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Swimming Pool Library

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Swimming Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

About this title: A novel concerned with the gay relationship between William Beckwith (rich, unemployed, in his early twenties) and Lord Nantwich (comfortable, cultured and elderly) who become entwined when William saves Lord Nantwich from death. This is the first novel by the deputy editor of the "Times Literary Supplement".

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The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $1.99

Ships from NV, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24. Eligible for Super Value Shipping

Binding: Hardcover Publisher: Random House Date Published: 1988 ISBN-13: 9780394570259 ISBN: 0394570251

Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: Alibris, NV, USA
Eligible for free shipping

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $20.65

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Binding: Mass Market Paperback Publisher: Vintage Books USA Date Published: 07/2004 ISBN-13: 9780099468363 ISBN: 0099468360

Description: Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 304 p. read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: Alibris, NV, USA
Eligible for free shipping

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming Pool Library

by Hollinghurst

price: $1.99

Ships from AZ, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Paperback Publisher: Random House Date Published: 1988 ISBN-13: 9780140119596 ISBN: 0140119590

Description: Very Good. Nice clean copy. Minimal shelf wear. read more

condition:

Book: Very Good

 

seller information:

Name: Lois Rosenlof, AZ, USA

Reliability: Best

Swimming Pool Library used book

Swimming Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $1.99

Ships from FL, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Edition: 0140116109th edition Binding: Softcover Publisher: Penguin Putnam ISBN-13: 9780140116106 ISBN: 0140116109

Description: 0.01. read more

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seller information:

Name: Sea Shell Books, FL, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $1.99

Ships from IN, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Hardcover Publisher: Random House Date Published: 1988 ISBN-13: 9780394570259 ISBN: 0394570251

Description: GOOD in ACCEPTABLE jacket. USED. read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: Owls Books, IN, USA

Reliability: Best

Swimming Pool Library used book

Swimming Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $1.99

Ships from WA, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Softcover Publisher: Penguin Putnam~trade ISBN-13: 9780140116106 ISBN: 0140116109

Description: Fair. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more

condition:

Book: Fair

 

seller information:

Name: Green Earth Books, WA, USA

Reliability: Best

Swimming Pool Library used book

Swimming Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $1.99

Ships from WA, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Trade paperback Publisher: Vintage Books USA Date Published: 1989 ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 352 p. Vintage International (Paperback). read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: Great Buy Books, WA, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $1.99

Ships from PA, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Hardcover Publisher: Random House Date Published: 1988 ISBN-13: 9780394570259 ISBN: 0394570251

Description: Good. Hardcover. Moderate wear. Pages clean and unmarked. Binding tight. read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: Steel Valley Books, PA, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $1.99

Ships from MA, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Paperback Publisher: Insightout Books Date Published: 2001 ISBN-13: 9780965022378 ISBN: 0965022374

Description: Very Good. SMALL TEAR IN COVER All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more

condition:

Book: Very Good

 

seller information:

Name: TheUsedBookHounds, MA, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $2.21

Ships from NJ, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Trade paperback Publisher: Random House Date Published: 1988 ISBN-13: 9780394570259 ISBN: 0394570251

Description: Good. No dust jacket. Wear to edges of soft cover. Light page tanning from age. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. Audience: General/trade. read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: STF Store, NJ, USA

Reliability: Best

Swimming Pool Library used book

Swimming Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $2.24

Ships from PA, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Trade Paperback. Publisher: Penguin Putnam~trade Date Published: 1989-07-06 ISBN-13: 9780140116106 ISBN: 0140116109

Description: Very good condition. Book. read more

condition:

Book: Very Good

 

seller information:

Name: Harvest Book Company, PA, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming Pool Library

by Hollinghurst

price: $2.54

Ships from MD, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Softcover ISBN-13: 9780140119596 ISBN: 0140119590

Description: Very Good. Very Good condition. read more

condition:

Book: Very Good

 

seller information:

Name: Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB, MD, USA

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $2.95

Ships from NY, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Softcover ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: Acceptable. 1989-Paperback---Used-Acceptable. Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more

condition:

see description

 

seller information:

Name: Hall Street Books, NY, USA

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $2.96

Ships from IL, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Softcover Publisher: Vintage Books Date Published: 1989 ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: Good. No Jacket. Corners Worn, Sm. Wrinkles On Spine, Interior Unmarked, Good Copy. read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: Solanbooks, IL, USA

