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books tagged “american lit” (American lit)
books tagged “american lit”
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100 Selected Poems by E. E. Cummingsby E. E. CummingsISBN 0802130720 (0-8021-3072-0)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: '100 Selected Poems by E. E. Cummings'Book summary:E.E. Cummings is without question one of the major poets of this century, and this volume, first published in 1959, is indispensable for every lover of modern lyrical verse. It contains one hundred of Cummingss wittiest and most profound poems, harvested from thirty-five of the most radically creative years in contemporary American poetry. These poems exhibit all the extraordinary lyricism, playfulness, technical ingenuity, and compassion for which Cummings is famous. They demonstrate beautifully his extrapolations from traditional poetic structures and his departures from them, as well as the unique synthesis of lavish imagery and acute artistic precision that has won him the adulation and respect of critics and poetry lovers everywhere.[via]More editions of 100 Selected Poems by E. E. Cummings:
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20,000 Leagues Under the Seaby Ron Miller, Jules Verne, Paul WrightISBN 0789434288 (0-7894-3428-8)
Hardcover, Dk Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'Book summary:The adventure begins when Professor Aronnax accidentally becomes a prisoner of the very monster he is seeking to destroy -- the submarine Nautilus, commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Invited to experience the marvels of the Nautilus' magnificent undersea world, Arronnax struggles to piece together Nemo's tragic past. This exciting retelling captures the essence of Verne's visionary and unforgettable story, while also explaining the fascinating facts and fantasies of Captain Nemo's marvelous ocean realm. A unique cross-section of the Nautilus, color photographs, diagrams, and narrative illustrations explore Verne's unique vision and knowledge of the deep. [via]
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Aldous Huxley's Brave New Worldby Aldous Huxley, Aaron TillmanISBN 0791070492 (0-7910-7049-2)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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Aldous Huxley's Brave New Worldby Harold BloomISBN 0791040844 (0-7910-4084-4)
Softcover, Chelsea House Pub
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The Andromeda Strainby Michael CrichtonISBN 079271881X (0-7927-1881-X)
Softcover, Chivers North Amer
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Atonement: A Novelby Ian McEwanISBN 0786239212 (0-7862-3921-2)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Atonement: A Novel'Book summary:Ian McEwan's Booker Prize-nominated Atonement is his first novel since Amsterdam took home the prize in 1998. But while Amsterdam was a slim, sleek piece, Atonement is a more sturdy, more ambitious work, allowing McEwan more room to play, think, and experiment.
We meet 13-year-old Briony Tallis in the summer of 1935, as she attempts to stage a production of her new drama "The Trials of Arabella" to welcome home her older, idolized brother Leon. But she soon discovers that her cousins, the glamorous Lola and the twin boys Jackson and Pierrot, aren't up to the task, and directorial ambitions are abandoned as more interesting prospects of preoccupation come onto the scene. The charlady's son, Robbie Turner, appears to be forcing Briony's sister Cecilia to strip in the fountain and sends her obscene letters; Leon has brought home a dim chocolate magnate keen for a war to promote his new "Army Ammo" chocolate bar; and upstairs, Briony's migraine-stricken mother Emily keeps tabs on the house from her bed. Soon, secrets emerge that change the lives of everyone present....
The interwar, upper-middle-class setting of the book's long, masterfully sustained opening section might recall Virginia Woolf or Henry Green, but as we move forward--eventually to the turn of the 21st century--the novel's central concerns emerge, and McEwan's voice becomes clear, even personal. For at heart, Atonement is about the pleasures, pains, and dangers of writing, and perhaps even more, about the challenge of controlling what readers make of your writing. McEwan shouldn't have any doubts about readers of Atonement: this is a thoughtful, provocative, and at times moving book that will have readers applauding. --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.uk [via]
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The Birchbark Houseby Louise ErdrichISBN 0786814543 (0-7868-1454-3)
Softcover, Disney Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Birchbark House'Book summary:Nineteenth-century American pioneer life was introduced to thousands of young readers by Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved Little House books. With The Birchbark House, award-winning author Louise Erdrich's first novel for young readers, this same slice of history is seen through the eyes of the spirited, 7-year-old Ojibwa girl Omakayas, or Little Frog, so named because her first step was a hop. The sole survivor of a smallpox epidemic on Spirit Island, Omakayas, then only a baby girl, was rescued by a fearless woman named Tallow and welcomed into an Ojibwa family on Lake Superior's Madeline Island, the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. We follow Omakayas and her adopted family through a cycle of four seasons in 1847, including the winter, when a historically documented outbreak of smallpox overtook the island.
