomo Casanova as he looks back on a life of love and ribald adventure In Count Waldstein&rsquo;s far-flung Bohemian castle, an aging Casanova spends his days as a librarian cataloging the count&rsquo;s extensive collection of books. Or at least that&rsquo;s what he&rsquo;s supposed to be doing. Ever the storyteller, Casanova instead dedicates himself to his own writing, for which the young servant Laura Brock serves as an endlessly fascinated audience. He recounts to her his greatest escapades&mdash;from romances in a Venetian convent to the seduction of an entire harem to the triumphant amassing (and subsequent loss) of a fortune in Paris. Enlivened by the French Revolution and the liberating ideas of the Enlightenment, Casanova&rsquo;s latest exploits prove he still possesses an intellectual vigor and insatiable curiosity. Even old age can&rsquo;t keep this legendary libertine&mdash;who corresponded with Voltaire, discussed flight with Benjamin Franklin, and whose life and writings inspired artists as diverse as Mozart, Flaubert, Stendhal, and Hesse&mdash;from causing trouble. Rich with eighteenth-century European social, political, and religious history, Casanova in Bohemia is an energetic and erotic portrait of Western literature&rsquo;s most beloved lothario, whose hedonism was matched by his creativity and wit. </div>

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Casanova in Bohemia

<div>A modern-day Faust embarks on a wild romp through the peculiar and preposterous American landscape When the Devil shows up in Wakefield&rsquo;s living room to announce that his time is up, the bookish &ldquo;de-motivational&rdquo; speaker tries to strike a deal. The Devil agrees to prolong Wakefield&rsquo;s life&mdash;for now&mdash;on the condition that within the next year he finds a more authentic existence. For Wakefield, who is estranged from his family, nearly friendless, and excellent at his job of lowering expectations in a positivity-crazed world, living &ldquo;authentically&rdquo; is a tall order. But he will try: an extra 12 months might be worth it. Wakefield&rsquo;s bargain sets in motion a cross-country quest to find his life&rsquo;s purpose. Along the way, he encounters an array of all-American weirdness from plastic surgeons and sadomasochistic strippers to phony New Age yoga gurus and billion-dollar tech start-ups. Codrescu&rsquo;s astute observations and quick wit illuminate the comedy found in our national culture of narcissism and self-improvement. </div>

Wakefield

<div>A &ldquo;lovely collection&rdquo; of essays by the NPR commentator about his beloved adopted city, both before and after Hurricane Katrina (Publishers Weekly). NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu has long written about the unique city he calls home. How apt that a refugee born in Transylvania found his place where vampires roam the streets and voodoo queens live around the corner; where cemeteries are the most popular picnic spots; the ghosts of poets, prostitutes, and pirates are palpable; and in the French Quarter, no one ever sleeps. Codrescu&rsquo;s essays have been called &ldquo;satirical gems,&rdquo; &ldquo;subversive,&rdquo; &ldquo;funny,&rdquo; &ldquo;gonzo,&rdquo; and &ldquo;wittily poignant&rdquo;&mdash;here is a writer who perfectly mirrors the wild, voluptuous character of New Orleans itself. This retrospective follows him from newcomer to near native: first seduced by the lush banana trees in his backyard and the sensual aroma of coffee at the caf&eacute; down the block, Codrescu soon becomes a Window Gang regular at the infamous bar Molly&rsquo;s on Decatur; does a stint as King of Krewe de Vieux Carr&eacute; at Mardi Gras; befriends artists, musicians, and eccentrics; and exposes the city&rsquo;s underbelly of corruption, warning presciently about the lack of planning for floods in a city high on its own insouciance. Alas, as we all now know, Paradise is lost, but here Codrescu also writes about how the city&rsquo;s heart still beats even after 2005&rsquo;s devastating hurricane. New Orleans, Mon Amour is a portrait of an incomparable place, from a writer who &ldquo;manages to be brilliant and insightful, tough and seductive about American culture&rdquo; (The New York Times Book Review). &ldquo;Finely honed portraits of a fabled city and its equally fabled inhabitants. The author, who has called the Big Easy home for two decades, shows how, like some gigantic bohemian magnet, New Orleans attracts some of the world&rsquo;s most talented, self-indulgent freaks. Codrescu finds himself quite at home there. He expertly weaves pages of New Orleans history through his stories of personal discovery and debauchery. . . . Readers can&rsquo;t help coming away from reading it without an abiding hope in the ability of ordinary people, under the worst circumstances, rising to whatever challenges they face.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly</div>

Andrei Codrescu
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Books By Andrei Codrescu (6 Books)

Ay, Cuba!

Messi@

The Blood Countess

Casanova in Bohemia

Wakefield

New Orleans, Mon Amour

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© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Books By Andrei Codrescu (6 Books)

Ay, Cuba!

Messi@

The Blood Countess

Casanova in Bohemia

Wakefield

New Orleans, Mon Amour

RELATED POSTS ABOUT ANDREI CODRESCU

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Corporate

© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA