books tagged “20th century”

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Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage
by Agatha Christie, Barbara Toy, Moie Charles

ISBN 0573012911 (0-573-01291-1)
Hardcover, French

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- Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage: ISBN 0573012911 (0-573-01291-1)
  Hardcover, French
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The Amber Spyglass
by Philip Pullman

ISBN 0440238153 (0-440-23815-3)
Softcover, Laurel Leaf

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Book summary:
From the very start of its very first scene, The Amber Spyglass will set hearts fluttering and minds racing. All we'll say here is that we immediately discover who captured Lyra at the end of The Subtle Knife, though we've yet to discern whether this individual's intent is good, evil, or somewhere in between. We also learn that Will still possesses the blade that allows him to cut between worlds, and has been joined by two winged companions who are determined to escort him to Lord Asriel's mountain redoubt. The boy, however, has only one goal in mind--to rescue his friend and return to her the alethiometer, an instrument that has revealed so much to her and to readers of The Golden Compass and its follow-up. Within a short time, too, we get to experience the "tingle of the starlight" on Serafina Pekkala's skin as she seeks out a famished Iorek Byrnison and enlists him in Lord Asriel's crusade:
A complex web of thoughts was weaving itself in the bear king's mind, with more strands in it than hunger and satisfaction. There was the memory of the little girl Lyra, whom he had named Silvertongue, and whom he had last seen crossing the fragile snow bridge across a crevasse in his own island of Svalbard. Then there was the agitation among the witches, the rumors of pacts and alliances and war; and then there was the surpassingly strange fact of this new world itself, and the witch's insistence that there were many more such worlds, and that the fate of them all hung somehow on the fate of the child.
Meanwhile, two factions of the Church are vying to reach Lyra first. One is even prepared to give a priest "preemptive absolution" should he succeed in committing mortal sin. For these tyrants, killing this girl is no less than "a sacred task."
In the final installment of his trilogy, Philip Pullman has set himself the highest hurdles. He must match its predecessors in terms of sheer action and originality and resolve the enigmas he already created. The good news is that there is no critical bad news--not that The Amber Spyglass doesn't contain standoffs and close calls galore. (Who would have it otherwise?) But Pullman brings his audacious revision of Paradise Lost to a conclusion that is both serene and devastating. In prose that is transparent yet lyrical and 3-D, the author weaves in and out of his principals' thoughts. He also offers up several additional worlds. In one, Dr. Mary Malone is welcomed into an apparently simple society. The environment of the mulefa (again, we'll reveal nothing more) makes them rich in consciousness while their lives possess a slow and stately rhythm. These strange creatures can, however, be very fast on their feet (or on other things entirely) when necessary. Alas, they are on the verge of dying as Dust streams out of their idyllic landscape. Will the Oxford dark-matter researcher see her way to saving them, or does this require our young heroes? And while Mary is puzzling out a cure, Will and Lyra undertake a pilgrimage to a realm devoid of all light and hope, after having been forced into the cruelest of sacrifices--or betrayals.
Throughout his galvanizing epic, Pullman sustains scenes of fierce beauty and tenderness. He also allows us a moment or two of comic respite. At one point, for instance, Lyra's mother bullies a series of ecclesiastical underlings: "The man bowed helplessly and led her away. The guard behind her blew out his cheeks with relief." Needless to say, Mrs. Coulter is as intoxicating and fluid as ever. And can it be that we will come to admire her as she plays out her desperate endgame? In this respect, as in many others, The Amber Spyglass is truly a book of revelations, moving from darkness visible to radiant truth. --Kerry Fried [via]
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And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie

ISBN 0613354478 (0-613-35447-8)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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Considered the best mystery novel ever written by many readers, And Then There Were None is the story of 10 strangers, each lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once his guests have arrived, the host accuses each person of murder. Unable to leave the island, the guests begin to share their darkest secrets--until they begin to die. [via]
More editions of And Then There Were None:
- And Then There Were None: ISBN 0425129586 (0-425-12958-6)
  Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
- And Then There Were None: ISBN 0613354478 (0-613-35447-8)
  Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Anthem: Library Edition
by Ayn Rand

ISBN 0451191137 (0-451-19113-7)
Softcover, Signet

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Book summary:
Anthem has long been hailed as one of Ayn Rand's classic novels, and a clear predecessor to her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. In Anthem, Rand examines a frightening future in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values. Equality 7-2521 lives in the dark ages of the future where all decisions are made by committee, all people live in collectives, and all traces of individualism have been wiped out. Despite such a restrictive environment, the spark of individual thought and freedom still burns in him--a passion which he has been taught to call sinful. In a purely egalitarian world, Equality 7-2521 dares to stand apart from the herd--to think and choose for himself, to discover electricity, and to love the woman of his choice. Now he has been marked for death for committing the ultimate sin. In a world where the great "we" reign supreme, he has rediscovered the lost and holy word--"I."
[via]
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The Black Dahlia
by James Ellroy

ISBN 0445405252 (0-445-40525-2)
Softcover, Grand Central Publishing

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On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a Los Angeles vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black dahlia-and so begins the greatest manhunt in California history. Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard; Warrants Squad cops, friends, and rivals in love with the same woman. But both are obsessed with the Dahlia-driven by dark needs to know everything about her past, to capture her killer, to possess the woman even in death. Their quest will take them on a hellish journey through the underbelly of postwar Hollywood, to the core of the dead girl's twisted life, past the extremes of their own psyches-into a region of total of madness. [via]
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Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
by Mark Bowden

