2019.4.30 New Arrivals

Machines Like Me

AUTHOR: Ian McEwan
PUBLISHER: Jonathan Cape

Britain has lost the Falklands war, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI). In a world not quite like this one, two lovers will be tested beyond their understanding.

“Machines Like Me” occurs in an alternative 1980s London. Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first batch of synthetic humans. With Miranda’s assistance, he co-designs Adam’s personality. This near-perfect human is beautiful, strong and clever - a love triangle soon forms. These three beings will confront a profound moral dilemma. Ian McEwan’s subversive and entertaining new novel poses fundamental questions: What makes us human? Our outward deeds or our inner lives? Could a machine understand the human heart? This provocative and thrilling tale warns of the power to invent things beyond our control.

New Map Italy: Unforgettable Experiences for the Discerning Traveller

AUTHOR: Herbert Ypma
PUBLISHER: Thames and Hudson

Today’s discerning traveler is looking not merely for luxury but for a unique experience. But in this age of low-cost flights and easy travel, how do you avoid the crowds and find the hidden gems? Not via sponsored search results or indistinguishable reviews. What you need is on-the-ground, in-person, tried-and-trusted knowledge.

In this new guide to Italy, Herbert Ypma surprises and delights with his unequalled eye for detail and his unerring ability to judge what makes the difference between a good experience and a truly memorable one. The 85 experiences and tips that he maps out across the length and breadth of Italy fall into four key categories: “Staying in Character” features 35 places to stay, from the grand to the eccentric, all embodying the soul and character of their setting; “Eclectic Experiences” surveys 20 stand-out experiences, from jumping off the cliffs near Otranto to swimming the walls of Dionysius in Ortigia, and from exploring the forgotten farmland of Sicily’s interior to finding the best gelati in Rome; “Legend for Lunch” points you in the direction of the most authentic places to eat; and “Convincing Context” surveys 20 experiences enhanced by nuggets of history. Together, they amount to a new map of authentic Italian experiences, making this the must-have 21st-century guide for the world’s most exacting traveller.

At Dusk

AUTHOR: Hwang Sok-yong (Author), Sora Kim-Russell (Translator)
PUBLISHER: Scribe UK

Park Minwoo is, by every measure, a success story. Born into poverty in a miserable neighbourhood of Seoul, he has ridden the wave of development in a rapidly modernizing society. Now the director of a large architectural firm, his hard work and ambition have brought him triumph and satisfaction. Yet when his company is investigated for corruption, he’s forced to reconsider his role.

At the same time, he receives an unexpected message from an old friend, Cha Soona, a woman that he had once loved, and then betrayed. As memories return unbidden, Minwoo recalls a world he thought had been left behind - a world he now understands that he has helped to destroy.

In “At Dusk,” one of Korea’s most renowned and respected authors continues his gentle, yet urgent project of evaluating Korea’s past, and examining the things and the people that have been given up in a never-ending quest to move forward.

The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose

AUTHOR: Alice Munro
PUBLISHER: Vintage

Born into the backstreets of a small Canadian town, Rose battled incessantly with her practical and shrewd stepmother, Flo, who cowed her with tales of her own past and warnings of the dangerous world outside. Yet Rose was ambitious: she won a scholarship and left for Toronto where she married Patrick. She was his Beggar Maid, “meek and voluptuous, with her shy white feet,” and he was her knight, content to sit and adore her.

Alice Munro’s collection of stories reads like a novel following Rose’s life as she moves away from her roots and forges her own path in the world.