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Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution
by Fred VogelsteinBehind the bitter rivalry between Apple and Google—and how it's reshaping the way we think about technologyThe rise of smartphones and tablets has altered the industry of making computers. At the center of this change are Apple and Google, two companies whose philosophies, leaders, and commercial acumen have steamrolled the competition. In the age of Android and the iPad, these corporations are locked in a feud that will play out not just in the mobile marketplace but in the courts and on screens around the world. Fred Vogelstein has reported on this rivalry for more than a decade and has rare access to its major players. In Dogfight, he takes us into the offices and board rooms where company dogma translates into ruthless business; behind outsize personalities like Steve Jobs, Apple's now-lionized CEO, and Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman; and inside the deals, lawsuits, and allegations that mold the way we communicate. Apple and Google are poaching each other's employees. They bid up the price of each other's acquisitions for spite, and they forge alliances with major players like Facebook and Microsoft in pursuit of market dominance.Dogfight reads like a novel: vivid nonfiction with never-before-heard details. This is more than a story about what devices will replace our cell phones and laptops. It's about who will control the content on those devices and where that content will come from—about the future of media and the Internet in Silicon Valley, New York, and Hollywood.
Dogfish Memory: A Memoir
by Joseph A. DaneThe Maine dogfish are gone—fished to the brink of extinction. Gone too is Linda Jane, and with her the love and the subjunctive Maine that they might have shared. And what of that fabled “Old Maine”? Is it gone for good? Written as a sailing chronicle, Dogfish Memory is the story of the search for an authentic Maine, a Maine of the past, whether historical or simply imagined, and a Maine of the present, one experienced by both permanent residents and seasonal ones—summerfolk. Joseph Dane is both. He has worked on commercial fishing boats as a local and he has sailed the coast for years like those who are “from away.” Dogfish Memory tells the story of how his often conflicting Maines are intertwined. Authentic Maine is elusive; stories and even photographs of a past Maine often contradict the memories of those who have lived through the changes they record. Dogfish Memory is thus the story of loss, the loss of a Maine recalled and imagined, and the loss of the love with which Maine is irrevocably associated.
Dogged Pursuit
by Robert RodiRead Robert Rodi's posts on the Penguin Blog. "A charming, hilarious look at a little-documented world. " -- People In dog years, Robert Rodi is 350. Age, however, couldn't possibly have prepared him for his experience with canine agility-the athletic cousin to best-of-breed shows. Rodi, an epicure and urban intellectual, picks up agility with aspirations for blue ribbons. His dreams of glory quickly fade when faced with the competition: hearty Midwestern handlers and their ferociously fit pups, who annihilate scrawny, scruffy, Dusty, Rodi's rescue dog and would-be champ, in the ring. The duo is utterly lost in the agility circles, but as in the best human/pet stories, they forge an everlasting bond to carry them through. Combining the wit of Christopher Guest's Best in Show and the charm of Marley & Me, Dogged Pursuit is an uproarious account of a neophyte's year in the dog show world that abounds in humor and warmth. .
Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show
by Tommy Tomlinson&“Extraordinary...Tomlinson&’s book is a gem.&” —Minneapolis Star Tribune * &“Delightful.&” —Town & Country * &“This book wants to lick your face. Let it.&” —Kirkus Reviews From Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Tomlinson comes an inside account of the Westminster Dog Show that follows one dog on his quest to become a champion—and explores the bond between dogs and their people.Tommy Tomlinson was watching a dog show on television a few years ago when he had a sudden thought: Are those dogs happy? How about pet dogs—are they happy? Those questions sparked a quest to venture inside the dog-show world, in search of a deeper understanding of the relationship between dogs and humans that has endured for thousands of years. Dogland shares his surprising, entertaining, and moving adventures. Tomlinson spends three years on the road and goes behind the scenes at more than one hundred competitions across the country, from Midwestern fairgrounds to Madison Square Garden. Along the way he is licked, sniffed, and rubbed up against by dogs of nearly every size, shape, and breed. Like a real-life version of the classic mockumentary Best in Show, Dogland follows one champion show dog—a Samoyed named Striker—as well as his handler, Laura King, and his devoted entourage of breeders and owners as he competes in the 2022 Westminster Dog Show. Striker&’s whole career has been leading up to this moment. As Tomlinson writes, picking a top show dog is like drafting an NFL quarterback when they&’re still in elementary school. Now Striker has made it to the Super Bowl. Tomlinson takes readers on the long road to glory, bringing the dog-show circuit to life as he witnesses teams scrambling from town to town in search of championship points and large, colorful ribbons. (Striker and his crew travel in a custom-built RV named after Betty White.) Tomlinson&’s limitless curiosity about people and dogs reaches far beyond the show tents and into the ordinary lives of dogs. We hear from experts who have discovered new insights into how dogs and humans formed their bond—and how that bond has changed over the centuries. We discover the fascinating origins of different dog breeds, learn about the elaborate breed standards that determine an ideal show dog, and consider the health issues that can arise in purebred dogs. We also meet dog lovers who applaud every dog, regardless of breed, simply for being themselves, such as WeRateDogs, the social media phenomenon with millions of followers, all for posts celebrating the day-to-day goofiness in most dog owners&’ lives. Engaging, charming, and insightful, Dogland is an irresistibly appealing read that invites us on a rollicking backstage tour through the rituals, tricks, and wonders of the dog-show world—and reveals what matters most for the happiness of dogs and dog lovers everywhere.
Dogs against Darkness: The Story of the Seeing Eye
by Dickson HartwellThis book is a moving and an inspirational story of the first seeing eye dog in America, Buddy, and his master, Morris Frank.
The Dogs and I
by Kenny SalweyJoin Kenny and the dogs who have been his companions for over fifty years. Readers will delight in dog days along the Mississippi with Rover the mutt, Pepper the rat terrier, and many more. Humorous, warm, and adventure-filled, these stories are a must for dog and outdoor lovers everywhere.
Dogs and Their Humans: Stories of Healing and Hope from the Supervet's Surgery
by Noel Fitzpatrick'A beautiful book' Greg JamesThere&’s no love quite like that between a dog and their human. When people come to see Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick at his referral hospital, they are in desperate need of his help. No matter who they are – a serving member of the military, a young boy whose dog is his best friend, a couple at a crossroads – they all have one thing in common: hope that Noel may be able to heal their animal companion. In his thirty years as a vet, Noel has seen people from all walks of life come through his doors. And through stories of his cases, he shares his unique perspective on our often hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking relationship with dogs. Filled with warmth, love and characters from Thor the Pyrenean Mountain Dog to Bertie the Pomeranian, with every shape and size in between, this is a celebration of our connection with man&’s best friend. Dogs make us the best humans we can be.
A Dog's Gift: The Inspirational Story of Veterans and Children Healed by Man's Best Friend
by Bob DruryA decade ago, former military counterintelligence officer Terry Henry joined his precocious young daughter, Kyria, on a trip to a nursing home in order to allow its residents to play with their family dog, a golden retriever named riley. Terry was astounded by the transformations that unfolded before his eyes. Soon after, Terry and Kyria started their service dog organization, paws4people, with the goal of pairing dogs with human beings in need of healing, including traumatized and wounded war veterans and children living with physical, emotional, and intellectual disabilities.In A Dog's Gift, award-winning journalist and author Bob Drury movingly captures the story of a year in the life of paws4people and the broken bodies and souls the organization mends. The book follows the journey of pups bred by the organization from their loving, if rigorous, early training to an emotional event that terry and Kyria have christened "the bump," where each individual service dog chooses its new owner through an almost mystical connection that ignites the healing process. incorporating vivid storytelling, insights into canine wisdom, history, science, and moving tales of personal transformation, A Dog's Gift is a story of miracles bound to be embraced by not only the 60 million Americans who own dogs, but by anyone with a full heart and a loving soul.
