Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language

William Zinsser

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

" On Writing Well is a bible for a generation of writers looking for clues to clean, compelling prose." - New York Times A beloved classic, this definitive volume on the art of writing nonfiction celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. On Writing Well , which grew out of a course that William Zinsser taught at Yale, has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity, and for the warmth of its style. It is a book for anybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts, or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you both fundamental principles as well as the insights of a distinguished practitioner. With over a million copies in print, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valued resource for writers and would-be writers.

Ovid

Ovid: Metamorphoses III

This simple, utilitarian edition offers sixth-form and undergraduate students an introduction to the enchanted, sometimes violent, often sad, often funny world of the "Metamorphoses". Book III is ideal in this respect, for it possesses a homogeneity unusual among the fifteen books of the poem and follows the fortunes of the royal house of Thebes in episodes which are related at some length, allowing the reader to savour the individual quality of each story and fix its 'dramatis personae' in mind and memory. The brief introduction places the book in its ancient context. Notes serve primarily to aid comprehension of the Latin but also give aesthetic and antiquarian information. A vocabulary is included.

Michael Wex

Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods

From The Three Stooges to Seinfeld , Born to Kvetch is a smart and witty portrait of Yiddish and its relationship to both Jewish culture and American life. "An earthy romp through the lingua franca of Jews.... This treasure trove of linguistics, sociology, history and folklore offers a fascinating look at how, through the centuries, a unique and enduring language has reflected an equally unique and enduring culture." --Publishers Weekly, starred review The main spoken language of the Jews for more than 1,000 years, Yiddish offers a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled them to survive a millennium of unrelenting persecution across Europe. Through the idioms, phrases, metaphors, and fascinating history of this wonderful tongue, Michael Wex gives us a moving and inspiring portrait of a people, and a language, in exile. From tukhes to goy, meshugener to bobe mayse (cok-and-bull story), Born to Kvetch offers a wealth of material, some that has never appeared in English before, on all elements of Yiddish life, including food, nature, divinity, humanity, and even sex.