Kirjahaku

Coming of age in a small Croatian town under the thumb of a dictator, medical student Ivan Dolinar endures a series of misadventures that include his incarceration in a labor camp and his draft into the army, where he is rendered a pawn in a senseless conflict. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.

Soldiers and civilians from all sides--Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnia Muslim--become caught up in the tragic consequences and contradictions of war as armies clash in the former Yugoslavia from World War I Sarajevo to refugees in contemporary America, in a collection of short fiction. Reader's Guide available. Original. 25,000 first printing.

Master the Elements of the Writing Workshop The great paradox of the writing life is that to be a good writer, you must be both interested in the world around you and comfortable working in solitude for hours on end. Fiction Writer's Workshop, Second Edition, is designed to help you foster a strong sense of independence-of being and thinking on your own, of becoming self-evaluative without being self-critical-in order to accomplish what others seek in classroom groups. In this comprehensive guide, award-winning writer and teacher Josip Novakovich explores every aspect of the art of fiction and provides all the tools and techniques you'll need to develop day-to-day discipline as well as a personal writing style, such as:More than 100 writing exercises, including dozens that are new to this edition, that challenge you to experiment with diverse writing stylesSpecific statements of purpose for each exercise, to help guide you and instruct you at every step of the creative processSelf-critique questions to help you assess your work and identify strengths and weaknesses before moving on to the next lessonThe full text of eight acclaimed short stories, with analysis and exercises, to provide models for your own writing and help reinforce the lessons you've learned The practical, insightful methods offered in this workshop will clarify your voice, broaden your perspective, and strengthen your fiction.

Josip Novakovich's Vignettes offers a wide-ranging look at his life, including his youth in hometown Daruvar, Croatia, where he attended school in a castle on a hill with barrels of whites and reds stored in the basement, "my peers and I learned the basics of math, grammar, history, and literature, somewhat dizzy and fumigated in wine vapors that seeped upward through the oiled oak floors."​Over the course of seventeen short stories, Novakovich traces his relationship with wine: "Wine may have a lot to do with my interest in literature, or it may be the other way around-I am not sure which came first, those vapors, or the stories involving wine? And so, a bit of wine, in a small glass, a bit of truth, in a few lines."​

Both absurd and melancholy, Honey in the Carcase, the newest collection from award-winning Josip Novakovich, moves from scenes as familiar as a dinner party to the brutal landscapes of war-torn Southeast Europe. A man tends bees amid the bombed-out husks of his village. A young girl takes revenge for the loss of a precious life. A Yugoslav drifter finds himself at dead ends in the American heartland. A marriage splinters over a suspicious scent. A cat and a dog enact ancient enmity in the midst of a warzone. An old debt is repaid. And a boy and a juvenile hawk seem to be on a similar quest for freedom and adventure, though violence lurks in the wilds just beyond the window. Novakovich, hailed as “one of the best short-story writers of the decade” (Kirkus Reviews), approaches each story with the signature insight, wit, and compassion that have brought him distinction as winner of the American Book Award and Whiting Writer’s Award, and a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.

From Man Booker International Prize finalist Josip Novakovich comes a satiric novel with teeth—a tale of Russia in the early aughts, perfect for fans of Dostoevsky and Gary Shteyngart.In this picaresque novel set in the early 2000s, David, an investment banker with Eastern European roots, goes bankrupt from the Enron fiasco, and moves to Russia to do some soul-searching. In the shadow of the Khazan cathedral, he’s arrested for the murder of two Georgian wine-importers. David is imprisoned at Kresty, bewildered and alone. One day, Putin himself visits, with a modest proposal for David: to travel to Georgia and slip plutonium into the president’s wine. This is the price of freedom: to assassinate a president. Told with Josip Novakovich's signature skill and satiric wit, Rubble of Rubles delves into the absurdity and menace of totalitarianism. At the crossroads of literary fiction, satire, and crime, this is a novel for modern fans of Notes from Underground and Absurdistan.