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books tagged “american fiction” (American Fiction)
books tagged “american fiction”
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Adventures in the Alaskan Skin Tradeby John HawkesISBN 0140092838 (0-14-009283-8)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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The American Rivals of Sherlock Holmesby Hugh GreeneISBN 0140046976 (0-14-004697-6)
Hardcover, Penguin
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American Skinby Don De GraziaISBN 0099272520 (0-09-927252-0)
Softcover, Vintage Uk
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› Find signed collectible books: 'American Skin'Book summary:When Alex Verdi returns home from school one day to find his home surrounded by armed police, he immediately thinks of the packages of marijuana stashed in his father's desk and decides to hide. When he returns at night he discovers from the newspaper that he is sought for questioning. [via]
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And Only to Deceiveby Tasha AlexanderISBN 006114844X (0-06-114844-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'And Only to Deceive'Book summary:From gifted new writer Tasha Alexander comes a stunning novel of historical suspense set in Victorian England, meticulously researched and with a twisty plot that involves stolen antiquities, betrayal, and murder
And Only to Deceive
For Emily, accepting the proposal of Philip, the Viscount Ashton, was an easy way to escape her overbearing mother, who was set on a grand society match. So when Emily's dashing husband died on safari soon after their wedding, she felt little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was a far different man from the one she had married so cavalierly. His journals reveal him to have been a gentleman scholar and antiquities collector who, to her surprise, was deeply in love with his wife. Emily becomes fascinated with this new image of her dead husband and she immerses herself in all things ancient and begins to study Greek.
Emily's intellectual pursuits and her desire to learn more about Philip take her to the quiet corridors of the British Museum, one of her husband's favorite places. There, amid priceless ancient statues, she uncovers a dark, dangerous secret involving stolen artifacts from the Greco-Roman galleries. And to complicate matters, she's juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond the marrying kind. As she sets out to solve the crime, her search leads to more surprises about Philip and causes her to question the role in Victorian society to which she, as a woman, is relegated.
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The Associateby Phillip MargolinISBN 006621405X (0-06-621405-X)
Softcover, HarperCollins Publishers
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The Bad Beginningby Daniel Handler, Brett HelquistISBN 0064407667 (0-06-440766-7)
Hardcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Bad Beginning'Book summary:Hardcover Publisher: Harper Collins (1999) Language: English Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1" Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds [via]
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The Bad Beginningby Lemony Snicket, Brett HelquistISBN 0061146307 (0-06-114630-7)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Bad Beginning'Book summary:Make no mistake. The Bad Beginning begins badly for the three Baudelaire children, and then gets worse. Their misfortunes begin one gray day on Briny Beach when Mr. Poe tells them that their parents perished in a fire that destroyed their whole house. "It is useless for me to describe to you how terrible Violet, Klaus, and even Sunny felt in the time that followed," laments the personable (occasionally pedantic) narrator, who tells the story as if his readers are gathered around an armchair on pillows. But of course what follows is dreadful. The children thought it was bad when the well-meaning Poes bought them grotesque-colored clothing that itched. But when they are ushered to the dilapidated doorstep of the miserable, thin, unshaven, shiny-eyed, money-grubbing Count Olaf, they know that they--and their family fortune--are in real trouble. Still, they could never have anticipated how much trouble. While it's true that the events that unfold in Lemony Snicket's novels are bleak, and things never turn out as you'd hope, these delightful, funny, linguistically playful books are reminiscent of Roald Dahl (remember James and the Giant Peach and his horrid spinster aunts), Charles Dickens (the orphaned Pip in Great Expectations without the mysterious benefactor), and Edward Gorey (The Gashlycrumb Tinies). There is no question that young readers will want to read the continuing unlucky adventures of the Baudelaire children in The Reptile Room and The Wide Window. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson [via]
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Bend Sinisterby Vladimir NabokovISBN 007045728X (0-07-045728-X)
Hardcover, McGraw-Hill
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bend Sinister'Book summary:The first novel Nabokov wrote while living in America and the most overtly political novel he ever wrote, Bend Sinister is a modern classic. While it is filled with veiled puns and characteristically delightful wordplay, it is, first and foremost, a haunting and com- pelling narrative about a civilized man and his child caught up in the tyranny of a police state. Professor Adam Krug, the countrys foremost philosopher, offers the only hope of resistance to Paduk, dictator and leader of the Party of the Average Man. In a folly of bureaucratic bungling and ineptitude, the gov- ernment attempts to co-opt Krugs support in order to validate the new regime. One of the twentieth centurys master prose stylists, Vladimir Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg in 1899. He studied French and Russian literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, then lived in Berlin and Paris, where he launched a brilliant literary career. In 1940 he moved to the United States, and achieved renown as a novelist, poet, critic, and translator. He taught literature at Wellesley, Stanford, Cornell, and Harvard. In 1961 he moved to Montreux, Switzerland, where he died in 1977. Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically. John Updike [via]
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Billy Phelan's Greatest Gameby William KennedyISBN 0140063404 (0-14-006340-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Breastby Philip RothISBN 0140076794 (0-14-007679-4)
Softcover, Penguin Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Breast'Book summary:Like a latter-day Gregor Samsa, Professor David Kepesh wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed. But where Kafkas protagonist turned into a giant beetle, the narrator of Philip Roths richly conceived fantasy has become a 155-pound female breast. What follows is a deliriously funny yet touching exploration of the full implications of Kepeshs metamorphosisa daring, heretical book that brings us face to face with the intrinsic strangeness of sex and subjectivity. The Breast is terrific . . . inventive and sane and very funny. The trick which is the heart of the book is brilliant . . . and rich with meaning. John Gardner, The New York Times Book Review Hilarious, serious, visionary, logical, sexual-philosophical; the ending amazesthe joke takes three steps beyond savagery and satire and turns into a sublimeness of pity. One knows when one is reading something that will permanently enter the culture. Cynthia Ozick [via]
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The Broken Placeby Michael ShaaraISBN 0070563772 (0-07-056377-2)
Hardcover, McGraw-Hill
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Carpenter's Gothicby William GaddisISBN 0140089934 (0-14-008993-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Carpenter's Gothic'Book summary:This story of raging comedy and despair centers on the tempestuous marriage of an heiress and a Vietnam veteran. From their "carpenter gothic" rented house, Paul sets himself up as a media consultant for Reverend Ude, an evangelist mounting a grand crusade that conveniently suits a mining combine bidding to take over an ore strike on the site of Ude's African mission. At the still center of the breakneck action is Paul's wife, Liz, and over it all looms the shadowy figure of McCandless, a geologist from whom Paul and Liz rent their house. As Paul mishandles the situation, his wife takes the geologist to her bed and a fire and aborted assassination occur; Ude issues a call to arms as harrowing as any Jeremiad -- and Armageddon comes rapidly closer. Displaying Gaddis's inimitable virtuoso dialogue, and his startling treatments of violence and sexuality, Carpenter's Gothic "shows again that Gaddis is among the first rank of contemporary American writers (Malcolm Bradbury, The Washington Post Book World). [via]
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Ceremonyby Leslie Marmon SilkoISBN 0140086838 (0-14-008683-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ceremony'Book summary:[via]Tayo, a young Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his will to survive. His return to the Laguna Pueblo reservation only increases his feeling of estrangement and alienation. While other returning soldiers find easy refuge in alcohol and senseless violence, Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution.