A Dog's Life
by Martin ClunesIt is a fact generally acknowledged, dear reader, that a man is not a man without a dog . . . `I have always been a pushover when it comes to dogs ? something my own dogs worked out a long time ago. Who else can be relied on to be that excited about seeing you first thing, day in day out??Mary, Tina and Arthur are the four-footed members of the Clunes family ? scrapping, sleeping, leaping, wagging and licking. But there?s too much of the scrapping, and the hierarchy is a complicated structure that has been bent and broken. Martin Clunes set off on a worldwide adventure to film ITV?s A Man and His Dogs and sought to discover where dogs come from and how they evolved into our companions and the working dogs of today. Along the way he also learned about the social structure of a wolf pack, survival skills of dingoes in Australia and wild dogs in Africa, among other things. In the wild, social rules are obeyed or fur flies, but nature has been pretty vicious in Martin?s own back yard as well. The battle to stop the fighting between Tina and Mary has included ventures into therapy, training classes, dog psychiatry, diet and tough love. Through the adventures of this delightful, closely-knit family, with their horses and chickens and dogs, we learn about the soft-hearted actor who is Martin Clunes. Fond, funny and endearing, this book will enchant and fascinate in equal measure.
A Dog's Life
by Martin ClunesIt is a fact generally acknowledged, dear reader, that a man is not a man without a dog . . . ‘I have always been a pushover when it comes to dogs – something my own dogs worked out a long time ago. Who else can be relied on to be that excited about seeing you first thing, day in day out?’Mary, Tina and Arthur are the four-footed members of the Clunes family – scrapping, sleeping, leaping, wagging and licking. But there’s too much of the scrapping, and the hierarchy is a complicated structure that has been bent and broken. Martin Clunes set off on a worldwide adventure to film ITV’s A Man and His Dogs and sought to discover where dogs come from and how they evolved into our companions and the working dogs of today. Along the way he also learned about the social structure of a wolf pack, survival skills of dingoes in Australia and wild dogs in Africa, among other things. In the wild, social rules are obeyed or fur flies, but nature has been pretty vicious in Martin’s own back yard as well. The battle to stop the fighting between Tina and Mary has included ventures into therapy, training classes, dog psychiatry, diet and tough love. Through the adventures of this delightful, closely-knit family, with their horses and chickens and dogs, we learn about the soft-hearted actor who is Martin Clunes. Fond, funny and endearing, this book will enchant and fascinate in equal measure.
A Dog's Life
by Michael HolroydEustace is undisputed patriarch of the Farquhar family. That is, he would be if everyone stopped mumbling, let him get on with his shaving and find his way downstairs. It's not Henry's fault that he snores and that his marriage has collapsed. Or that he failed to get into the cricket team. But he has made up for it and is now a faster motorist than ever he was bowler. He is a good father too and one day, when he wakes up from day-dreaming, his son Kenneth will thank him. It is good that Anne sleeps with a whistle in her mouth - how else could she terrify the burglars? As for Mathilda she would love to like her mother, but prefers going for long walks with the dog. But what will happen to them all if the dog dies? A devastating postscript follows the story. Placing this eccentric family in isolation after two world wars and at the beginning of our aggressive financial culture, it turns comedy into tragedy. This novel brings a very personal addition to the biographer's remarkable career.(P)2014 WF Howes Ltd
The Dogs of Bedlam Farm
by Jon KatzBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jon Katz's Going Home."Dogs are blameless, devoid of calculation, neither blessed nor cursed with human motives. They can't really be held responsible for what they do. But we can." -from The Dogs of Bedlam Farm When Jon Katz adopted a border collie named Orson, his whole world changed. Gone were the two yellow Labs he wrote about in A Dog Year, as was the mountaintop cabin they loved. Katz moved into an old farmhouse on forty-two acres of pasture and woods with a menagerie: a ram named Nesbitt, fifteen ewes, a lonely donkey named Carol, a baby donkey named Fanny, and three border collies. Training Orson was a demanding project. But a perceptive dog trainer and friend told Katz: "If you want to have a better dog, you will just have to be a better goddamned human." It was a lesson Katz took to heart. He now sees his dogs as a reflection of his willingness to improve, as well as a critical reminder of his shortcomings. Katz shows us that dogs are often what we make them: They may have their own traits and personalities, but in the end, they are mirrors of our own lives-living, breathing testaments to our strengths and frustrations, our families and our pasts. The Dogs of Bedlam Farm recounts a harrowing winter Katz spent on a remote, windswept hillside in upstate New York with a few life-saving friends, ugly ghosts from the past, and more livestock than any novice should attempt to manage. Heartwarming, and full of drama, insight, and hard-won wisdom, it is the story of his several dogs forced Katz to confront his sense of humanity, and how he learned the places a dog could lead him and the ways a doge could change him.
Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors
by James RestonFrom historian James Reston Jr., comes a riveting account of the pivotal events of 1492, a year when towering political ambitions, horrific religious excesses, and a drive toward adventure and conquest changed the world forever.
The Dogs Were Rescued (And So Was I)
by Teresa RhyneA NEW memoir from #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Dog Lived (and So Will I)We rescue dogs and bring them into our lives...and often they rescue us in return.What would cause a cheese-loving, meat-eating lawyer to become a vegan? Her dog. Teresa Rhyme and Seamus the beagle both survived cancer once, so when Seamus develops yet another cancer, Teresa vows to fight again. Unsure of the best way to battle the unseen enemy, she embarks on some experiments to create a healthier life for her family. She finds better food for Seamus, and a plant-based diet becomes her own guide, but she realized that's not enough for her--and it's not enough for the animals. As she searches for a more compassionate lifestyle, she struggles to find her place somewhere between a hypocrite in leather high heels and a hippie in a hemp skirt, all while coping with the threat of Seamus slipping away.When she encounters two other dogs who need help, including one rescued from animal testing, turning away seems impossible after everything she's discovered. Will turning her life upside down to rescue two more beagles be the best medicine for everyone?
Dogs With Jobs: Inspirational Tales of the World’s Hardest-Working Dogs
by Laura GreavesMeet Molly Polly, the diabetes alert dog whose round-the-clock job is to keep her two young owners healthy; Bailey, the Assistant Director of Seagulls, who keeps the pesky birds away from the heritage vessels at the Australian National Maritime Museum; and Daisy, the Collie mix who's a full-time guide dog for another dog. From inspirational moments of bravery to dogs doing the jobs that no one else can, these are the life-affirming stories of the most remarkable dogs on the planet.
Dogs With Jobs: Inspirational Tales of the Worlds Hardest-Working Dogs
by Laura GreavesMeet Molly Polly, the diabetes alert dog whose round-the-clock job is to keep her two young owners healthy; Bailey, the Assistant Director of Seagulls, who keeps the pesky birds away from the heritage vessels at the Australian National Maritime Museum; and Daisy, the Collie mix who's a full-time guide dog for another dog. From inspirational moments of bravery to dogs doing the jobs that no one else can, these are the life-affirming stories of the most remarkable dogs on the planet.
The Doha Experiment: Arab Kingdom, Catholic College, Jewish Teacher
by Gary WassermanGary Wasserman’s decision to head to Qatar to teach at Georgetown sounds questionable, at best. “In the beginning,” he writes, “this sounds like a politically incorrect joke. A Jewish guy walks into a fundamentalist Arab country to teach American politics at a Catholic college.” But he quickly discovers that he has entered a world that gives him a unique perspective on the Middle East and on Muslim youth; that teaches him about the treatment of Arab women and what an education will do for them, both good and bad; shows him the occasionally amusing and often deadly serious consequences his students face simply by living in the Middle East; and finds surprising similarities between his culture and the culture of his students. Most importantly, after eight years of teaching in Qatar he realizes he has become part of a significant, little understood movement to introduce liberal, Western values into traditional societies. Written with a sharp sense of humor, The Doha Experiment offers a unique perspective on where the region is going and clearly illustrates why Americans need to understand this clash of civilizations. Click here to learn more about upccoming events, promotions, and more.
Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic
by Paul FussellFussell's life began in Pasadena, California, a pastoral middle-class sanctuary almost untouched by the Great Depression. He went as an innocent to nearby Pomona College, where he learned about drink and women, and spent afternoons marching on the football field with the ROTC. And then, when the United States entered World War II, the spell was broken. At nineteen he joined the army and began the central event of his life. He endured basic training, became a second lieutenant in the infantry, and, leading his platoon into battle, was seriously wounded. When he recovered, he vowed never to take orders again. His newly subversive sensibility would color all his later years, as a Harvard Ph.D. student, as a professor of literature, and as one of America's most distinguished commentators on twentieth-century life.
Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences
by Howard ZehrWhat does it mean to face a life prison sentence? What have "lifers" learned about life--from having taken a life? Photographer Howard Zehr has interviewed and made portraits of men and women in Pennsylvania prisons who are serving life sentences without possibility of parole. Readers see the prisoners as people, demystified. Brief text accompanies each portrait, the voice of each prisoner speaking openly about the crime each has committed, the utter violation of another person each has caused. They speak of loneliness, missing their children growing up, dealing with the vacuum, caught between death and life. A timely book. "The photographs are compelling. The total effect is memorable. Highly recommended." -Library Journal
Doing Psychoanalysis in Tehran
by Gohar HomayounpourA Western-trained psychoanalyst returns to her homeland and tells stories of displacement, nostalgia, love, and pain. Is psychoanalysis possible in the Islamic Republic of Iran? This is the question that Gohar Homayounpour poses to herself, and to us, at the beginning of this memoir of displacement, nostalgia, love, and pain. Twenty years after leaving her country, Homayounpour, an Iranian, Western-trained psychoanalyst, returns to Tehran to establish a psychoanalytic practice. When an American colleague exclaims, “I do not think that Iranians can free-associate!” Homayounpour responds that in her opinion Iranians do nothing but. Iranian culture, she says, revolves around stories. Why wouldn't Freud's methods work, given Iranians' need to talk? Thus begins a fascinating narrative of interlocking stories that resembles—more than a little—a psychoanalytic session. Homayounpour recounts the pleasure and pain of returning to her motherland, her passion for the work of Milan Kundera, her complex relationship with Kundera's Iranian translator (her father), and her own and other Iranians' anxieties of influence and disobedience. Woven throughout the narrative are glimpses of her sometimes frustrating, always candid, sessions with patients. Ms. N, a famous artist, dreams of abandonment and sits in the analyst's chair rather than on the analysand's couch; a young chador-clad woman expresses shame because she has lost her virginity; an eloquently suicidal young man cannot kill himself.As a psychoanalyst, Homayounpour knows that behind every story told is another story that remains untold. Doing Psychoanalysis in Tehran connects the stories, spoken and unspoken, that ordinary Iranians tell about their lives before their hour is up.
Doing Sixty & Seventy
by Gloria SteinemReflections on women&’s aging from the New York Times–bestselling author who inspired the film The Glorias.One day I woke up and there was a seventy-year-old woman in my bed . . . Gloria Steinem has been an eloquent and outspoken voice for women&’s rights and equality for more than four decades. In Doing Sixty & Seventy she addresses an essential concern of people everywhere—and especially of women: the issue of aging. Whereas turning fifty, in her experience, is &“leaving a much-loved and familiar country,&” turning sixty means &“arriving at the border of a new one.&” With insight, intelligence, wit, and heartfelt honesty, she explores the landscapes of this new country and celebrates what she has called &“the greatest adventure of our lives.&” While appreciating everybody&’s experiences as different, Steinem sees these years as charged with possibilities. Dealing with stereotypes and the &“invisibility&” that often accompany a woman&’s senior years can be as liberating as it is frustrating. It frees women as well as men to embrace that &“full, glorious, alive-in-the-moment, don&’t-give-a-damn yet caring-for-everything sense of the right now.&” This ebook features an illustrated biography of Gloria Steinem including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s personal collection.
Doing Sixty & Seventy
by Gloria SteinemReflections on women&’s aging from the New York Times–bestselling author who inspired the film The Glorias.One day I woke up and there was a seventy-year-old woman in my bed . . . Gloria Steinem has been an eloquent and outspoken voice for women&’s rights and equality for more than four decades. In Doing Sixty & Seventy she addresses an essential concern of people everywhere—and especially of women: the issue of aging. Whereas turning fifty, in her experience, is &“leaving a much-loved and familiar country,&” turning sixty means &“arriving at the border of a new one.&” With insight, intelligence, wit, and heartfelt honesty, she explores the landscapes of this new country and celebrates what she has called &“the greatest adventure of our lives.&” While appreciating everybody&’s experiences as different, Steinem sees these years as charged with possibilities. Dealing with stereotypes and the &“invisibility&” that often accompany a woman&’s senior years can be as liberating as it is frustrating. It frees women as well as men to embrace that &“full, glorious, alive-in-the-moment, don&’t-give-a-damn yet caring-for-everything sense of the right now.&” This ebook features an illustrated biography of Gloria Steinem including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s personal collection.