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $2.98

Ships from IL, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Paperback Publisher: Vintage Date Published: 1989-09-19 ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: Fair. Tear on the edge of the front cover that goes halfway down the page. Every heavytail order includes with a sweet! We carefully hand clean and reinspect each and every item we ship. Our quality control process ensures items to be in the condition described or better. Heavytail is determined to earn your repeat business through old fashioned customer service. We love international orders. read more

condition:

Book: Fair

 

seller information:

Name: heavytail, IL, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

Swimming-Pool Library

price: $2.99

Ships from MI, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Softcover Publisher: Vintage Date Published: 2006 ISBN-13: 9780099268130 ISBN: 0099268132

Description: Very good. 2006; Paperback; No notes/hiliting; Clean pages; No dog-ears; Strong binding. read more

condition:

Book: Very Good

 

seller information:

Name: Books by Chance LLC, MI, USA

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $3.00

Ships from CA, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Trade Paperback Publisher: Vintage Books; Vintage International Ser., New York Date Published: 1989 ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 336 pp.; 21 cm. Tight, clean copy. Browning. "A literary sensation and bestseller both in England and America, The Swimming-Pool Library is an enthralling, darkly erotic novel of homosexuality before the scourge of AIDS; an elegy, possessed of chilling clarity, for ways of life that can no longer be lived with impunity. 'Impeccably composed and meticulously particular in its observation of everything' (Harpers & Queen), it focuses on the friendship of two men: ... read more

condition:

Book: Very Good

 

seller information:

Name: Left Coast Books, CA, USA

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $3.25

Ships from CA, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: S Trade Paperback Publisher: Penguin Books Canada, Limited, Toronto, ON, Canada Date Published: 1989 ISBN-13: 9780140116106 ISBN: 0140116109

Description: Very Good. This book is square and solid. It has a couple stress marks along the spine. Cover is clean and shiny with some minor edgewear, and the book has a solid binding. You're bound to treasure this splendid book! ! ! read more

condition:

Book: Very Good

 

seller information:

Name: dying earth books, CA, USA

Reliability: Best

Swimming Pool Library (Vintage International) used book

Swimming Pool Library (Vintage International)

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $3.88

Ships from OH, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: TextbooksRus #9129393. Used: Full guarantee on all titles. read more

condition:

see description

 

seller information:

Name: Textbooksrus, OH, USA

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $4.00

Ships from NC, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Edition: First Paperback Binding: Trade Paperback Publisher: Vintage International, New York Date Published: 1989 ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: Near Very Good. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 336 pp. First printing thus. The book is very slightly bowed. The binding is tight and the text is clean. read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: Persephone's Books, NC, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $4.00

Ships from MI, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Paperback Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE @ TRADE

Description: Very Good. Very good+ paperback. Pages are clean and unmarked. Covers show light edge wear.; 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Free Delivery Confirmation! Ships same or next business day! read more

condition:

Book: Very Good

 

seller information:

Name: Redux Books, MI, USA

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $4.50

Ships from ME, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Edition: Edition Unstated Binding: Trade Paperback Publisher: Vintage Books, New York, New York, U.S.A. Date Published: 1989 ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: Very Good- As issued No Jacket. Slight spine lean, corner bump, pages age toning, and some other light to moderate shopwear. read more

condition:

Book: Good

 

seller information:

Name: JOHN R. BELLIVEAU BOOKSELLER, ME, USA

Reliability: Best

The Swimming-Pool Library used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $4.73

Ships from CT, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Paperback Publisher: Vintage Date Published: 1989 ISBN-13: 9780679722564 ISBN: 0679722564

Description: Fair. 0679722564 USED-Acceptable. read more

condition:

Book: Fair

 

seller information:

Name: Steal These Books, CT, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming Pool Library

by Hollinghurst, Alan

price: $5.00

Ships from MA, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Edition: Paperback Binding: Softcover Publisher: New York Date Published: 1989

Description: A fine clean copy. 8vo. paperback. Gay literature. read more

condition:

Book: Fine/Like New

 

seller information:

Name: Eugene O'Neil, MA, USA

Reliability: Best

used book

The Swimming-Pool Library

by Alan Hollinghurst

price: $5.99

Ships from NY, USA Order this item today and it should be delivered to any address by Wednesday, December 24.