ISBN 0451203933 (0-451-20393-3)
Softcover, Signet

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Book summary:
Ninety-nine elite American soldiers are trapped in the middle of a hostile city. As night falls, they are surrounded by thousands of enemy gunmen. Their wounded are bleeding to death. Their ammunition and supplies are dwindling. This is the story of how they got there -- and how they fought their way out.
This is the story of war.
Black Hawk Down drops you into a crowded marketplace in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia with the U.S. Special Forces and puts you in the middle of the most intense firelight American soldiers have fought since the Vietnam war.
Late in the afternoon of Sunday, October 3, 1993, the soldiers of Task Form Ranger was send on a mission to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take them about an hour. Instead, they were pinned down through a long and terrible night, locked in a desperate struggle to kill or be killed.
When the unit was finally rescued the following morning, eighteen American soldiers were dead and dozens more badly injured. The Somali toll was far worse; more than five hundred felled and over a thousand wounded. Award-winning literary journalist Mark Bowden's dramatic narrative captures this harrowing ordeal through the eyes of the young men who fought that day. He draws on his extensive interviews of participants from both sides -- as well as classified combat video and radio transcripts -- to bring their stories to life.
Authoritative, gripping, and insightful, Black Hawk Down is a riveting look at the terror and exhilaration of combat destined to become a classic of war reporting. [via]
More editions of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War:
- Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War: ISBN 0451205146 (0-451-20514-6)
  Softcover, New Amer Library
- Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War: ISBN 0451203933 (0-451-20393-3)
  Softcover, Signet
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Collected Poems
by Philip Larkin, Anthony Thwaite

ISBN 0571151965 (0-571-15196-5)
Hardcover, Marvell Press and Faber and Faber

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Book summary:
This edition of Larkin's poems presents his four published books "The North Ship", "The Less Deceived", "The Whitsun Weddings" and "High Windows" in their original sequence. The text also includes an appendix of poems that Larkin published in other places, from his juvenilia to his final years. Preserving everything that he published in his lifetime, this collection of poems returns readers to the book Larkin might have intended if he had lived. [via]
More editions of Collected Poems:
- Collected Poems: ISBN 0571151965 (0-571-15196-5)
  Hardcover, Marvell Press and Faber and Faber
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The Dalkey Archive
by Flann O'Brien

ISBN 0586089535 (0-586-08953-5)
Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr

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Book summary:
Considered by the author to be almost a work of science fiction, the book includes among its "characters" St Augustine, James Joyce and a man who is in danger of turning into a bicycle. There is also the first published portrait of the mad scientist, who was later to achieve fame as de Selby. [via]
More editions of The Dalkey Archive:
- The Dalkey Archive: ISBN 0586089535 (0-586-08953-5)
  Softcover, Dalkey Archive Pr
Dandelion Wine
by Ray Bradbury

ISBN 0553277537 (0-553-27753-7)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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More editions of Dandelion Wine:
- Dandelion Wine: ISBN 0553119303 (0-553-11930-3)
  Hardcover, Ballantine Books
- Dandelion Wine: ISBN 0553277537 (0-553-27753-7)
  Softcover, Bantam Books
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Dharma Bums
by Jack Kerouac

ISBN 0451152751 (0-451-15275-1)
Softcover, New Amer Library

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Book summary:
One of the best and most popular of Kerouac's autobiographical novels, The Dharma Bums is based on experiences the writer had during the mid-1950s while living in California, after he'd become interested in Buddhism's spiritual mode of understanding. One of the book's main characters, Japhy Ryder, is based on the real poet Gary Snyder, who was a close friend and whose interest in Buddhism influenced Kerouac. This book is a must-read for any serious Kerouac fan. [via]
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- Dharma Bums: ISBN 0451152751 (0-451-15275-1)
  Softcover, New Amer Library
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The Diamond Age
by Neal Stephenson

ISBN 0553380966 (0-553-38096-6)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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Book summary:
John Percival Hackworth is a nanotech engineer on the rise when he steals a copy of "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" for his daughter Fiona. The primer is actually a super computer built with nanotechnology that was designed to educate Lord Finkle-McGraw's daughter and to teach her how to think for herself in the stifling neo-Victorian society. But Hackworth loses the primer before he can give it to Fiona, and now the "book" has fallen into the hands of young Nell, an underprivileged girl whose life is about to change. [via]
More editions of The Diamond Age:
- The Diamond Age: ISBN 0553380966 (0-553-38096-6)
  Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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The Diamond Age/Or, Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
by Neal Stephenson

ISBN 0553573314 (0-553-57331-4)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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Book summary:
John Percival Hackworth is a nanotech engineer on the rise when he steals a copy of "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" for his daughter Fiona. The primer is actually a super computer built with nanotechnology that was designed to educate Lord Finkle-McGraw's daughter and to teach her how to think for herself in the stifling neo-Victorian society. But Hackworth loses the primer before he can give it to Fiona, and now the "book" has fallen into the hands of young Nell, an underprivileged girl whose life is about to change. [via]
More editions of The Diamond Age/Or, Young Lady's Illustrated Primer:
- The Diamond Age/Or, Young Lady's Illustrated Primer: ISBN 0553096095 (0-553-09609-5)
  Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
- The Diamond Age : Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer: ISBN 0553573314 (0-553-57331-4)
  Softcover, Bantam Books
The Diamond As Big As the Ritz" and Other Stories
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

ISBN 0486299910 (0-486-29991-0)
Softcover, Dover Pubns

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- The Diamond As Big As the Ritz" and Other Stories: ISBN 0486299910 (0-486-29991-0)
  Softcover, Dover Pubns
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Evil Under the Sun
by Agatha Christie

ISBN 0425129608 (0-425-12960-8)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group

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Book summary:
A flirtatious young bride is strangled to death while vacationing, and only Poirot can unravel the woman's strange secrets. [via]
More editions of Evil Under the Sun:
- Evil Under the Sun: ISBN 0425129608 (0-425-12960-8)
  Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistry

ISBN 0571203620 (0-571-20362-0)
Softcover, Faber & Faber Ltd

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- Fine Balance: ISBN 0571203620 (0-571-20362-0)
  Softcover, Faber & Faber Ltd
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The Firm
by John Grisham