Readers will be riveted by the daily life of this Native American family, in which tanning moose hides, picking berries, and scaring crows from the cornfield are as commonplace as encounters with bear cubs and fireside ghost stories. Erdrich--a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwa--spoke to Ojibwa elders about the spirit and significance of Madeline Island, read letters from travelers, and even spent time with her own children on the island, observing their reactions to woods, stones, crayfish, bear, and deer. The author's softly hewn pencil drawings infuse life and authenticity to her poetic, exquisitely wrought narrative. Omakayas is an intense, strong, likable character to whom young readers will fully relate--from her mixed emotions about her siblings, to her discovery of her unique talents, to her devotion to her pet crow Andeg, to her budding understanding of death, life, and her role in the natural world. We look forward to reading more about this brave, intuitive girl--and wholeheartedly welcome Erdrich's future series to the canon of children's classics. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson [via]
Blue Movieby Terry SouthernISBN 0802134661 (0-8021-3466-1)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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The Body of Christopher Creedby Carol Plum-UcciISBN 0786816414 (0-7868-1641-4)
Softcover, Hyperion
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Body of Christopher Creed'Book summary:The often-tortured class weirdo has disappeared, leaving an enigmatic note on the school library computer. Is he a runaway, a suicide, a murder victim?
Sixteen-year-old Torey Adams and his friends remember beating up Chris Creed when his gentle but obnoxious ways exasperated them. Now that he is gone, they joke uneasily about him to ease their guilt. The town is full of ugly rumors, as Torey's lawyer mother tells them "See, guys, this is what happens when a kid suffers a personal tragedy. Nobody wants to take responsibility. Nobody wants to admit they had a part in it. So, they spend a lot of time pointing the finger, and things just get worse and worse." Suspicion of murder conveniently falls on big, tough Bo Richardson, an outcast "boon" from the boondocks edge of town. Torey's smug assumptions about people are rattled when he discovers that his childhood friend Ali is secretly romantically involved with Bo, who displays surprising tenderness and maturity in caring for her.
The three try to solve the mystery of Chris's disappearance by attempting to steal his diary, but only succeed in implicating themselves, as the town is consumed with rumors and the revelation of adult secrets. Torey begins to find himself distanced from his other friends by his growing understanding of the importance of compassion toward those who are different. The Body of Christopher Creed challenges teens to think about the damage done when lines of exclusion are drawn between people. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell [via]
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The Book of Illusionsby Paul AusterISBN 0786248688 (0-7862-4868-8)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Book of Illusions'Book summary:Vermont professor David Zimmer is a broken man. The protagonist of Paul Auster's 10th novel, The Book of Illusions, hits a period in which life seemed to be working aggressively against him. After his wife and sons are killed in an airplane crash, Zimmer becomes an alcoholic recluse, fond of emptying his bottle of sleeping pills into his palm, contemplating his next move. But one night, while watching a television documentary, Zimmer's attention is caught by the silent-film comedian Hector Mann, who had disappeared without a trace in 1929 and who was considered long-dead. Soon, Zimmer begins work on a book about Mann's newly discovered films (copies of which had been sent, anonymously, to film archives around the world). The spirit of Hector Mann keeps David Zimmer alive for a year. When a letter arrives from someone claiming to be Hector Mann's wife, announcing that Mann had read Zimmer's book and would like to meet him, it is as if fate has tossed Zimmer from one hand to the other: from grief and loss to desire and confusion.