Tayo's quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to beliefs about witchcraft and evil, and to the ancient stories of his people. The search itself becomes a ritual, a curative ceremny that defeats the most virulent of afflictionsdespair.
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Climb the Windby Pamela SargentISBN 0061058084 (0-06-105808-4)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
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Coralineby Neil Gaiman, Dave McKeanISBN 0061139378 (0-06-113937-8)
Softcover, Perennial
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Coraline'Book summary:Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers ("We trod the boards, luvvy") and the mustachioed old man under the roof ("'The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,' said the man upstairs, 'is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed.'") Coraline contents herself for weeks with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious.
What's on the other side of the door? A distorted-mirror world, containing presumably everything Coraline has ever dreamed of... people who pronounce her name correctly (not "Caroline"), delicious meals (not like her father's overblown "recipes"), an unusually pink and green bedroom (not like her dull one), and plenty of horrible (very un-boring) marvels, like a man made out of live rats. The creepiest part, however, is her mirrored parents, her "other mother" and her "other father"--people who look just like her own parents, but with big, shiny, black button eyes, paper-white skin... and a keen desire to keep her on their side of the door. To make creepy creepier, Coraline has been illustrated masterfully in scritchy, terrifying ink drawings by British mixed-media artist and Sandman cover illustrator Dave McKean. This delightful, funny, haunting, scary as heck, fairy-tale novel is about as fine as they come. Highly recommended. (Ages 11 and older) --Karin Snelson [via]
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Cup of Goldby John SteinbeckISBN 0140042342 (0-14-004234-2)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cup of Gold'Book summary:This lush, lyrical fantasy is Steinbeck's sole work of historical fiction. Henry Morgan ruled the Spanish Main in the 1670s, ravaging the coasts of Cuba and America and striking terror wherever he went. His lust and greed knew no bounds, and he was utterly consumed by two passions; to possess the mysterious woman known as La Santa Roja, the Red Saint, and to conquer Panama and wrest 'the cup of gold' from Spanish hands. This work is a fantastic, swashbuckling stuff! [via]
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Daisy Miller and Other Storiesby Henry JamesISBN 0140067213 (0-14-006721-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Demon Boxby Ken KeseyISBN 0140085300 (0-14-008530-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Demon Box'Book summary:In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on.[via]More editions of Demon Box:
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Dharma Bumsby Jack KerouacISBN 0140042520 (0-14-004252-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dharma Bums'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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Dreams of Sleepby Josephine HumphreysISBN 0140077871 (0-14-007787-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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English Creekby Ivan DoigISBN 0140084428 (0-14-008442-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
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Exiles Return: A Literary Odyssey of the 1920'sby Malcolm CowleyISBN 0140043926 (0-14-004392-6)
Hardcover, Penguin Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Exiles Return: A Literary Odyssey of the 1920's'Book summary:The adventures and attitudes shared by the American writers dubbed "the lost generation", are brought to life in this book of prose works. Feeling alienated in the America of the 1920s, Fitzgerald, Crane, Hemingway, Wilder, Dos Passos, Cowley and others "escaped" to Europe, as exiles. [via]
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Factotumby Charles BukowskiISBN 006113127X (0-06-113127-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Factotum'Book summary:One of Charles Bukowski's best, this beer-soaked, deliciously degenerate novel follows the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across World War II-era America. Deferred from military service, Chinaski travels from city to city, moving listlessly from one odd job to another, always needing money but never badly enough to keep a job. His day-to-day existence spirals into an endless litany of pathetic whores, sordid rooms, dreary embraces, and drunken brawls, as he makes his bitter, brilliant way from one drink to the next.
Charles Bukowski's posthumous legend continues to grow. Factotum is a masterfully vivid evocation of slow-paced, low-life urbanity and alcoholism, and an excellent introduction to the fictional world of Charles Bukowski.
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Farmer Boyby Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garth WilliamsISBN 0064400034 (0-06-440003-4)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Farmer Boy'Book summary:While laura ingalls grows up in a little house on the western prairie, almanzo wilder is living on a big farm in new york state. Here almanzo and his brother and sisters help with the summer planting and fall harvest. In winter there is wood to be chopped and great slabs of ice to be cut from the river and stored. Time for fun comes when the jolly tin peddler visits, or best of all, when the fair comes to town. This is laura ingalls wilder's beloved story of how her husband almanzo grew up as a farmer boy far from the little house where laura lived [via]
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Fields of Fireby James H. WebbISBN 0133142868 (0-13-314286-8)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fields of Fire'Book summary:They each had their reasons for being a soldier.
They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo Death Before Dishonor before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes.
They were three young men from different worlds plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire....
Fields of Fire is James Webbs classic, searing novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell until each man finds his fate. [via]More editions of Fields of Fire:
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The First Forty Nine Storiesby Ernest HemingwayISBN 0099339218 (0-09-933921-8)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The First Forty Nine Stories'Book summary:From Ernest Hemingway's Preface: 'There are many kinds of stories in this book. I hope you will find some that you like- In going where you have to go, and doing what you have to do, and seeing what you have to see, you dull and blunt the instrument you write with. But I would rather have it bent and dulled and know I had to put it on the grindstone and hammer it into shape and put a whetstone to it, and know that I had something to write about, than to have it bright and shining, and nothing to say, or smooth and well-oiled in the closet, but unused.' A collection of Hemingway's first forty-nine short stories, featuring a brief introduction by the author and lesser known as well as familiar tales, including 'Up in Michigan', 'Fifty Grand', and 'The Light of the World', and the Snows of Kilimanjaro, Winner Take Nothing' and Men Without Women collections. [via]
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The Fixerby Bernard MalamudISBN 0140027149 (0-14-002714-9)
Hardcover, Penguin Books
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Flaubert's Parrotby Julian BarnesISBN 0070037485 (0-07-003748-5)
Softcover, McGraw-Hill
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Flaubert's Parrot'Book summary:Just what sort of book is Flaubert's Parrot, anyway? A literary biography of 19th-century French novelist, radical, and intellectual impresario Gustave Flaubert? A meditation on the uses and misuses of language? A novel of obsession, denial, irritation, and underhanded connivery? A thriller complete with disguises, sleuthing, mysterious meetings, and unknowing targets? An extended essay on the nature of fiction itself?
