• Complain

Alasdair Gray - Unlikely Stories Mostly

Here you can read online Alasdair Gray - Unlikely Stories Mostly full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2003, publisher: Canongate U.S., genre: Prose. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

Alasdair Gray Unlikely Stories Mostly
  • Book:
    Unlikely Stories Mostly
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    Canongate U.S.
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    2003
  • Rating:
    4 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 80
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Unlikely Stories Mostly: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Unlikely Stories Mostly" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

Too clever for its own good in parts, but otherwise a damned good read. Col. Sebastian Moran in the Simla Times. This anthology may be likened to a vast architectural folly imblending the idioms of the Greek, Gothic, Oriental, Baroque, Scottish Baronial and Bauhaus schools. Like one who, absently sauntering the streets of Barcelona, suddenly beholds the breathtaking grandeur of Gaudis Familia Sagrada, I am compelled to admire a display of power and intricacy whose precise purpose evades me. Is the structure haunted by a truth too exalted and ghostly to dwell in a plainer edifice? Perhaps. I wonder. I doubt. Lady Nicola Stewart, Countess of Dunfermline in The Celtic Needlewoman. Alasdair Grays most playful book earned a place in this Classic Series by being in print since first published by Canongate in 1983. This completely amended edition has two new stories; also a postscript by the author and Douglas Gifford.

Alasdair Gray: author's other books


Who wrote Unlikely Stories Mostly? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Unlikely Stories Mostly — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Unlikely Stories Mostly" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Alasdair Gray

Unlikely Stories Mostly

ERRATUM

The Publishers apologise for

the loss of the erratum slip

UNLIKELY STORIES, MOSTLY

Alasdair Gray was

and educated

and became

residing

and remaining

and intending

then on

became in

and again

and later

and later

again.

He still is

and resides

and intends

and hopes

and may

,but

is certain to

one day.

Unlikely Stories Mostly - photo 1

They passed through the galleries - photo 2

They passed through the galleries surveyed the vaults of marble and examined - photo 3

They passed through the galleries surveyed the vaults of marble and examined - photo 4

They passed through the galleries surveyed the vaults of marble and examined - photo 5

They passed through the galleries surveyed the vaults of marble and examined - photo 6

They passed through the galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble, and examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed to have been deposited. They sat down in one of the most spacious chambers to rest for a whille, before they attempted to return.

We have now, said Imlac, gratified our minds with an exact view of the greatest work of man, except the wall of China.

Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive. It secured a wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of barbarians. But for the pyramids no reason has ever been given adequate to the cost and labour of the work. It seems to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must always be appeased by some employment. He who has built for use till use is supplied, must begin to build for vanity, and extend his plan to the utmost power of human performance that he may not be soon reduced to form another wish.

I consider this mighty structure as a monument to the insufficiency of human enjoyments. A government whose power is unlimited, and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary wants, is compelled to solace the satiety of dominion by seeing thousands labouring without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon another.

From RASSELAS by Samuel Johnson

~ ~ ~

Unlikely Stories Mostly - photo 7

THE STAR A star ha - photo 8

THE STAR A star had fallen beyond the horizon in Canada perhaps He had an - photo 9

THE STAR A star had fallen beyond the horizon in Canada perhaps He had an - photo 10

THE STAR A star had fallen beyond the horizon in Canada perhaps He had an - photo 11

THE STAR A star had fallen beyond the horizon in Canada perhaps He had an - photo 12

THE STAR

A star had fallen beyond the horizon, in Canada perhaps. (He had an aunt in Canada.) The second was nearer, just beyond the iron works, so he was not surprised when the third fell into the backyard. A flash of gold light lit the walls of the enclosing tenements and he heard a low musical chord. The light turned deep red and went out, and he knew that somewhere below a star was cooling in the night air. Turning from the window he saw that no-one else had noticed. At the table his father, thoughtfully frowning, filled in a football coupon, his mother continued ironing under the pulley with its row of underwear. He said in a small voice, Am gawn out. His mother said, See youre no long then.

He slipped through the lobby and onto the stairhead, banging the door after him.

The stairs were cold and coldly lit at each landing by a weak electric bulb He - photo 13

The stairs were cold and coldly lit at each landing by a weak electric bulb. He hurried down three flights to the black silent yard and began hunting backward and forward, combing with his fingers the lank grass round the base of the clothes-pole. He found it in the midden on a decayed cabbage leaf. It was smooth and round, the size of a glass marble, and it shone with a light which made it seem to rest on a precious bit of green and yellow velvet. He picked it up. It was warm and filled his cupped palm with a ruby glow. He put it in his pocket and went back upstairs.

That night in bed he had a closer look. He slept with his brother who was not easily wakened. Wriggling carefully far down under the sheets, he opened his palm and gazed. The star shone white and blue, making the space around him like a cave in an iceberg. He brought it close to his eye. In its depth was the pattern of a snow-flake, the grandest thing he had ever seen. He looked through the flakes crystal lattice into an ocean of glittering blue- black waves under a sky full of huge galaxies. He heard a remote lulling sound like the sound in a sea-shell, and fell asleep with the star safely clenched in his hand.

He enjoyed it for nearly two weeks, gazing at it each night below the sheets, sometimes seeing the snow-flake, sometimes a flower, jewel, moon or landscape. At first he kept it hidden during the day but soon took to carrying it about with him; the smooth rounded gentle warmth in his pocket gave comfort when he felt insulted or neglected.

At school one afternoon he decided to take a quick look. He was at the back of the classroom in a desk by himself. The teacher was among the boys at the front row and all heads were bowed over books. Quickly he brought out the star and looked. It contained an aloof eye with a cool green pupil which dimmed and trembled as if seen through water.

What have you there, Cameron?

He shuddered and shut his hand.

Marbles are for the playground, not the classroom. Youd better give it to me.

I cannae, sir.

I dont tolerate disobedience, Cameron. Give me that thing.

The boy saw the teachers face above him, the mouth opening and shutting under a clipped moustache. Suddenly he knew what to do and put the star in his mouth and swallowed. As the warmth sank toward his heart he felt relaxed and at ease. The teachers face moved into the distance. Teacher, classroom, world receded like a rocket into a warm, easy blackness leaving behind a trail of glorious stars, and he was one of them.

THE SPREAD OF IAN NICOL One day Ian Nicol a riveter by trade started to - photo 14

THE SPREAD OF IAN NICOL

One day Ian Nicol, a riveter by trade, started to split in two down the middle. The process began as a bald patch on the back of his head. For a week he kept smearing it with hair restorer, yet it grew bigger, and the surface became curiously puckered and so unpleasant to look upon that at last he went to his doctor. What is it? he asked.

I dont know, said the doctor, but it looks like a face, ha, ha! How do you feel these days?

Fine. Sometimes I get a stabbing pain in my chest and stomach but only in the morning.

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Unlikely Stories Mostly»

Look at similar books to Unlikely Stories Mostly. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Unlikely Stories Mostly»

Discussion, reviews of the book Unlikely Stories Mostly and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.