Although film images are technically "illusions," this deft and layered novel is not so much about conscious illusion or trickery as about the traces we leave behind us: words, images, memories. Children are one obvious trace, but in this book, they are not allowed to carry their parents forward. They die early: Hector Mann losing his 3-year-old son to a bee sting just as David Zimmer has lost his two sons in the crash. The second half of The Book of Illusions is given over to a love affair, and to Zimmer's attempt to save something of Hector Mann, and of the others he has loved. In the end, what really survives of us on earth--what flickering immortality we are permitted--is left to the reader to surmise. --Regina Marler [via]
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Books and Islands in Ojibwe Countryby Louise ErdrichISBN 0792253736 (0-7922-5373-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Borrowersby Mary Norton, Joe Krush, Beth KrushISBN 0786279540 (0-7862-7954-0)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Borrowers'Book summary:Anyone who has ever entertained the notion of "little people" living furtively among us will adore this artfully spun classic. The Borrowers--a Carnegie Medal winner, a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award book, and an ALA Distinguished Book--has stolen the hearts of thousands of readers since its 1953 publication. Mary Norton (1903-1993) creates a make-believe world in which tiny people live hidden from humankind beneath the floorboards of a quiet country house in England.
Pod, Homily, and daughter Arrietty of the diminutive Clock family outfit their subterranean quarters with the tidbits and trinkets they've "borrowed" from "human beans," employing matchboxes for storage and postage stamps for paintings. Readers will delight in the resourceful way the Borrowers recycle household objects. For example, "Homily had made her a small pair of Turkish bloomers from two glove fingers for 'knocking about in the mornings.'"
The persistent pilfering goes undetected until a boy (with a ferret!) comes to live in the country house. Curiosity drives Arrietty to commit the worst mistake a Borrower can make: she allows herself to be seen. This engaging, sometimes hair-raisingly suspenseful adventure is recounted in the kind, eloquent voice of narrator Mrs. May, whose brother might--just might--have seen an actual Borrower in the country house many years ago. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
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Caddie Woodlawnby Carol Ryrie BrinkISBN 0786258853 (0-7862-5885-3)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Caddie Woodlawn'Book summary:At age 11, Caddie Woodlawn is the despair of her mother and the pride of her father: a clock-fixing tomboy running wild in the woods of Wisconsin. In 1864, this is a bit much for her Boston-bred mother to bear, but Caddie and her brothers are happy with the status quo. Written in 1935 about Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother's childhood, the adventures of Caddie and her brothers are still exciting over 60 years later. With each chapter comes another ever-more exciting adventure: a midnight gallop on her horse across a frozen river to warn her American Indian friends of the white men's plan to attack; a prairie fire approaching the school house; and a letter from England that may change the family's life forever. This Newbery Medal-winning book bursts at the seams with Caddie's irrepressible spirit. In spite of her mother's misgivings, Caddie is a perfect role model for any girl--or boy, for that matter. She's big-hearted, she's brave, and she's mechanically inclined! (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
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Candyby Terry Southern, Mason HoffenbergISBN 0802134297 (0-8021-3429-7)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Cane Riverby Lalita TademyISBN 0786233737 (0-7862-3373-7)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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Cat Who Could Read Backwardsby Lilian Jackson BraunISBN 0792700996 (0-7927-0099-6)
Softcover, Curley Pub
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Chromaby Frederick BarthelmeISBN 0802134610 (0-8021-3461-0)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Chronicles: A Bob Dylan Seriesby Bob DylanISBN 0786273410 (0-7862-7341-0)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Chronicles: A Bob Dylan Series'Book summary:One would not anticipate a conventional memoir from Bob Dylan--indeed, one would not have foreseen an autobiography at all from the pen of the notoriously private legend. What Chronicles: Volume 1 delivers is an odd but ultimately illuminating memoir that is as impulsive, eccentric, and inspired as Dylan's greatest music.