On the surface, at first, Julian Barnes's book is the tale of an elderly English doctor's search for some intriguing details of Flaubert's life. Geoffrey Braithwaite seems to be involved in an attempt to establish whether a particularly fine, lovely, and ancient stuffed parrot is in fact one originally "borrowed by G. Flaubert from the Museum of Rouen and placed on his worktable during the writing of Un coeur simple, where it is called Loulou, the parrot of Felicité, the principal character of the tale."
What begins as a droll and intriguing excursion into the minutiae of Flaubert's life and intellect, along with an attempt to solve the small puzzle of the parrot--or rather parrots, for there are two competing for the title of Gustave's avian confrere--soon devolves into something obscure and worrisome, the exploration of an arcane Braithwaite obsession that is perhaps even pathological. The first hint we have that all is not as it seems comes almost halfway into the book, when after a humorously cantankerous account of the inadequacies of literary critics, Braithwaite closes a chapter by saying, "Now do you understand why I hate critics? I could try and describe to you the expression in my eyes at this moment; but they are far too discoloured with rage." And from that point, things just get more and more curious, until they end in the most unexpected bang.
One passage perhaps best describes the overall effect of this extraordinary story: "You can define a net in one of two ways, depending on your point of view. Normally, you would say that it is a meshed instrument designed to catch fish. But you could, with no great injury to logic, reverse the image and define the net as a jocular lexicographer once did: he called it a collection of holes tied together with string." Julian Barnes demonstrates that it is possible to catch quite an interesting fish no matter how you define the net. --Andrew Himes [via]
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The Great American Novelby Philip RothISBN 0140076786 (0-14-007678-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Great World and Timothy Coltby Louis AuchinclossISBN 0070024456 (0-07-002445-6)
Softcover, McGraw-Hill Book Co
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Haunting of Hill Houseby Shirley JacksonISBN 0140071083 (0-14-007108-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Haunting of Hill House'Book summary:Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has unnerved readers since its original publication in 1959. A tale of subtle, psychological terror, it has earned its place as one of the significant haunted house stories of the ages.
Eleanor Vance has always been a loner--shy, vulnerable, and bitterly resentful of the 11 years she lost while nursing her dying mother. "She had spent so long alone, with no one to love, that it was difficult for her to talk, even casually, to another person without self-consciousness and an awkward inability to find words." Eleanor has always sensed that one day something big would happen, and one day it does. She receives an unusual invitation from Dr. John Montague, a man fascinated by "supernatural manifestations." He organizes a ghost watch, inviting people who have been touched by otherworldly events. A paranormal incident from Eleanor's childhood qualifies her to be a part of Montague's bizarre study--along with headstrong Theodora, his assistant, and Luke, a well-to-do aristocrat. They meet at Hill House--a notorious estate in New England.
Hill House is a foreboding structure of towers, buttresses, Gothic spires, gargoyles, strange angles, and rooms within rooms--a place "without kindness, never meant to be lived in...."
Although Eleanor's initial reaction is to flee, the house has a mesmerizing effect, and she begins to feel a strange kind of bliss that entices her to stay. Eleanor is a magnet for the supernatural--she hears deathly wails, feels terrible chills, and sees ghostly apparitions. Once again she feels isolated and alone--neither Theo nor Luke attract so much eerie company. But the physical horror of Hill House is always subtle; more disturbing is the emotional torment Eleanor endures. Intense, literary, and harrowing, The Haunting of Hill House belongs in the same dark league as Henry James's classic ghost story, The Turn of the Screw. --Naomi Gesinger [via]
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The Heraldby Michael ShaaraISBN 0070563764 (0-07-056376-4)
Hardcover, McGraw-Hill
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I Know This Much Is Trueby Wally LambISBN 0061097640 (0-06-109764-0)
Softcover, Harper Torch
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› Find signed collectible books: 'I Know This Much Is True'Book summary:Oprah Book Club® Selection, June 1998: What if you were a 40-year-old housepainter, horrifically abused, emotionally unavailable, and your identical twin was a paranoid schizophrenic who believed in public self-mutilation? You'd either be a guest on the Jerry Springer Show or Dominick Birdsey, the antihero, narrator, and bad-juju magnet of I Know This Much Is True. Somewhere in the recesses of this hefty 912-page tome lurks an honest, moving account of one man's search, denial, and acceptance of self. This is no easy feat considering his grandfather seemed to take parenting tips from the SS and his grandmother was a possible teenage murderess, his stepfather a latent sadist, and his brother, Thomas, a politically motivated psychopath. Not one to break with tradition, Dominick continues the dysfunctional legacy with rape, a failed marriage, a nervous breakdown, SIDS, a car crash, and a racist conspiracy against a coworker--just to name a few.
A stretch, both literally and figuratively from his Oprah-christened bestseller, She's Come Undone, Lamb's book ventures outside the confines of the tightly bound beach read and marathons through a detailed, neatly cataloged account of every familial travesty and personal failure one can endure. At its heart lies Freud's "return of the repressed": the more we try to deny who we are, the more we become what we fear. Lamb takes Freud's psychological abstraction to the realm of everyday living, packing his novel with tender, believable dialogue and thoughtful observation. --Rebekah Warren [via]
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In Dubious Battleby John SteinbeckISBN 014004888X (0-14-004888-X)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In Dubious Battle'Book summary:very good//near new copy,but has some markings in text--ships quick--nan38 [via]
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In Her Defenseby Stephen HornISBN 0061098752 (0-06-109875-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In Her Defense'Book summary:In Her Defense is a sharply funny and ironic debut legal thriller that obligingly serves up all the best elements of the genre: a seemingly unwinnable case, mysterious forces conspiring against the attorney and his client, and a tumblingly relentless pace. D.C. defense attorney Frank O'Connell isn't climbing the career ladder anymore--he's been to the top, looked around, and then jumped. Deeply unsatisfied with his comfortable life, he's abandoned a successful partnership with his powerful father-in-law, jettisoned his marriage, and is clinging to an uncertain existence funded by court appointments to represent indigent shoplifters and drug dealers: "I was in trouble and I knew it. I'd come to rely on little tasks and routines, like closing the sofa bed each morning and washing the dishes as soon as I ate--not to mark my progress but as hedges against a backslide into oblivion."