ISBN 044021145X (0-440-21145-X)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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Book summary:
Book [via]
More editions of The Firm:
- The Firm: ISBN 044021145X (0-440-21145-X)
  Softcover, Bantam Books
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The Firm
by Robin Waterfield, Penguin

ISBN 0582418275 (0-582-41827-5)
Softcover, Prentice Hall

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Book summary:
D.W. Moffett uses his youthful voice to outstanding effect in this excellent abridgment of Grisham's bestselling thriller about a Harvard Law grad aggressively recruited by a curiously obscure firm. "We're small and very selective... we screened over two thousand third-year law students at the best schools. Only one letter was sent." They've decided he's their man and to get him they offer top dollar, dangle a BMW, and woo his wife with offers impossible to refuse. But as the wide-eyed youngsters soon discover, there's a catch. Moffett gives an excellent performance, bringing the story to life with vibrant and believable characterizations and a smooth, knowing narrative. (Running time: 3 hours, 2 cassettes) --George Laney [via]
More editions of The Firm:
- The Firm: ISBN 0582418275 (0-582-41827-5)
  Softcover, Prentice Hall
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Flowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes

ISBN 0553274503 (0-553-27450-3)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books

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Book summary:
Daniel Keyes wrote little SF but is highly regarded for one classic, Flowers for Algernon. As a 1959 novella it won a Hugo Award; the 1966 novel-length expansion won a Nebula. The Oscar-winning movie adaptation Charly (1968) also spawned a 1980 Broadway musical.
Following his doctor's instructions, engaging simpleton Charlie Gordon tells his own story in semi-literate "progris riports." He dimly wants to better himself, but with an IQ of 68 can't even beat the laboratory mouse Algernon at maze-solving:

I dint feel bad because I watched Algernon and I lernd how to finish the amaze even if it takes me along time.
I dint know mice were so smart.

Algernon is extra-clever thanks to an experimental brain operation so far tried only on animals. Charlie eagerly volunteers as the first human subject. After frustrating delays and agonies of concentration, the effects begin to show and the reports steadily improve: "Punctuation, is? fun!" But getting smarter brings cruel shocks, as Charlie realizes that his merry "friends" at the bakery where he sweeps the floor have all along been laughing at him, never with him. The IQ rise continues, taking him steadily past the human average to genius level and beyond, until he's as intellectually alone as the old, foolish Charlie ever was--and now painfully aware of it. Then, ominously, the smart mouse Algernon begins to deteriorate...
Flowers for Algernon is a timeless tear-jerker with a terrific emotional impact. --David Langford [via]
More editions of Flowers for Algernon:
- Flowers for Algernon: ISBN 0553274503 (0-553-27450-3)
  Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
The General and His Labyrinth
by Gabriel García Márquez

ISBN 0517107473 (0-517-10747-3)
Hardcover, Random House Value Publishing

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More editions of The General and His Labyrinth:
- The General and His Labyrinth: ISBN 0517107473 (0-517-10747-3)
  Hardcover, Random House Value Publishing
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Giovanni's Room
by James Baldwin

ISBN 0440328810 (0-440-32881-0)
Softcover, Dell Publishing

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Book summary:
Set in the contemporary Paris of American expatraites, liasons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. James Baldwin's brilliant narrative delves into the mystery of loving with a sharp, probing imagination, and he creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the heart. [via]
More editions of Giovanni's Room:
- Giovanni's Room: ISBN 0440328810 (0-440-32881-0)
  Softcover, Dell Publishing
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
by James Baldwin

ISBN 0440330076 (0-440-33007-6)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books

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Book summary:
First published in 1953 when James Baldwin was nearly 30, Go Tell It on the Mountain is a young man's novel, as tightly coiled as a new spring, yet tempered by a maturing man's confidence and empathy. It's not a long book, and its action spans but a single day--yet the author packs in enough emotion, detail, and intimate revelation to make his story feel like a mid-20th-century epic. Using as a frame the spiritual and moral awakening of 14-year-old John Grimes during a Saturday night service in a Harlem storefront church, Baldwin lays bare the secrets of a tormented black family during the depression. John's parents, praying beside him, both wrestle with the ghosts of their sinful pasts--Gabriel, a preacher of towering hypocrisy, fathered an illegitimate child during his first marriage down South and refused to recognize his doomed bastard son; Elizabeth fell in love with a charming, free-spirited young man, followed him to New York, became pregnant with his son, and lost him before she could reveal her condition.
Baldwin lays down the terrible symmetries of these two blighted lives as the ironic context for John's dark night of the soul. When day dawns, John believes himself saved, but his creator makes it clear that this salvation arises as much from blindness as revelation: "He was filled with a joy, a joy unspeakable, whose roots, though he would not trace them on this new day of his life, were nourished by the wellspring of a despair not yet discovered."
Though it was hailed at publication for its groundbreaking use of black idiom, what is most striking about Go Tell It on the Mountain today is its structure and its scope. In peeling back the layers of these damaged lives, Baldwin dramatizes the story of the great black migration from rural South to urban North. "Behind them was the darkness," Baldwin writes of Gabriel and Elizabeth's lost generation, "nothing but the darkness, and all around them destruction, and before them nothing but the fire--a bastard people, far from God, singing and crying in the wilderness!" This is Baldwin's music--a music in which rhapsody is rooted anguish--and there is none finer in American literature. --David Laskin [via]
More editions of Go Tell It on the Mountain:
- Go Tell It on the Mountain: ISBN 0440330076 (0-440-33007-6)
  Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
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God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
by Kurt Vonnegut

ISBN 044012929X (0-440-12929-X)
Softcover, Dell Publishing

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Book summary:
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is a comic masterpice. Eliot Rosewater, drunk, volunteer fireman, and president of the fabulously rich Rosewater foundation, is about to attempt a noble experiment with human nature... with a little help from writer Kilgore Trout. The result is Vonnegut's funniest satire, an etched-in-acid portrayal of the greed, hypocrisy, and follies of the flesh we are all heir to. [via]
More editions of God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater:
- God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: ISBN 044012929X (0-440-12929-X)
  Softcover, Dell Publishing
Hamlet: A Novel of the Snopes Family
by William Faulkner