Eschewing chronology and skipping over most of the "highlights" that his many biographers have assigned him, Dylan drifts and rambles through his tale, amplifying a series of major and minor epiphanies. If you're interested in a behind-the-scenes look at his encounters with the Beatles, look elsewhere. Dylan describes the sensation of hearing the group's "Do You Want to Know a Secret" on the radio, but devotes far more ink to a Louisiana shopkeeper named Sun Pie, who tells him, "I think all the good in the world might already been done" and sells him a World's Greatest Grandpa bumper sticker. Dylan certainly sticks to his own agenda--a newspaper article about journeymen heavyweights Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis and soul singer Joe Tex's appearance on The Tonight Show inspire heartfelt musings, and yet the 1963 assassination of John Kennedy prompts nary a word from the era's greatest protest singer.
For all the small revelations (it turns out he's been a big fan of Barry Goldwater, Mickey Rourke, and Ice-T), there are eye-opening disclosures, including his confession that a large portion of his recorded output was designed to alienate his audience and free him from the burden of being a "the voice of a generation."
Off the beaten path as it is, Chronicles is nevertheless an astonishing achievement. As revelatory in its own way as Blonde on Blonde or Highway 61 Revisited, it provides ephemeral insights into the mind one of the most significant artistic voices of the 20th century while creating a completely new set of mysteries. --Steven Stolder [via]
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A Clockwork Orangeby Anthony BurgessISBN 0786246448 (0-7862-4644-8)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Clockwork Orange'Book summary:"Penguin Decades" bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling. Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" was published in 1962 and has been controversial ever since. It tells the story of fifteen-year-old Alex - whose chief preoccupations are Beethoven's Ninth and ultra-violence - as he and his droogs rampage though a dystopian future seeking thrills, until they come under the control of the state's sinister apparatus. [via]
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Cranberry Queenby Kathleen DemarcoISBN 0786890371 (0-7868-9037-1)
Softcover, Hyperion Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cranberry Queen'Book summary:Diana Moore, a thirty-something professional in New York City, is brooding over rumors about her ex-lovers beautiful new girlfriend, when the unimaginable happens: a terrible car accident in which her entire family is killed. Seeking refuge from her well-meaning friends, Diana heads out of the city and ends up in the Pine Barrens, an oasis of simple living in New Jersey where cranberry bogs abound. There, in a place where no one knows her history, Diana is free to take a hard look at her life and to begin to explore avenues of change and renewal. [via]
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David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedarsby Harold BloomISBN 0791078779 (0-7910-7877-9)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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› Find signed collectible books: 'David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars'Book summary:David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Bloom's Guides collection, presents concise critical excerpts from Snow Falling on Cedars to provide a scholarly overview of the work. This comprehensive study guide also features "The Story Behind the Story," which details the conditions under which Snow Falling on Cedars was written. This title also includes a short biography on Guterson and a descriptive list of characters. [via]
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A Density of Soulsby Christopher RiceISBN 0786886463 (0-7868-8646-3)
Softcover, Miramax
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Density of Souls'Book summary:Take the sensuous, fecund New Orleans setting, add a generous helping of tangled Southern family history, and season liberally with a sensitive teenage boy rejected by his friends and frightened of his own homoerotic impulses and you wouldn't be surprised to discover that the novel containing all of the above was written by someone named Rice. But a few paragraphs into the first page, it's clear that Anne Rice's son's first novel isn't about vampires or witches and does not otherwise read like one of her exceedingly popular books. The only family resemblance is in the setting, the sexual orientation of the lovingly described male characters, and the scent of overripe magnolias.