Enter Ashley Bronson, a beautiful and wealthy socialite who stands accused of murdering her father's best friend, Raymond Garvey. Ashley claims that Garvey drove her father to suicide but won't explain how or why. Frank is a pragmatist, keenly appreciative of life's myriad ironies: "I could probably design a trial strategy around her physical assets alone--get a jury of men, put her on the stand, and have her look 'em in the eye and talk. Christ, she could read the phone book and we'd get a deadlock. It was too bad I knew she was guilty." Ashley's admission of guilt and Frank's desperate attempt to create a trial strategy over, under, around, and through that admission make for a cleverly Machiavellian legal procedural. Add to this Frank's growing conviction that something isn't quite "clicking" in this seemingly open-and-shut case, and you've got a narrative that accelerates toward an unashamedly over-the-top denouement. In Her Defense is a welcome addition to a crowded genre--we hope that Frank O'Connell (and Stephen Horn) will be around for many more pitched legal battles. --Kelly Flynn [via]
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Jack's Book: An Oral Biography of Jack Kerouacby Barry Gifford, Lawrence LeeISBN 0140052690 (0-14-005269-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Books
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Jrby William GaddisISBN 0140080392 (0-14-008039-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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July 7thby Jill McCorkelISBN 0140082719 (0-14-008271-9)
Softcover, Penguin Books
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Junkyby William S. Burroughs, Allen GinsbergISBN 0140043519 (0-14-004351-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Junky'Book summary:Burroughs' tale of Life as a Junky [via]
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The Kingdom by the Sea : A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britainby Paul TherouxISBN 0140071814 (0-14-007181-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Kingdom by the Sea : A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain'Book summary:Award winning writer Paul Theroux embarks on a journey that, though closer to home than most of his expeditions, uncovers some surprising truths about Britain and the British people in the '80s in "The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain". Paul Theroux's round-Britain travelogue is funny, perceptive and 'best avoided by patriots with high blood pressure...' After eleven years living as an American in London, Paul Theroux set out to travel clockwise round the coast and find out what Britain and the British are really like. It was 1982, the summer of the Falklands War, the ideal time, he found, to surprise the British into talking about themselves. The result makes superbly vivid and engaging reading. "A sharp and funny descriptive writer. One of his golden talents, perhaps because he is American and therefore classless in British eyes, is the ability to chat up and get on with all sorts and conditions of British...Theroux is a good companion". ("The Times"). "Filled with history, insights, landscape, epiphanies, meditations, celebrations and laments". ("The New York Times"). "Few of us have seen the entirety of the coast and I for one am grateful to Mr Theroux for making my journey unnecessary. He describes it all brilliantly and honestly". (Anthony Burgess, "Observer"). American travel writer Paul Theroux is known for the rich descriptions of people and places that is often streaked with his distinctive sense of irony; his other non-fiction titles, "Riding the Iron Rooster", "The Happy Isles of Oceania", "Sunrise with Seamonsters", "The Tao of Travel", "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star", "The Old Patagonian Express", "The Great Railway Bazaar", "Dark Star Safari", "Fresh-air Fiend", "Sir Vidia's Shadow", "The Pillars of Hercules", and his novels and collections of short stories, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize winner "The Mosquito Coast" are available from Penguin. [via]
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Ladies' Manby Richard PriceISBN 0140083464 (0-14-008346-4)
Softcover, Penguin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ladies' Man'Book summary:[via]Kenny Becker just dumped his girlfriend--the reasons are a little complex. Young and newly unemployed, his main assets at the moment are six-pack abs and a healthy libido--hes ready to get out, find a little action, and maybe find himself too. But New York is no place for the lonely, and with one meaningless sexual encounter after another, Kenny begins to wonder if the singles scene is not itself a complete con job, with his heart and his future at stake. Raunchy, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt, this 1978 clubland slice-of-life displays Richard Price in gritty good form.
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Le Testament / the Testamentby John GrishamISBN 0099245027 (0-09-924502-7)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Le Testament / the Testament'Book summary:Troy Phelan, a 78-year-old eccentric and the 10th-richest man in America, is about to read his last will and testament, divvying up an estate worth $11 billion. Phelan's three ex-wives, their grasping spawn, a legion of lawyers, several psychiatrists, and a plethora of sound technicians wait breathlessly, all eyes glued to digital monitors as they watch the old man read his verdict. But Phelan shocks everyone with a bizarre, last-gasp attempt to redistribute the spoils, setting in motion a legal morality tale of a contested will, sin, and redemption.
Our hero, Nate O'Riley--a washed-up, alcoholic litigator with two ruined marriages in his wake and the IRS on his tail--is dispatched to the Brazilian wetlands in search of a mysterious heir named in the will. After a harrowing trip upriver to a remote settlement in the Pantanal, he encounters Rachel Lane, a pure-hearted missionary living with an indigenous tribe and carrying out "God's work." Rachel's grave dedication and kindness impress the jaded lawyer, so much that a nasty bout of dengue fever leads him to a vision that could change his life.
Back in the States, the legal proceedings drag on and Grisham has a high time with Phelan's money-hungry descendents, a regrettable bunch who squandered millions, married strippers, got druggy, and befriended the Mob. The youngest son, Ramble, is a multi-pierced, tattoo-covered malcontent with big dreams for his rock band, the Demon Monkeys. Will Nate get straight with Rachel's aid? Do the greedy heirs get theirs? What's the real legacy of a lifetime's work? The Testament is classic Grisham: a down-and-out lawyer, a lot of money, an action-packed pursuit, and the highest issues at stake. It's not just about great characters; it's about the question of what character is. --Rebekah Warren [via]
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Legsby William KennedyISBN 0140064842 (0-14-006484-2)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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Little House in the Big Woodsby Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garth WilliamsISBN 0064400018 (0-06-440001-8)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Little House in the Big Woods'Book summary:Although the Little House stories are traditionally seen as "girl" books, boys might be happily surprised if they take another peek at their sisters' shelves. Little House in the Big Woods--the first book of the series and Laura Ingalls Wilder's first children's book--is full of the thrills, chills, and spills typically associated with "boy" books. Any boy or girl who has fantasized about running off to live in the woods will find ample information in these pages to manage a Wisconsin snowstorm, a panther attack, or a wild sled ride with a pig as an uninvited guest. Every chapter divulges fascinatingly intricate, yet easy-to-read, details about pioneer life in the Midwest in the late 1800s, from bear-meat curing to maple-tree sapping to homemade bullet making.