ISBN 0606252975 (0-606-25297-5)
Hardcover, Demco Media

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- Hamlet: A Novel of the Snopes Family: ISBN 0606252975 (0-606-25297-5)
  Hardcover, Demco Media
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by J. K. Rowling, Mary Grandpre

ISBN 0439139600 (0-439-13960-0)
Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks

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Book summary:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire CD Set tells the story of Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 18 CDs. The audio book is also available in two volumes, Part 1 and Part 2, each containing 9 CDs.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the long-awaited, heavily hyped fourth instalment of a phenomenally successful series that has captured the imagination of millions of readers, young and old, across the globe. For J K Rowling the pressure is certainly on to continue to come up with thrilling, pacey storylines that allow her hero to mature into a young man without detracting from the magical secret that has made Harry into a superstar. In this book, the teenage Harry has a certain gawky charm that fits well with his advancing adolescence. As the story moves on, Harry too moves on to a new level of maturity that leaves the reader wondering how he will learn from his experiences, and liking him all the more as a character.
Once returned to Hogwarts after his summer holiday with the dreadful Dursleys and an extraordinary outing to the Quidditch World Cup, the 14-year-old Harry and his fellow pupils are enraptured by the promise of the Triwizard Tournament: an ancient, ritualistic tournament that brings Hogwarts together with two other schools of wizardry--Durmstrang and Beauxbatons--in heated competition. But when Harry's name is pulled from the Goblet of Fire, and he is chosen to champion Hogwarts in the tournament, the trouble really begins. Still reeling from the effects of a terrifying nightmare that has left him shaken, and with the lightning-shaped scar on his head throbbing with pain (a sure sign that the evil Voldemort, Harry's sworn enemy, is close), Harry becomes at once the most popular boy in school. Yet, despite his fame, he is totally unprepared for the furore that follows.
This is a hefty volume: 636 pages, of which probably at least 200 could have been cut without detracting from the story. The weight and complexity of the book is perhaps a hint that Rowling now has her eye sharply focused on her adult audience, and the average child-reader (particularly one who is coming to Harry Potter for the first time) may well find its girth daunting. Rowling's ironic and pointed observations on tabloid journalism and the nature of media hype is just one of the references littered through the book that will tickle the grown-ups but may well fly over the heads of her young fans.
However, after a slow start, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire really starts to sparkle halfway through with Rowling's familiar magic (and yes, there is a death--sudden and tragic--and yes, Harry does start to notice girls). The crux of this story, however, is Harry's gradual coming-of-age and his handling of the increasingly determined threats to his own life.
This book is pivotal, not just for the author for whom the heat is well and truly on, but for Harry and his readers who, by the last chapter, are left in little doubt that there is much more to come. (Ages 10 to adult) --Susan Harrison [via]
More editions of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:

ISBN 9780439785969 (0-439-78596-0, 0439785960)

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

by J. K. Rowling, Mary Grandpre

ISBN 0439785960 (0-439-78596-0)
Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks

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Book summary:

The long-awaited, eagerly anticipated, arguably over-hyped Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has arrived, and the question on the minds of kids, adults, fans, and skeptics alike is, "Is it worth the hype?" The answer, luckily, is simple: yep. A magnificent spectacle more than worth the price of admission, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will blow you away. However, given that so much has gone into protecting the secrets of the book (including armored trucks and injunctions), don't expect any spoilers in this review. It's much more fun not knowing what's coming--and in the case of Rowling's delicious sixth book, you don't want to know. Just sit tight, despite the earth-shattering revelations that will have your head in your hands as you hope the words will rearrange themselves into a different story. But take one warning to heart: do not open Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince until you have first found a secluded spot, safe from curious eyes, where you can tuck in for a good long read. Because once you start, you won't stop until you reach the very last page.

A darker book than any in the series thus far with a level of sophistication belying its genre, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moves the series into murkier waters and marks the arrival of Rowling onto the adult literary scene. While she has long been praised for her cleverness and wit, the strength of Book 6 lies in her subtle development of key characters, as well as her carefully nuanced depiction of a community at war. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, no one and nothing is safe, including preconceived notions of good and evil and of right and wrong. With each book in her increasingly remarkable series, fans have nervously watched J.K. Rowling raise the stakes; gone are the simple delights of butterbeer and enchanted candy, and days when the worst ailment could be cured by a bite of chocolate. A series that began as a colorful lark full of magic and discovery has become a dark and deadly war zone. But this should not come as a shock to loyal readers. Rowling readied fans with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by killing off popular characters and engaging the young students in battle. Still, there is an unexpected bleakness from the start of Book 6 that casts a mean shadow over Quidditch games, silly flirtations, and mountains of homework. Ready or not, the tremendous ending of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will leave stunned fans wondering what great and terrible events await in Book 7 if this sinister darkness is meant to light the way. --Daphne Durham

Visit the Harry Potter Store
Our Harry Potter Store features all things Harry, including books (box sets and collector's editions), audio CDs and cassettes, DVDs, soundtracks, games, and more.