Binding: Softcover Publisher: Insightout Books ISBN-13: 9780965022378 ISBN: 0965022374

Description: Fine. Book has been read and shows minimal signs of wear. read more

condition:

Book: Fine/Like New

 

seller information:

Name: The Book Odyssey, NY, USA

Reliability: Best


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goodreads rating 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
Aug 12, 2009
By Sophia, Forest Hills, NY

"Often one is disappointed when reading an author's earlier works. Not so with Alan Hollinghurst, best known for the Man Booker Prize winner The Line of Beauty in 2004.
In his debut novel The Swimming-Pool Library Hollinghurst shows mastery of elegant descriptive language in a story set about gay life in England before AIDS hit. William Beckwith, a pretty, young aristocrat leading a lesiured life of promiscuity, saves the life of an elderly peer named Charles Nantwich in a public lavatory, leading to a friendship wherein Charles persuades William to write his memoir. That device allows Holllinghust to alternate between two generations of the gay experience -- Will's semi-open decadence contrasted with Charles' more closeted but no less rich life, some of which was spent in Political Service in Africa, chronicled in detailed journal entries. Literary and erotic at the same time, Hollinghurst builds a slow burning sexual tension throughout without much of a plot until the last few chapters. There one is left wondering how a novel driven mostly by character and beautiful language can seem anti-climatic. Locker rooms, showers, promiscious gay sex might not be everyone's cup of tea, but if it doesn't turn you off then you might want to take a dip in The Swimming-Pool Library."

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goodreads rating 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
Jul 15, 2009
By Tessa, Pittsburgh, PA

"I was very sad when this ended. The narration is so well-done and delicate -- it wraps you (by you I mean me) up in the protagonist's head without you even knowing until something happens that makes you see how closely identified you've become. There's one scene in particular that does this to dazzling effect. It's around page 197 - I omit mentioning particulars not because it would spoil the plot or anything, but because if you're going to read it you deserve to come on it fresh. And for a book with such an emphasis on promiscuity, it's not the bombastic in-your-face sex of, say, Palahniuk. It's just a fact. A faceted fact of these character's lives. There's a lot of it, and some of it can be filed under gay cliche, but was never too much for me. Which takes some doing--sex is notoriously hard to write. Moreover, there's a switching between time periods/memoirs and the two echo each other in a cattycorner way, not overly twinned. Satisfyingly realistically. So, yeah: a quiet, very well-written book."

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goodreads rating 3 out of 5 3 out of 5
Jun 14, 2009
By Josie, San Francisco, CA

"wow, i am starting to understand references in one gay novel to another!!

brideshead revisited x giovanni's room???

written post-AIDS, but set pre-AIDS. this makes it quite different from Dancer from the Dance, though the opposite from what one would suppose--Dancer has this doomed feeling about it, while Library is a carefree romp.

Hollinghurst does this rather clever thing of having no woman ever appear in the book. There are women through the phone but clever strategems exclude them from ever actually meeting the narrator.

Also: adorable peeing sex scene!

Actually very very graphic."

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goodreads rating 3 out of 5 3 out of 5
Apr 23, 2009
By Milan/zzz, Belgrade, Serbia

"I would lie if I tell I wasn't in shock while reading this book. This is first gay novel I've ever read and that's why I was very interested in it. Especially after so fabulous reviews which "The Swimming-Pool Library" has. Actually I"m not sure what kind of story I expected, maybe some story about homosexual relationship like in movie "Philadelphia" (with or without AIDS). "Philadelphia"? Ha, ha! comparing with this book even Almodovar with his movies is a little kid. This is SO different!
Hollinghurst is writing without any barrier, his vocabulary is sharp and totally naked; he doesn't hesitate to use right word and right verb. This is book without euphemisms. I've read certain parts to my friend and he asked me "How can you read this pornography?" and indeed it is (first part) on the very final border of pornography and so-called "serious literature" so I guess it is truth that this is quite brave novel. Sometimes I had to close this book and take a deep breath before I continue reading.
So, first (dark) part of the novel was "difficult" for me with all those aggressive explicit sexual scenes and equal life style. But then later I've realized the point of such describing. It is fabulous (although sometimes hard for digest) picture of one way of living and it was necessary for bypassing mental abyss of main character.
Now, I'm not sure how much truth there is in this novel? I mean it's little hard to believe that this kind of (homo) sexual supermarket exist. Even in London. Then also it changed my perspective about gay relationships with such an enormous lasciviousness.

OK to end this journal, this book is definitely not for everyone but at the end I could say that I'm very glad that I've read it. It is one nice parallel between gay life in the past and the present time (which is more-less the same) but especially parallel between attitude of public society and government then and now and accepting existence of gay population.
This is good book; yes sometimes shocking but then that could often be a compliment :-)

(and by the way: this book has one of the most original cover arts I've ever seen!)"

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Overall customer rating:
3.6 out of 5 3.6 out of 5
13 of 16 (81%) customers said they would recommend this book to a friend.

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