Wilder's autobiographical tales ring with truth and excitement. Readers will receive a perfectly painless history lesson, and in fact will clamor for more. Beloved illustrator Garth Williams spent years researching young Laura's pioneering family. His soft-line illustrations bring to life the full, simple days and nights in the family's log cabin. No one can read just one Little House book! (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter [via]
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Love In The Asylumby Lisa CareyISBN 006621288X (0-06-621288-X)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Love In The Asylum'Book summary:Can love save those who believe they are beyond redemption? That is the question at the heart of this eagerly anticipated new novel by the acclaimed author of In the Country of the Young and The Mermaids Singing, an utterly remarkable tale of salvation at the last possible moment in the last place imaginable.
Alba Elliot is tired of being crazy. In and out of Abenaki Mental Hospital more than a dozen times in ten years, fed up with diagnoses that come without cures and a life organized by a days-of-the-week pill case, the twenty-five-year-old children's book writer is waiting for a miracle.
Oscar Jameson, a thirty-year-old drug addict enrolled in the rehab program by his frustrated brother, is not looking for anything so profound. Oscar doesn't believe he has a problem, despite the fact that his "recreation" has cost him everything.
He resents the counselors, the other addicts, and his brother, all of whom insist he belongs there. The only activity Oscar looks forward to is the spirited, sarcastic conversations that have begun with Alba on the hospital lawn.
And so two damaged souls forge a connection.
To call it love would be courting disaster since no bright future could possibly exist between a suicidal manic-depressive and a self-deluding junkie.
Then one day, in the back pages of a hospital library book, Alba finds a letter written seventy years earlier but never sent. Mary Doherty, who was committed by her husband and taken from her children, left behind secret missives about the atrocities done to her and her belief in an ancient healing power. As Alba pieces together Mary's heartbreaking chronicle, she begins to set her hopes on a different kind of medicine.
Brought together by chance, influenced by forces as beautiful and powerful as they are unforeseen, Alba and Oscar will slowly rise from the ashes of despair and self-destruction and, in the midst of righting an old wrong, begin to heal their battered spirits. A superbly crafted, poignant narrative of tragedy and triumph, Lisa Carey's moving third novel is a testament to the surprising resilience of the human heart.
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Love Medicineby Louise ErdrichISBN 0072434198 (0-07-243419-8)
Softcover, McGraw-Hill College
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Love Medicine'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. The lives and destinies of the Kashpaws and the Lamartines intertwine on and around a North Dakota Indian reservation from 1934 to 1984, in an authentic tale of survival, tenacity, tradition, injustice, and love. [via]
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The Mackerel Plazaby Peter DevriesISBN 0140019367 (0-14-001936-7)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mackerel Plaza'Book summary:1986 Penguin Books trade paperback. ISBN:0140019367. Peter De Vries (The Blood of the Lamb: A Novel). A love triangle gone hilarious. When a clergy man decides to take another wife after the death of his first, it seems everyone is trying to get her memory alive and keep him from moving on. [via]
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Maggie Cassidyby Jack KerouacISBN 0070342032 (0-07-034203-2)
Softcover, McGraw-Hill
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The Magic Barrelby Bernard MalamudISBN 0140025588 (0-14-002558-8)
Hardcover, Penguin Books
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The Magusby John FowlesISBN 0099743914 (0-09-974391-4)
Hardcover, Vintage
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Magus'Book summary:A novel which explores the complexities of the human mind. On a remote Greek island, Nicholas Urfe finds himself embroiled in the deceptions of a master trickster. Surreal threads weave ever tighter as reality and illusion intertwine in a bizarre psychological game. [via]
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The Man With the Golden Armby Nelson AlgrenISBN 0140045236 (0-14-004523-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Master Butchers Singing Clubby Louise ErdrichISBN 0066209773 (0-06-620977-3)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Master Butchers Singing Club'Book summary:Louise Erdrich's The Master Butchers Singing Club is a powerfully told story of love, death, redemption, and resurrection. After German soldier Fidelis Waldvogel returns home from World War I to marry his best friend's pregnant widow, he packs up his father's butcher knives and sets sail for America. He settles in Argus, North Dakota, where he sets up a meat shop with his wife Eva, who quickly befriends the struggling yet resourceful Delphine Watzka. Delphine, who runs a vaudeville show with her balancing partner Cyprian Lazarre, has returned home to Argus to care for her alcoholic father. While most of this emotionally rich novel focuses on the changing landscape of small-town life as seen through Delphine and Fidelis's eyes, Erdrich does a masterful job of illuminating hidden dramas through her secondary characters. Erdrich's portrayal of these various townsfolk, including members of the Master Butchers Singing Club, truly shows off her storytelling talent. Her ability to infuse each character with a distinct and multifaceted personality makes this novel an intimate and thought-provoking adventure. --Gisele Toueg [via]
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Midnight Champagneby A. Manette AnsayISBN 0061120111 (0-06-112011-1)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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The Monk Downstairsby Tim FarringtonISBN 0061122424 (0-06-112242-4)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Monk Downstairs'Book summary:Tim Farrington's The Monk Downstairs follows the beguiling romance between a jaded San Francisco graphic designer and a monk who flips burgers at McDonald's. Rebecca Martin is a 38-year-old single mom who has lost her faith in men; Mike is a disillusioned monk who's lost his faith in God. The two meet just after Mike leaves his monastery of 20 years and rents the downstairs apartment of Rebecca's house. The last thing Rebecca wants is another romantic entanglement, especially since she has the emotional well-being of her 6-year-old daughter, Mary Martha, to consider. (A charming character in her own right, Mary Martha also happens to be "an infallible detector of bullshit.") And the last thing Mike wants is to agitate his already troubled soul. But after a few backyard cigarettes together at twilight and a few melted barriers, a tentative love story is underway.
Although Farrington's plot revolves around a classic story of unlikely lovers, there's no sappiness or clichés in his highly polished narrative. Indeed, his vulnerable characters and realistic dialogue will feel especially poignant for grown-up lovers. When the big night arrives and the couple must decide whether Mike will sleep over, Rebecca speaks for all single mothers.