Begin at the Beginning

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Hardcover
Paperback

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Hardcover
Paperback

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Hardcover
Paperback

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Hardcover
Paperback

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Hardcover
Paperback

Why We Love Harry
Favorite Moments from the Series
There are plenty of reasons to love Rowling's wildly popular series--no doubt you have several dozen of your own. Our list features favorite moments, characters, and artifacts from the first five books. Keep in mind that this list is by no means exhaustive (what we love about Harry could fill ten books!) and does not include any of the spectacular revelatory moments that would spoil the books for those (few) who have not read them. Enjoy.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

* Harry's first trip to the zoo with the Dursleys, when a boa constrictor winks at him.
* When the Dursleys' house is suddenly besieged by letters for Harry from Hogwarts. Readers learn how much the Dursleys have been keeping from Harry. Rowling does a wonderful job in displaying the lengths to which Uncle Vernon will go to deny that magic exists.
* Harry's first visit to Diagon Alley with Hagrid. Full of curiosities and rich with magic and marvel, Harry's first trip includes a trip to Gringotts and Ollivanders, where Harry gets his wand (holly and phoenix feather) and discovers yet another connection to He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named. This moment is the reader's first full introduction to Rowling's world of witchcraft and wizards.
* Harry's experience with the Sorting Hat.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

* The de-gnoming of the Weasleys' garden. Harry discovers that even wizards have chores--gnomes must be grabbed (ignoring angry protests "Gerroff me! Gerroff me!"), swung about (to make them too dizzy to come back), and tossed out of the garden--this delightful scene highlights Rowling's clever and witty genius.
* Harry's first experience with a Howler, sent to Ron by his mother.
* The Dueling Club battle between Harry and Malfoy. Gilderoy Lockhart starts the Dueling Club to help students practice spells on each other, but he is not prepared for the intensity of the animosity between Harry and Draco. Since they are still young, their minibattle is innocent enough, including tickling and dancing charms.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

* Ron's attempt to use a telephone to call Harry at the Dursleys'.
* Harry's first encounter with a Dementor on the train (and just about any other encounter with Dementors). Harry's brush with the Dementors is terrifying and prepares Potter fans for a darker, scarier book.
* Harry, Ron, and Hermione's behavior in Professor Trelawney's Divination class. Some of the best moments in Rowling's books occur when she reminds us that the wizards-in-training at Hogwarts are, after all, just children. Clearly, even at a school of witchcraft and wizardry, classes can be boring and seem pointless to children.
* The Boggart lesson in Professor Lupin's classroom.
* Harry, Ron, and Hermione's knock-down confrontation with Snape.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

* Hermione's disgust at the reception for the veela (Bulgarian National Team Mascots) at the Quidditch World Cup. Rowling's fourth book addresses issues about growing up--the dynamic between the boys and girls at Hogwarts starts to change. Nowhere is this more plain than the hilarious scene in which magical cheerleaders nearly convince Harry and Ron to jump from the stands to impress them.
* Viktor Krum's crush on Hermione--and Ron's objection to it.
* Malfoy's "Potter Stinks" badge.
* Hermione's creation of S.P.E.W., the intolerant bigotry of the Death Eaters, and the danger of the Triwizard Tournament. Add in the changing dynamics between girls and boys at Hogwarts, and suddenly Rowling's fourth book has a weight and seriousness not as present in early books in the series. Candy and tickle spells are left behind as the students tackle darker, more serious issues and take on larger responsibilities, including the knowledge of illegal curses.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

* Harry's outburst to his friends at No. 12 Grimmauld Place. A combination of frustration over being kept in the dark and fear that he will be expelled fuels much of Harry's anger, and it all comes out at once, directly aimed at Ron and Hermione. Rowling perfectly portrays Harry's frustration at being too old to shirk responsibility, but too young to be accepted as part of the fight that he knows is coming.
* Harry's detention with Professor Umbridge. Rowling shows her darker side, leading readers to believe that Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven for young wizards. Dolores represents a bureaucratic tyrant capable of real evil, and Harry is forced to endure their private battle of wills alone.
* Harry and Cho's painfully awkward interactions. Rowling clearly remembers what it was like to be a teenager.
* Harry's Occlumency lessons with Snape.
* Dumbledore's confession to Harry.

Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem: A Conversation with J.K. Rowling

"I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. Im sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." --J.K. Rowling

Find out more about Harry's creator in our exclusive interview with J.K. Rowling.

Did You Know?

The Little White Horse was J.K. Rowling's favorite book as a child.

Jane Austen is Rowling's favorite author.

Roddy Doyle is Rowling's favorite living writer.

A Few Words from Mary GrandPré

"When I illustrate a cover or a book, I draw upon what the author tells me; that's how I see my responsibility as an illustrator. J.K. Rowling is very descriptive in her writing--she gives an illustrator a lot to work with. Each story is packed full of rich visual descriptions of the atmosphere, the mood, the setting, and all the different creatures and people. She makes it easy for me. The images just develop as I sketch and retrace until it feels right and matches her vision." Check out more Harry Potter art from illustrator Mary GrandPré.

[via]

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Have His Carcase
by Dorothy L. Sayers

ISBN 0575006854 (0-575-00685-4)
Hardcover, Gollancz

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  Hardcover, Gollancz
History of the Twentieth Century 1900-1933
by Martin Gilbert

ISBN 0613217047 (0-613-21704-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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A History Of The World In Ten And A Half Chapters
by Julian Barnes, Ron Middleton

ISBN 0521484782 (0-521-48478-2)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr

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Book summary:
Cambridge Literature is a series of literary texts edited for study by students aged 14-18 in English-speaking classrooms. It will include novels, poetry, short stories, essays, travel-writing and other non-fiction. The series will be extensive and open-ended and will provide school students with a range of edited texts taken from a wide geographical spread. It will feature writing in English from various genres and differing times. A History of the World in 101/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes is edited by Ron Middleton of the University of Reading. [via]
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- A History Of The World In Ten And A Half Chapters: ISBN 0521484782 (0-521-48478-2)
  Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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Holidays on Ice
by David Sedaris

ISBN 0613674545 (0-613-67454-5)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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Book summary:
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. [via]
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I and Thou
by Martin Buber, Ronald Gregor Smith