Dois Papas
by Anthony McCartenA 28 de Fevereiro de 2013, um acontecimento deixou o mundo em suspenso. Uma narrativa apaixonante sobre dois dos homens mais influentes do mundo, a verdadeira história na origem do filme O Papa, protagonizado por Anthony Hopkins e Jonathan Pryce, em breve nos cinemas. A 28 de Fevereiro de 2013, quebrou-se uma tradição com mais de setecentos anos na Igreja católica: o conservador papa Bento XVI anunciou que ia abdicar. O colégio dos cardeais reuniu-se de imediato na Capela Sistina para eleger um sucessor, e daí saiu uma escolha improvável: ao ultraconservador Joseph Ratzinger sucedia o moderado Francisco, o primeiro papa não europeu em mil e duzentos anos de História. Antigo segurança num clube de tango e um apaixonado por futebol, Jorge Mario Bergoglio era um homem comum, do povo. Porque terá o papa mais tradicional da era moderna promovido a maior das rupturas? Comopôde Joseph Ratzinger, ultraconservador, protector da fé e guardião da doutrina, abandonar o seu legado às mãos do radical Jorge Mario Bergoglio, um homem de personalidade e convicções tão completamente diversas das suas? Pela primeira vez na história recente da Igreja, esta debate-se com a existência de dois papas vivos, que partilham o mesmo tecto, ambos senhores de uma tremenda e inalienável autoridade. Anthony McCarten, argumentista premiado de A Teoria de Tudo e A Hora Mais Negra, traz-nos a biografia de dois homens profundamente diferentes, protagonistas de uma das maiores transferências de poder de sempre. Das experiências de guerra nos anos de juventude - quando eram ainda, apenas, Joseph e Jorge - aos escândalos de abusos sexuais que continuam a abalar as fundações da Igreja, passando pelos episódios mais mundanos do dia-a-dia no Vaticano, este livro lança luz sobre os pormenores mais obscuros da vida no interior de uma das instituições mais poderosas, e também mais opacas, do mundo.
Dolce Vita Confidential: Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome
by Shawn LevySUNDAY TIMES FILM BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Uproariously readable ... Levy is a master of the group biography' Sunday Times'Teeming with satisfying gossipy details' Guardian'Exalts the intoxicating, beguiling dreaminess of Rome in its celluloid heyday' TLS 1950s Rome. From the ashes of war, the Eternal City is reborn as the epicentre of film, style and boldfaced libertinism. Movie stars including Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor flock to Cinecittà studio and mix with blue bloods and bohemians at the bars on Via Veneto, while behind them trail street photographers in pursuit of the most unflattering and dramatic portraits of fame. In a fast-paced, kaleidoscopic narrative, Shawn Levy recreates Rome's ascent with compelling tales of its glitterati and artists, down to every last outrageous detail of the city's magnificent transformation into 'Hollywood on the Tiber'.
The Doll: A Portrait of My Mother
by Ismail KadareIn this autobiographical novel, Albania’s most renowned novelist and poet Ismail Kadare explores his relationship with his mother in a delicately wrought tale of home, family, creative aspirations, and personal and political freedom.“Houses like ours seemed constructed with the specific purpose of preserving coldness and misunderstanding for as long as possible.”In his father’s great stone house with hidden rooms and even a dungeon, Ismail grows up with his mother at the center of his universe. Fragile as a paper doll, she finds herself at odds with her tight–lipped and wise mother–in–law who, as is the custom for women of a certain age, will never again step foot over the threshold to leave her home. Young Ismail finds it difficult to understand his mother’s tears, though he can understand her boredom. She told him the reason herself in a phrase that terrified and obsessed the boy: “The house is eating me up!”As Ismail explores his world, his mother becomes fearful of her intellectual son—he uses words she does not understand, writes radical poetry, falls in love far too easily, and seems to renounce everything she believes in. He will, she fears, have to exchange her for some other superior mother when he becomes a famous writer.The Doll is a delicate and disarming autobiographical novel, an exploration of Kadare’s creative aspirations and their tangled connections to his childhood home and his mother’s tenuous place within it.