"This is not just about us anymore," she said. "If that freaks you out, then please, please bail now. Because if you are going to stay here tonight, you're going to have to have breakfast with my daughter. You're going to have to be a decent human being. You're going to have to be a man."
In Mike we see what it means to bring spiritual strength to a relationship. When Rebecca suddenly becomes sharp and anxious, he does not retreat, nor does he paw at her for reassurance. Instead he knows how to sit with her, as if in meditation, staying present while not getting caught up in her fear. And in Rebecca we see what it means to speak honestly to a lover. This all may sound too lofty and preachy to be a juicy read, but Farrington has the quirky characters and the masterful skills to make this a highly entertaining and inspiring tale of adult love. --Gail Hudson [via]
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The Monkey Wrench Gangby Edward AbbeyISBN 0061129763 (0-06-112976-3)
Softcover, Perennial
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Monkey Wrench Gang'Book summary:Ed Abbey called The Monkey Wrench Gang, his 1975 novel, a "comic extravaganza." Some readers have remarked that the book is more a comic book than a real novel, and it's true that reading this incendiary call to protect the American wilderness requires more than a little of the old willing suspension of disbelief. The story centers on Vietnam veteran George Washington Hayduke III, who returns to the desert to find his beloved canyons and rivers threatened by industrial development. On a rafting trip down the Colorado River, Hayduke joins forces with feminist saboteur Bonnie Abbzug, wilderness guide Seldom Seen Smith, and billboard torcher Doc Sarvis, M.D., and together they wander off to wage war on the big yellow machines, on dam builders and road builders and strip miners. As they do, his characters voice Abbey's concerns about wilderness preservation ("Hell of a place to lose a cow," Smith thinks to himself while roaming through the canyonlands of southern Utah. "Hell of a place to lose your heart. Hell of a place... to lose. Period"). Moving from one improbable situation to the next, packing more adventure into the space of a few weeks than most real people do in a lifetime, the motley gang puts fear into the hearts of their enemies, laughing all the while. It's comic, yes, and required reading for anyone who has come to love the desert. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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The Night Listenerby Armistead MaupinISBN 0061120200 (0-06-112020-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Night Listener'Book summary:"I'm a fabulist by trade," warns Gabriel Noone, a late-night radio storyteller, as he begins to untangle the skeins of his tumultuous life: his crumbling ten-year love affair, his disaffection from his Southern father, his longtime weakness for ignoring reality. Gabriel's most sympathetic listener is Pete Lomax, a thirteen-year-old fan in Wisconsin whose own horrific past has left him wise and generous beyond his years. But when this virtual father-son relationship is rocked by doubt, a desperate search for the truth ensues. Welcome to the complex, vertiginous world of The Night Listener . [via]
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Nora, Noraby Anne Rivers SiddonsISBN 0061093335 (0-06-109333-5)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nora, Nora'Book summary:The young heroine of Nora, Nora comes from a long line of angst-ridden adolescents, stretching back through Holden Caulfield and Frankie Addams to Huckleberry Finn. Yet Peyton McKenzie certainly has good reason to be unhappy. Her household, in the small Georgia town of Lytton, is shadowed by the deaths of her mother and older brother. Her father, meanwhile, has withdrawn into mournful distraction: "When Buddy died in an accident in his air-force trainer, when Peyton was five, Frazier McKenzie closed up shop on his laughter, anger, small foolishnesses, and large passions. Now, at twelve, Peyton could remember no other father than the cooled and static one she had."
To withstand this mortuary atmosphere--not to mention a touch of small-town claustrophobia--Peyton has founded the Losers Club, where she and two other misfits share their daily doses of unhappiness. But everything changes when her cousin Nora shows up for a visit. This jaunty outsider is unlike anybody else in Kennedy-era Lytton, circa 1961:
The first thing you noticed about Nora Findlay, Peyton thought, was that she gave off heat, a kind of sheen, like a wild animal, except that hers was not a dangerous ferality, but an aura of sleekness and high spirits. There was a padding, hip-shot prowl to her walk, and she moved her body as if she were totally unconscious of it, as if its suppleness and sinew were something she had lived with all her life.
At first Nora's high spirits have a tonic effect, jogging both Peyton and her father out of their torpor. But her involvement in racial politics eventually rubs some of Lytton's citizens the wrong way--and puts her young cousin's loyalty to the test. Anne Rivers Siddons handles the narrative with a deft touch for local color (right down to the perpetual "three Coca-Colas in an old red metal ice chest"). But her feeling for her cast of characters is even better, mixing just the right proportions of delicacy and Southern discomfort. --Anita Urquhart [via]More editions of Nora, Nora:
O Albany!: Improbable City of Political Wizards, Fearless Ethnics, Spectacular Aristocrats, Splendid Nobodies, and Underrated Scoundrelsby William KennedyISBN 0140074163 (0-14-007416-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'O Albany!: Improbable City of Political Wizards, Fearless Ethnics, Spectacular Aristocrats, Splendid Nobodies, and Underrated Scoundrels'More editions of O Albany!: Improbable City of Political Wizards, Fearless Ethnics, Spectacular Aristocrats, Splendid Nobodies, and Underrated Scoundrels:
Old Town in the Green Grovesby Cynthia Rylant, Jim LamarcheISBN 0064409902 (0-06-440990-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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Ordinary Peopleby Judith GuestISBN 0140065172 (0-14-006517-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ordinary People'Book summary:The Novel that Inspired Robert Redford's Oscar Winning Film starring Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore In Ordinary People , Judith Guest's remarkable first novel, the Jarrets are a typical American family. Calvin is a determined, successful provider and Beth an organized, efficient wife. They had two sons, Conrad and Buck, but now they have one. In this memorable, moving novel, Judith Guest takes the reader into their lives to share their misunderstandings, pain...and ultimate healing. Judith Guest is the author of six novels, including Ordinary People, Errands , and the Tarnished Eye. [via]
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Outer Banksby Anne Rivers SiddonsISBN 0061099732 (0-06-109973-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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Post Officeby Charles BukowskiISBN 0061177571 (0-06-117757-1)
Softcover, Ecco Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Post Office'Book summary:Book [via]
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Preyby Michael CrichtonISBN 0066214122 (0-06-621412-2)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Prey'Book summary:In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles -- micro-robots -- has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive. It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour. Every attempt to destroy it has failed. And we are the prey. As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton'smost compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. Drawing on up-to-the-minute scientific fact, Prey takes us into the emerging realms of nanotechnology and artificial distributed intelligence -- in a story of breathtaking suspense. Prey is a novel you can't put down. Because time is running out. [via]
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The Prick of Noonby Peter DevriesISBN 0140086854 (0-14-008685-4)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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The Princess Casamassimaby Henry JamesISBN 0140041028 (0-14-004102-8)
Hardcover, Penguin Books
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The Professor of Desireby Philip RothISBN 0140076778 (0-14-007677-8)
Softcover, Penguin
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Queerby William S. BurroughsISBN 0140083898 (0-14-008389-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Queer'Book summary:For more than three decades, while its writer's world fame increased, Queer remained unpublished because of its forthright depiction of homosexual longings. Set in the corrupt and spectral Mexico City of the forties, Queer is the story of William Lee, a man afflicted with both acute heroin withdrawal and romantic and sexual yearnings for an indifferent user named Eugene Allerton. The narrative is punctuated by Lee's outrageous "routines" brilliant comic monologues that foreshadow Naked Lunch yet the atmosphere is heavy with foreboding.[via]In his extraordinary introduction, Burroughs reflects on the shattering events in his life that lay behind this work.