There's murder, suicide, and madness at the heart of this rather clumsy coming-of-age story, which focuses on the youthful friendship of Stephen Conlin, Meredith Ducote, Greg Darby, and Brandon Charbonnet. This friendship is destroyed by a sexual incident that takes place just before the foursome enters Cannon, an exclusive prep school. There, Stephen is ostracized by his former friends, now the most popular kids on campus, who'd just as soon forget their own complicity in the event. Envy, passion, and rage drive the narrative, but the emotions are as juvenile as the characters, and the long passages depicting the rituals and cruelties of high school, from pep rallies to football games, slow down the pace without really illuminating character or motivation. The novel reads like a roman à clef. Rice might have been wiser to tell someone else's story rather than his own. --Jane Adams [via]
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Disobedienceby Jane HamiltonISBN 0786231580 (0-7862-3158-0)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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Don Quixoteby Kathy AckerISBN 0802131921 (0-8021-3192-1)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyonsby John Wesley Powell, Anthony BrandtISBN 0792266366 (0-7922-6636-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Forrest Gump SongtrackISBN 079353786X (0-7935-3786-X)
Softcover, Hal Leonard Corp
Find This BookBook summary:(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook). This hit movie is a capsule of America's pop culture, and its soundtrack paints the picture of the times. Matching folio with 32 classic rock hits, including: Against the Wind * California Dreamin' * For What It's Worth * Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In * Mrs. Robinson * What the World Needs Now * and more, including the original "Forrest Gump Suite." Also features photos from the film. [via]
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The Fortress of Solitudeby Jonathan LethemISBN 0786259965 (0-7862-5996-5)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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The Friday Book: Essays and Other Nonfictionby John BarthISBN 0801855578 (0-8018-5557-8)
Softcover, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Friday Book: Essays and Other Nonfiction'Book summary:A classic collection of essays now published in a new edition (with a new afterword by the author), The Friday Book was the first work of nonfiction by novelist John Barth, author of The Sot-Weed Factor, Giles Goat-Boy, and Chimera. Taking its title from the day of the week Barth would devote to nonfiction, the three dozen essays discuss a wide range of topics from the blue crabs of Barth's beloved Chesapeake Bay to weighty literary subjects such as Borges, Homer, and semiotics. Even when taking on serious matters, Barth's essays are shrewd, playful, and often very funny. [via]
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From The Mixed-up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweilerby E. L. KonigsburgISBN 0786273585 (0-7862-7358-5)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'From The Mixed up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler'Book summary:After reading this book, I guarantee that you will never visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or any wonderful, old cavern of a museum) without sneaking into the bathrooms to look for Claudia and her brother Jamie. They're standing on the toilets, still, hiding until the museum closes and their adventure begins. Such is the impact of timeless novels . . . they never leave us. E. L. Konigsburg won the 1967 Newbery Medal for this tale of how Claudia and her brother run away to the museum in order to teach their parents a lesson. Little do they know that mystery awaits! [via]
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Gap Creek: Library Editionby Robert MorganISBN 0786225459 (0-7862-2545-9)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Gap Creek: Library Edition'Book summary:Oprah Book Club® Selection, January 2000: Robert Morgan's Gap Creek opens with one wrenching death and ends with another. In between, this novel of turn-of-the-century Appalachian life works in fire, flood, swindlers, sickness, and starvation--a truly biblical assortment of plagues, all visited on the sturdy shoulders of 17-year-old Julie Harmon. "Human life don't mean a thing in this world," she concludes. And who could blame her? "People could be born and they could suffer, and they could die, and it didn't mean a thing.... The world was exactly like it had been and would always be, going on about its business." For Julie, that business is hard physical labor. Fortunately, she's fully capable of working "like a man"--splitting and hauling wood, butchering hogs, rendering lard, planting crops, and taking care of the stock. Even when Julie meets and marries handsome young Hank Richards, there's no happily-ever-after in store. Nothing comes easy in Julie Harmon's world, and their first year together is no exception.
Throughout the novel, Morgan chronicles Julie's trials in prose of great dignity and clarity, capturing the rhythms of North Carolina speech by using only the subtlest of inflections. Clearly the author has done his research too--the descriptions of physical labor practically leap off the page. (Suffice to say, you'll learn far more about hog slaughtering than you ever dreamed of knowing.) Yet he resists the temptation to make his long-suffering characters into saints. Julie simmers with resentment at being her family's workhorse, and Hank flies into a helpless rage whenever he feels that his authority is questioned. In novels like The Truest Pleasure and The Hinterlands, Morgan proved his ability to create memorable heroines. In Gap Creek, he writes with great feeling--but not a touch of sentimentality--about a life Julie aptly calls "both simple and hard." [via]
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Gathering Blueby Lois LowryISBN 0786230487 (0-7862-3048-7)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Gathering Blue'Book summary:Lois Lowry's magnificent novel of the distant future, The Giver, is set in a highly technical and emotionally repressed society. This eagerly awaited companion volume, by contrast, takes place in a village with only the most rudimentary technology, where anger, greed, envy, and casual cruelty make ordinary people's lives short and brutish. This society, like the one portrayed in The Giver, is controlled by merciless authorities with their own complex agendas and secrets. And at the center of both stories there is a young person who is given the responsibility of preserving the memory of the culture--and who finds the vision to transform it.