ISBN 0567220605 (0-567-22060-5)
Softcover, Continuum Intl Pub Group

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Book summary:
I and Thou, Martin Buber's classic philosophical work, is among the 20th century's foundational documents of religious ethics. "The close association of the relation to God with the relation to one's fellow-men ... is my most essential concern," Buber explains in the Afterword. Before discussing that relationship, in the book's final chapter, Buber explains at length the range and ramifications of the ways people treat one another, and the ways they bear themselves in the natural world. "One should beware altogether of understanding the conversation with God ... as something that occurs merely apart from or above the everyday," Buber explains. "God's address to man penetrates the events in all our lives and all the events in the world around us, everything biographical and everything historical, and turns it into instruction, into demands for you and me." Throughout I and Thou, Buber argues for an ethic that does not use other people (or books, or trees, or God), and does not consider them objects of one's own personal experience. Instead, Buber writes, we must learn to consider everything around us as "You" speaking to "me," and requiring a response. Buber's dense arguments can be rough going at times, but Walter Kaufmann's definitive 1970 translation contains hundreds of helpful footnotes providing Buber's own explanations of the book's most difficult passages. --Michael Joseph Gross [via]
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- I and Thou: ISBN 0567220605 (0-567-22060-5)
  Softcover, Continuum Intl Pub Group
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The Information
by Martin Amis

ISBN 0517585162 (0-517-58516-2)
Hardcover, Crown Publishing Group

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Martin Amis is at his savage best in this magnificent novel of literary envy. In The Information, the best-selling author of London Fields and Time's Arrow has written a totally mesmerizing and thoroughly entertaining novel that puts all of his extraordinary talents on display. "I've always thought of Martin Amis as the literary Mick Jagger of my generation."--Christopher Buckley, Washington Times. [via]
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- The Information: ISBN 0517585162 (0-517-58516-2)
  Hardcover, Crown Publishing Group
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Interpreter of Maladies: Library Edition
by Jhumpa Lahiri

ISBN 0613257200 (0-613-25720-0)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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Book summary:
Mr. Kapasi, the protagonist of Jhumpa Lahiri's title story, would certainly have his work cut out for him if he were forced to interpret the maladies of all the characters in this eloquent debut collection. Take, for example, Shoba and Shukumar, the young couple in "A Temporary Matter" whose marriage is crumbling in the wake of a stillborn child. Or Miranda in "Sexy," who is involved in a hopeless affair with a married man. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. His fare on this particular day is Mr. and Mrs. Das--first-generation Americans of Indian descent--and their children. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Kapasi becomes enamored of Mrs. Das and then becomes her unwilling confidant when she reads too much into his profession. "I told you because of your talents," she informs him after divulging a startling secret.
I'm tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I've been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better; say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy.
Of course, Mr. Kapasi has no cure for what ails Mrs. Das--or himself. Lahiri's subtle, bittersweet ending is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family. --Alix Wilber [via]
More editions of Interpreter of Maladies: Library Edition:
- Interpreter of Maladies: Library Edition: ISBN 0618101365 (0-618-10136-5)
  Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
- Interpreter of Maladies: Library Edition: ISBN 0613257200 (0-613-25720-0)
  Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Jitterbug Perfume
by Tom Robbins

ISBN 0553348981 (0-553-34898-1)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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A story beginning in the forests of ancient Bohemia and ending at nine o'clock tonight, Paris time. The hero is a janitor with a missing bottle which is embossed with the image of a goat-horned god and is said to contain the remaining drops of the secret essence of the universe. [via]
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Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams
by Sylvia Plath

ISBN 0571111203 (0-571-11120-3)
Hardcover, Faber

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- Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: ISBN 0571111203 (0-571-11120-3)
  Hardcover, Faber
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Kim
by Rudyard Kipling

ISBN 0486445089 (0-486-44508-9)
Softcover, Dover Pubns

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Book summary:
One of the particular pleasures of reading Kim is the full range of emotion, knowledge, and experience that Rudyard Kipling gives his complex hero. Kim O'Hara, the orphaned son of an Irish soldier stationed in India, is neither innocent nor victimized. Raised by an opium-addicted half-caste woman since his equally dissolute father's death, the boy has grown up in the streets of Lahore:
Though he was burned black as any native; though he spoke the vernacular by preference, and his mother-tongue in a clipped uncertain sing-song; though he consorted on terms of perfect equality with the small boys of the bazar; Kim was white--a poor white of the very poorest.
From his father and the woman who raised him, Kim has come to believe that a great destiny awaits him. The details, however, are a bit fuzzy, consisting as they do of the woman's addled prophecies of "'a great Red Bull on a green field, and the Colonel riding on his tall horse, yes, and'--dropping into English--'nine hundred devils.'"
In the meantime, Kim amuses himself with intrigues, executing "commissions by night on the crowded housetops for sleek and shiny young men of fashion." His peculiar heritage as a white child gone native, combined with his "love of the game for its own sake," makes him uniquely suited for a bigger game. And when, at last, the long-awaited colonel comes along, Kim is recruited as a spy in Britain's struggle to maintain its colonial grip on India. Kipling was, first and foremost, a man of his time; born and raised in India in the 19th century, he was a fervid supporter of the Raj. Nevertheless, his portrait of India and its people is remarkably sympathetic. Yes, there is the stereotypical Westernized Indian Babu Huree Chander with his atrocious English, but there is also Kim's friend and mentor, the Afghani horse trader Mahub Ali, and the gentle Tibetan lama with whom Kim travels along the Grand Trunk Road. The humanity of his characters consistently belies Kipling's private prejudices, and raises Kim above the mere ripping good yarn to the level of a timeless classic. --Alix Wilber [via]
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Lady Oracle
by Margaret Atwood

ISBN 0449213765 (0-449-21376-5)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group

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Joan Foster is the bored wife of a myopic ban-the-bomber. She takes off overnight as Canada's new superpoet, pens lurid gothics on the sly, attracts a blackmailing reporter, skids cheerfully in and out of menacing plots, hair-raising traps, and passionate trysts, and lands dead and well in Terremoto, Italy. In this remarkable, poetic, and magical novel, Margaret Atwood proves yet again why she is considered to be one of the most important and accomplished writers of our time. [via]
More editions of Lady Oracle:
- Lady Oracle: ISBN 0553377817 (0-553-37781-7)
  Softcover, Bantam Books
- Lady Oracle: ISBN 0449213765 (0-449-21376-5)
  Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Leben Des Galilei
by Bertolt Brecht, F. H. Brookes, E. C. Fraenkel