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Rabbit Reduxby John UpdikeISBN 0140034978 (0-14-003497-8)
Hardcover, Penguin
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Rich Rewardsby Alice AdamsISBN 0140059180 (0-14-005918-0)
Softcover, Penguin Books
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Riding Lessonsby Sara GruenISBN 0061241083 (0-06-124108-3)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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Sea Runnersby Ivan DoigISBN 0140067809 (0-14-006780-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Sport and a Pastimeby James SalterISBN 0140056386 (0-14-005638-6)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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A Spy in the House of Loveby Anais NinISBN 0140036008 (0-14-003600-8)
Hardcover, Penguin
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State of Fearby Michael CrichtonISBN 0066214130 (0-06-621413-0)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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The Stories of Paul Bowlesby Paul Bowles, Robert StoneISBN 0061137049 (0-06-113704-9)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Stories of Paul Bowles'Book summary:An American literary cult figure, Paul Bowles established his legacy with the novel The Sheltering Sky. An immediate sensation, it became a fixture in American letters. Bowles then returned his energies to the short story -- the genre he preferred and soon mastered.
Bowles's short fiction is orchestral in composition and exacting in theme, marked by a unique, delicately spare style and a dark, rich, exotic mood, by turns chilling, ironic, and wry. In "Pastor Dowe at Tacaté," a Protestant missionary is sent to the far reaches of the globe -- a place, he discovers, where his God has no power. In "Call at Corazón," an American husband abandons his alcoholic wife on their honeymoon in a South American jungle. In "Allal," a boy's drug-induced metamorphosis into a deadly serpent leads to his violent death, but not before he feels the "joy" of sinking his fangs into human prey. Also gathered here are Bowles's most famous works, such as "The Delicate Prey," a grimly satisfying tale of vengeance, and "A Distant Episode," which Tennessee Williams proclaimed "a masterpiece of short fiction.""Beauty and terror go wonderfully well together in [Bowles's] work," Madison Smartt Bell once said. Though sometimes shocking, Bowles's stories have a symmetry that is haunting and ultimately moral. Like Poe (whose stories Bowles's mother read to him at bedtime), Bowles had an instinctive adeptness with the nightmare vision. Joyce Carol Oates, in her introduction to Too Far from Home, writes that his characters are "at the mercy of buried wishes experienced as external fate." In these masterful stories, our deepest fears are manifest, tables are turned, and allegiances are tested. Fate is an inexorable element of Bowles's distant landscapes, and its psychological effects on his characters are rendered with penetrating accuracy. Like Hemingway, Bowles is famously unsentimental, a skilled craftsman of crystalline prose. [via]More editions of The Stories of Paul Bowles:
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Strangers on a Trainby Patricia HighsmithISBN 0140037969 (0-14-003796-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Strangers on a Train'Book summary:From the moment that he constructs a perfect alibi, Guy Haines is trapped in a nightmare of shared guilt and an insidious merging of his personality with that of his conspirator. [via]
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The Street Lawyerby John GrishamISBN 0099244926 (0-09-924492-6)
Softcover, Random House Uk Ltd
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Street Lawyer'Book summary:John Grisham is back with his latest courtroom conundrum, The Street Lawyer. This time the lord of legal thrillers dives deep into the world of the homeless, particularly their barely audible legal voice in a world dominated by large, all-powerful law firms. Our hero, Michael Brock, is on the fast track to partnership at D.C.'s premier law firm, Sweeny & Drake. His dream of someday raking in a million-plus a year is finally within reach. Nothing can stop him, not even 90-hour workweeks and a failing marriage--until he meets DeVon Hardy, a.k.a. "Mister," a Vietnam vet with a grudge against his landlord--and a few lawyers to fry. Hardy, with no clear motive, takes Brock and eight of his colleagues hostage in a boardroom, demanding their tax returns and interrogating them with a conviction that would have put perpetrators of the Spanish Inquisition to shame. Hardy, a man of few words and a lot of ammunition, mumbles cryptically, "Who are the evictors?" as he points a .44 automatic within inches of Brock's face. The violent outcome of the hostage situation triggers an abrupt soul-searching for the young lawyer, and Hardy's mysterious question continues to haunt him. Brock learns that Hardy had been in and out of homeless shelters most of his life, but he had recently begun paying rent in a rundown building; that means he has legal recourse when a big money-making outfit such as Sweeny & Drake boots him with no warning. When Brock realizes that his profession caters to the morally challenged, he sets out on an aimless search through the dicier side of D.C., ending up at the 14th Street Legal Clinic. The clinic's director, a gargantuan man named Mordecai Green, woos Brock to the clinic with a $90,000 cut in pay and the chance to redeem his soul. Brock takes it--and some of the story's credibility along with it; it's hard to believe that a Yale graduate who sacrificed everything--including his marriage--to succeed in the legal profession would quickly jump at the opportunity for low-paying, charitable work. However, Brock's search for corruption in the swanky upper echelons of Sweeny & Drake (via the toughest streets of D.C.) is filled with colorful characters and realistic, gritty descriptions. In the The Street Lawyer, Grisham once again defends the voiceless and powerless. In the words of Mordecai Green, "That's justice, Michael. That's what street law is all about. Dignity." [via]
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Stuart Littleby E. B. White, Garth WilliamsISBN 0064400565 (0-06-440056-5)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Stuart Little'Book summary:How terribly surprised the Little family must have been when their second child turned out to be a small mouse. Apparently familiar with the axiom that "when in New York City, anything can happen," the Littles accept young Stuart into their family unquestioningly--with the exception of Snowbell the cat who is unable to overcome his instinctive dislike for the little mouse. They build him a bed from a matchbox, and supply him with all of the accoutrements a young mouse could need. Mrs. Little even fashions him a suit, because baby clothes would obviously be unsuitable for such a sophisticated mouse. In return, Stuart helps his tall family with errant Ping-Pong balls that roll outside of their reach.