Kira, newly orphaned and lame from birth, is taken from the turmoil of the village to live in the grand Council Edifice because of her skill at embroidery. There she is given the task of restoring the historical pictures sewn on the robe worn at the annual Ruin Song Gathering, a solemn day-long performance of the story of their world's past. Down the hall lives Thomas the Carver, a young boy who works on the intricate symbols carved on the Singer's staff, and a tiny girl who is being trained as the next Singer. Over the three artists hovers the menace of authority, seemingly kind but suffocating to their creativity, and the dark secret at the heart of the Ruin Song.
With the help of a cheerful waif called Matt and his little dog, Kira at last finds the way to the plant that will allow her to create the missing color--blue--and, symbolically, to find the courage to shape the future by following her art wherever it may lead. With astonishing originality, Lowry has again created a vivid and unforgettable setting for this thrilling story that raises profound questions about the mystery of art, the importance of memory, and the centrality of love. (Ages 10 and older) --Patty Campbell [via]
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Gibbsville, Paby John O'Hara, Matthew Joseph Bruccoli, Budd Schulberg, George V. HigginsISBN 0786713623 (0-7867-1362-3)
Softcover, Carroll & Graf Pub
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Ginger Manby James Patrick DonleavyISBN 0802137954 (0-8021-3795-4)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Grand Avenueby Greg SarrisISBN 0786860170 (0-7868-6017-0)
Hardcover, Hyperion Books
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Great Expectationsby Kathy AckerISBN 0802131557 (0-8021-3155-7)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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High Lonesomeby Barry HannahISBN 0802135323 (0-8021-3532-3)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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The Hundred Secret Sensesby Amy TanISBN 0788192043 (0-7881-9204-3)
Hardcover, Diane Pub Co
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Island of the Blue Dolphinsby Scott O'Dell, Ted LewinISBN 0786272546 (0-7862-7254-6)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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Jesus Savesby Darcey SteinkeISBN 0802135986 (0-8021-3598-6)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Jews Without Moneyby Michael Gold, Alfred KazinISBN 0786713453 (0-7867-1345-3)
Softcover, Public Affairs
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Jews Without Money'Book summary:As a writer and political activist in early-twentieth-century America, Michael Gold was an important presence on the American cultural scene for more than three decades. Beginning in the 1920s his was a powerful journalistic voice for social change and human rights, and Jews Without Moneythe author's only novelis a passionate record of the times. First published in 1930, this fictionalized autobiography offered an unusually candid look at the thieves, gangsters, and ordinary citizens who struggled against brutal odds in lower East Side Manhattan. Like Henry Roth's Call It Sleep and Abraham Cahan's The Rise and Fall of David Levinsky, Jews Without Money is a literary landmark of the Jewish experience. [via]
Last Exit to Brooklynby Hubert SelbyISBN 0802131379 (0-8021-3137-9)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Daysby Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. JenkinsISBN 0786224681 (0-7862-2468-1)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days'Book summary:Piloting his 747, Rayford Steele is musing about his wife Irene's irritating religiosity and contemplating the charms of his "drop-dead gorgeous" flight attendant, Hattie. First Irene was into Amway, then Tupperware, and now it's the Rapture of the Saints--the scary last story in the Bible in which Christians are swept to heaven and unbelievers are left behind to endure the Antichrist's Tribulation. Steele believes he'll put the plane on autopilot and go visit Hattie. But Hattie's in a panic: some of the passengers have disappeared! The Rapture has happened, abruptly driverless cars are crashing all over, and the slick, sinister Romanian Nicolae Carpathia plans to use the UN to establish one world government and religion. Resembling "a young Robert Redford" and silver-tongued in nine languages, Carpathia is named People's "Sexiest Man Alive." (This reviewer, a former People writer, finds this plot twist plausible.) Meanwhile, Steele teams up with Buck Williams, a buck-the-system newshound, to form the Tribulation Force, an underground of left-behind penitents battling the Antichrist.