ISBN 0435381237 (0-435-38123-7)
Hardcover, Heinemann

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The Member of the Wedding
by Carson McCullers

ISBN 0553250515 (0-553-25051-5)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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- The Member of the Wedding: ISBN 0553250515 (0-553-25051-5)
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Murder at the Vicarage
by Agatha Christie

ISBN 0451201159 (0-451-20115-9)
Softcover, Signet

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Book summary:
The first Miss Marple novel. The first of a new-look series of audio books for the 21st century. 'Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe,' declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, 'would be doing the world at large a service!' It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later. From seven potential murderers, Miss Marple must seek out the suspect who has both motive and opportunity. / Requires internet-enabled mobile phone (3G recommended) [via]
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My Cousin Rachel
by Daphne Du Maurier

ISBN 0440159938 (0-440-15993-8)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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- My Cousin Rachel: ISBN 0440159938 (0-440-15993-8)
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The Portable Dorothy Parker
by Dorothy Parker

ISBN 0517478552 (0-517-47855-2)
Hardcover, Viking Press

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  Hardcover, Viking Press
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Something Wicked This Way Comes
by Ray Bradbury

ISBN 0553280325 (0-553-28032-5)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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Book summary:
A masterpiece of modern Gothic literature, Something Wicked This Way Comes is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a "dark carnival" one Autumn midnight. How these two innocents, both age 13, save the souls of the town (as well as their own), makes for compelling reading on timeless themes. What would you do if your secret wishes could be granted by the mysterious ringmaster Mr. Dark? Bradbury excels in revealing the dark side that exists in us all, teaching us ultimately to celebrate the shadows rather than fear them. In many ways, this is a companion piece to his joyful, nostalgia-drenched Dandelion Wine, in which Bradbury presented us with one perfect summer as seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, he deftly explores the fearsome delights of one perfectly terrifying, unforgettable autumn. --Stanley Wiater [via]
More editions of Something Wicked This Way Comes:
- Something Wicked This Way Comes: ISBN 0606049274 (0-606-04927-4)
  Hardcover, Demco Media
- Something Wicked This Way Comes: ISBN 0553280325 (0-553-28032-5)
  Softcover, Bantam Books
Spoon River Anthology
by Edgar Lee Masters, Primeau, Ronald (AFT), John Hollander

ISBN 0451530586 (0-451-53058-6)
Softcover, Signet Classic

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Book summary:
A landmark of 20th-century American literature: a series of over 200 compelling free-verse monologues in which former citizens of a mythical Midwestern town speak touchingly from the grave of the thwarted hopes and dreams of their lives. Reprinted from the authoritative 1915 edition.
[via]
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Still Life With Woodpecker
by Tom Robbins

ISBN 0553348973 (0-553-34897-3)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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Book summary:
Still Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads. [via]
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A Swiftly Tilting Planet
by Madeleine L'Engle

ISBN 0440401585 (0-440-40158-5)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books

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Book summary:
Fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace Murry, whom readers first met in A Wrinkle in Time, has a little task he must accomplish. In 24 hours, a mad dictator will destroy the universe by declaring nuclear war--unless Charles Wallace can go back in time to change one of the many Might-Have-Beens in history. In an intricately layered and suspenseful journey through time, this extraordinary young man psychically enters four different people from other eras. As he perceives through their eyes "what might have been," he begins to comprehend the cosmic significance and consequences of every living creature's actions. As he witnesses first-hand the transformation of civilization from peaceful to warring times, his very existence is threatened, but the alternative is far worse.
The Murry family, also appearing in A Wind in the Door and Many Waters, acts as a carrier of Madeleine L'Engle's unique message about human responsibility for the world. Themes of good versus evil, time and space travel, and the invincibility of the human spirit predominate. Even while she entertains, L'Engle kindles the intellect, inspiring young people to ask questions of the world, and learn by challenging. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter [via]
More editions of A Swiftly Tilting Planet:
- A Swiftly Tilting Planet: ISBN 0440901588 (0-440-90158-8)
  Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
- A Swiftly Tilting Planet: ISBN 0440401585 (0-440-40158-5)
  Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
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Tehanu
by Ursula K. Le Guin

ISBN 0575022744 (0-575-02274-4)
Hardcover, Gollancz

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  Hardcover, Gollancz
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Ten Little Indians
by Agatha Christie

ISBN 0573616396 (0-573-61639-6)
Softcover, Samuel French Inc Plays

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Book summary:
Mystery / 8m, 3f / Int. In this superlative mystery comedy statuettes of little soldier boys on the mantel of a house on an island off the coast of Devon fall to the floor and break one by one as those in the house succumb to a diabolical avenger. A nursery rhyme tells how each of the ten "soldiers" met his death until there were none. Eight guests who have never met each other or their apparently absent host and hostess are lured to the island and, along with the two house servants, marooned. A mysterious voice accuses each of having gotten away with murder and then one drops dead---poisoned. One down and nine to go! The excitement never lets up in this ideal play for schools, colleges and little theatres. [via]
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- Ten Little Indians: ISBN 0573616396 (0-573-61639-6)
  Softcover, Samuel French Inc Plays
Therapy
by David Lodge

ISBN 0436202557 (0-436-20255-7)
Hardcover, Secker & Warburg

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- Therapy: ISBN 0436203340 (0-436-20334-0)
  Hardcover, Secker & Warburg
- Therapy: ISBN 0436202557 (0-436-20255-7)
  Hardcover, Secker & Warburg
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The Tombs of Atuan
by Ursula K. Le Guin

ISBN 0553239031 (0-553-23903-1)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.
In this second book of Le Guin's Earthsea series, readers will meet Tenar, a priestess to the "Nameless Ones" who guard the catacombs of the Tombs of Atuan. Only Tenar knows the passageways of this dark labyrinth, and only she can lead the young wizard Sparrowhawk, who stumbles into its maze, to the greatest treasure of all. Will she? [via]
More editions of The Tombs of Atuan:
- The Tombs of Atuan: ISBN 0553239031 (0-553-23903-1)
  Softcover, Bantam Books
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Twenty Years at Hull-House
by Jane Addams

ISBN 0451527399 (0-451-52739-9)
Softcover, Signet

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Book summary:
While on a trip to East London in 1883, Jane Addams witnessed a distressing scene late one night: masses of poor people were bidding on rotten vegetables that were unsalable anywhere else.