E. B. White takes Stuart on a hero's quest across the American countryside, introducing the mouse--and the reader--to a myriad of delightful characters. Little finds himself embroiled in one adventure after another from the excitement of racing sailboats to the unseen horrors of substitute teaching. This is a story of leaving home for the first time, of growing up, and ultimately of discovering oneself. At times, doesn't everyone feel like the sole mouse in a family--and a world--of extremely tall people? (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
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Sweet Thursdayby John SteinbeckISBN 0140048898 (0-14-004889-8)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sweet Thursday'Book summary:In Monterey, on the California coast, Sweet Thursday is what they call the day after Lousy Wednesday, which is one of those days that are just naturally bad. Returning to the scene of Cannery Rowthe weedy lots and junk heaps and flophouses of Monterey, John Steinbeck once more brings to life the denizens of a netherworld of laughter and tearsfrom Fauna, new headmistress of the local brothel, to Hazel, a bum whose mother must have wanted a daughter. [via]
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Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poeby Julian SymonsISBN 0140053719 (0-14-005371-9)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe'Book summary:The Life and Works of Edgar Allen Poe strips away the myths that have grown up around the life of Edgar Allen Poe, and provides a completely fresh assessment of both the man and his work. Symons reveals Poe as his contemporaries saw hima man struggling to make a living out of hack journalism and striving to find a backer for his new magazine, and a man whose life was beset by so many tragedies that he was often driven to excessive drinking and a string of unhealthy relationships. Fittingly written by another master in the art of crime writing, this volume brilliantly portrays the original creator of the detective story and reveals him as the geniusand unashamed plagiaristthat he was.[via]More editions of Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe:
![[???]: Thidwick the Moose](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/0075110865.01._SL160_SCLZZZZZZZ__.jpg "[???]: Thidwick the Moose")
Thidwick the MooseISBN 0075110865 (0-07-511086-5)
Hardcover, Sra
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Three Farmers on Their Way to a Danceby Richard PowersISBN 0070506086 (0-07-050608-6)
Softcover, McGraw-Hill
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The Tie That Bindsby Kent HarufISBN 0140084665 (0-14-008466-5)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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To a God Unknownby John SteinbeckISBN 0140042334 (0-14-004233-4)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'To a God Unknown'Book summary:While fulfilling his dead father's dream of creating a prosperous farm in California, Joseph Wayne comes to believe that a magnificent tree on the farm embodies his father's spirit. His brothers and their families share in Joseph's prosperity and the farm flourishes - until one brother, scared by Joseph's pagan belief, kills the tree and brings disease and famine on the farm. Set in familiar Steinbeck country, "To A God Unknown" is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control the forces of nature and to understand the ways of God. [via]
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Tortilla Flatby John SteinbeckISBN 0140042407 (0-14-004240-7)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tortilla Flat'Book summary:Adopting the structure and themes of the Arthurian legend, Steinbeck created a "Camelot" on a shabby hillside above Monterey on the California coast and peopled it with a colorful band of knights. As Steinbeck chronicles their thoughts and emotions, temptations and lusts, he spins a tale as compelling, and ultimately as touched by sorrow, as the famous legends of the Round Table.[via]More editions of Tortilla Flat:
Transparent Thingsby Vladimir Vladimirovich NabokovISBN 0070457344 (0-07-045734-4)
Hardcover, McGraw-Hill
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Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriageby Madeleine L'EngleISBN 0062505017 (0-06-250501-7)
Softcover, Harper San Francisco
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage'Book summary:The story of a marriage of true minds and spirits--a brilliant writer's tribute to lasting love. [via]
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Up the Down Staircaseby Bel KaufmanISBN 0139391584 (0-13-939158-4)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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The Victimby Saul BellowISBN 014002493X (0-14-002493-X)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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A Walk on the Wild Sideby Nelson AlgrenISBN 0140035656 (0-14-003565-6)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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Woman Warriorby Maxine Hong KingstonISBN 0072435194 (0-07-243519-4)
Softcover, McGraw-Hill College
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Wrackby James BradleyISBN 0091834945 (0-09-183494-5)
Hardcover, Vintage
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wrack'Book summary:Shipwrecks and lost loves, the Mercator projection and sand dunes, 20th-century passions and the age of exploration: this ambitious first novel by James Bradley crosses continents and centuries to explore the notion that Australia may have been discovered by the Portuguese. David is an Australian archaeologist combing sand dunes that he thinks may be hiding an ancient Portuguese ship. What he finds instead is a human body from the 1940s. An old hermit named Kurt Seligmann advances mysteriously to the fore of the narrative, voicing memories that may or may not touch on the history of this corpse. More crucially to the obsessed David, Kurt seems to possess some knowledge of the fabled sand-sunk ship. As the old man slips away into illness, David's former lover, Dr. Claire Sen, joins him at his bedside vigil. David and Claire find their own doomed story subtly twinned in Kurt's tale of obsession and love in wartime Australia.
Genuinely gripping, ingeniously plotted, and always convincingly researched, Bradley's novel has plenty of propulsive intelligence to keep the reader hooked. Bradley's first book was a volume of award-winning poetry, and he brings a poet's aptitude for language and repeated images to Wrack. Sometimes, however, this preoccupation hamstrings an otherwise compelling adventure tale. Imagery of shards crops up incessantly, which is perhaps a bit literal-minded for a novel with an archaeologist protagonist. "A memory, or perhaps less than a memory, a shard, a fragment" is a typical (fragmented) sentence--not very helpful prose and not even very nice poetry. If a book is going to invoke Michael Ondaatje as heavily as this one does, it needs to deliver more compelling writing. Still, fans of The English Patient--and Dava Sobel's Longitude, for that matter--should find much to admire in Bradley's cleverly looped and configured tale of ships at sea and lovers in sand. [via]
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1942: John Michael Crichton is born in Chicago, Illinois, on Oct. 23.
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