Their pale faces were dominated by that most unlovely of human expressions, the cunning and shrewdness of the bargain-hunter who starves if he cannot make a successful trade, and yet the final impression was not of ragged, tawdry clothing nor of pinched and sallow faces, but of myriads of hands, empty, pathetic, nerveless, and workworn, showing white in the uncertain light of the street, and clutching forward for food which was already unfit to eat.
This scene haunted Addams for the next two years as she traveled through Europe, and she hoped to find a way to ease such suffering. Five years later, she visited Toynbee Hall, a London settlement house, and resolved to replicate the experiment in the U.S. On September 18, 1889, Jane Addams and her friend Ellen Starr moved into the second floor of a rundown mansion in Chicago's West Side. From the outset, they imagined Hull-House as a "center for a higher civic and social life" in the industrial districts of the city. Addams, Starr, and several like-minded individuals lived and worked among the poor, establishing (among other things) art classes, discussion groups, cooperatives, a kindergarten, a coffee house, a lending library, and a gymnasium. In a time when many well-to-do Americans were beginning to feel threatened by immigrants, Hull-House embraced them, showed them the true meaning of democracy, and served as a center for philanthropic efforts throughout Chicago.
Hull-House also provided an outlet for the energies of the first generation of female college graduates, who were educated for work yet prevented from doing it. In some respects, however, Addams's impressive work, often hailed by historians as "revolutionary," was nothing of the sort. She embraced the sexual stereotypes of her day, and, though she was clearly an independent woman, soothed public fears by acting primarily in the traditional roles of nurturer and caregiver. Hull-House was a rousing success, and it inspired others to follow in Addams's footsteps.
Though Twenty Years at Hull-House is meant to be an autobiography, it is Hull-House itself that stands in the spotlight. Addams devotes the first third of the book to her upbringing and influences, but the remainder focuses on the organization she built--and the benefits accruing to those who work with the poor as well as to the poor themselves. At times Addams's prose is difficult to follow, but her ideals and her actions are truly inspiring. A classic work of history--and a model for today's would-be philanthropists. --Sunny Delaney [via]
More editions of Twenty Years at Hull-House:
- Twenty Years at Hull-House: ISBN 0451523830 (0-451-52383-0)
  Softcover, New Amer Library Classics
- Twenty Years at Hull-House: ISBN 0451527399 (0-451-52739-9)
  Softcover, Signet
Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
by Dorothy L. Sayers

ISBN 0575003553 (0-575-00355-3)
Hardcover, Gollancz

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  Hardcover, Gollancz
Waiting for the Barbarians
by J. M. Coetzee

ISBN 0436102951 (0-436-10295-1)
Hardcover, Harper & Collins

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- Waiting for the Barbarians: ISBN 0436102951 (0-436-10295-1)
  Hardcover, Harper & Collins
Wanderer
by Henri Alain-Fournier

ISBN 0452010101 (0-452-01010-1)
Softcover, New Amer Library

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- Wanderer: ISBN 0452010101 (0-452-01010-1)
  Softcover, New Amer Library
The Wings of the Dove
by Henry James, Brenda Wineapple

ISBN 0451527283 (0-451-52728-3)
Softcover, New Amer Library Classics

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Book summary:
The Wings of the Dove is a classic example of Henry James's morality tales that play off the naiveté of an American protagonist abroad. In early-20th-century London, Kate Croy and Merton Densher are engaged in a passionate, clandestine love affair. Croy is desperately in love with Densher, who has all the qualities of a potentially excellent husband: he's handsome, witty, and idealistic--the one thing he lacks is money, which ultimately renders him unsuitable as a mate. By chance, Croy befriends a young American heiress, Milly Theale. When Croy discovers that Theale suffers from a mysterious and fatal malady, she hatches a plan that can give all three characters something that they want--at a price. Croy and Densher plan to accompany the young woman to Venice where Densher, according to Croy's design, will seduce the ailing heiress. The two hope that Theale will find love and happiness in her last days and--when she dies--will leave her fortune to Densher, so that he and Croy can live happily ever after. The scheme that at first develops as planned begins to founder when Theale discovers the pair's true motives shortly before her death. Densher struggles with unanticipated feelings of love for his new paramour, and his guilt may obstruct his ability to avail himself of Theale's gift. James deftly navigates the complexities and irony of such moral treachery in this stirring novel. [via]
More editions of The Wings of the Dove:
- The Wings of the Dove: ISBN 0460876171 (0-460-87617-1)
  Softcover, Tuttle Pub
- The Wings of the Dove: ISBN 0451527283 (0-451-52728-3)
  Softcover, New Amer Library Classics
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Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin

ISBN 0553262505 (0-553-26250-5)
Softcover, Skylark

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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wizard of Earthsea'
Book summary:
Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.
In this first book, A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow. [via]
More editions of Wizard of Earthsea:
- Wizard of Earthsea: ISBN 0553383043 (0-553-38304-3)
  Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
- Wizard of Earthsea: ISBN 0553262505 (0-553-26250-5)
  Softcover, Skylark