Ex-presidential candidate Pat Robertson briefly outsold Michael Crichton with his apocalypse novel The End of the Age (now available on audiocassette), and the similar The Third Millennium sells well, but the Left Behind series is the absolute champion in the race to make the Book of Revelation into racy thriller reading. --Tim Appelo [via]
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The Man of My Dreamsby Curtis SittenfeldISBN 0786288302 (0-7862-8830-2)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Man of My Dreams'Book summary:A young woman's romantic fantasies collide with the realities of adult life in a new novel from the bestselling author of "Prep". In the summer of 1991, Hannah Gavener is fourteen. In the magazines she reads, celebrities plan elaborate weddings; in Hannah's own life, her parents' marriage is crumbling. Over the next decade and a half, as Hannah moves from Philadelphia to Boston to Albuquerque, she finds that the answers to love's most bewildering questions become more rather than less complicated. At what point can you no longer blame your adult failures on your messed-up childhood? Is settling for someone who's not your soul mate an act of maturity or an admission of defeat? And if you move to another state for a man who might not love you back, are you being brave, or pathetic? Full of honesty and humour, "The Man of My Dreams" is an unnervingly insightful and beautifully written examination of the outside forces and personal choices that make us who we are. [via]
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The Middleman and Other Storiesby Bharati MukherjeeISBN 0802136508 (0-8021-3650-8)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Mother of Pearlby Melinda HaynesISBN 0786221828 (0-7862-2182-8)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mother of Pearl'Book summary:Marking the debut of a stunning new literary talent, MOTHER OF PEARL captures the irony and beauty of life in the Deep South in exquisite prose that brings to mind Kaye Gibbons and Olive Ann Burns. But Haynes creates a wholly distinctive new style by drawing on her own Southern roots and the "noble country" language of her youth in this remarkable first novel. Set in a small Mississippi town in the late 1950s, MOTHER OF PEARL is populated by wonderfully rich and original characters with themes of identity and the true meaning of family interwoven throughout. The story revolves around twenty-eight-year-old Even Grade, a black man who grew up an orphan, and Valuable Korner, a fifteen-year-old white girl whose is the daughter of the town whore and an unknown father. Their paths cross through Joody Two Sun, a seer, who sets up camp along the riverbank just outside of town and becomes Even's lover. Both Even and Valuable are seeking the family, love and commitment they never had, and their search ultimately takes both of them to places they never dreamed they'd go. Told in beautifully naunced narrative with a staggering richness that resonates with emotional truth, MOTHER OF PEARL is a haunting, bittersweet tale of the search for identity and the power of renewal. [via]
Motherless Brooklynby Jonathan LethemISBN 0786226951 (0-7862-2695-1)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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Mrs. Dollowayby Virginia WoolfISBN 0788191578 (0-7881-9157-8)
Softcover, Diane Pub Co
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My Famous Evening: Nova Scotia Sojourns, Diaries, & Preoccupationsby Howard NormanISBN 0792266307 (0-7922-6630-7)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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Nova Expressby William S. BurroughsISBN 0802133304 (0-8021-3330-4)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nova Express'Book summary:Nova Express takes William S. Burroughss nightmarish future one step beyond The Soft Machine. The diabolical Nova criminals have gained control and plan on wreaking untold destruction. Its up to Inspector Lee of the Nova Police to attack and dismantle the word-and-imagery machine of these control addicts before its too late.[via]More editions of Nova Express:
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The Pleasure of My Companyby Steve MartinISBN 0786888016 (0-7868-8801-6)
Softcover, Hyperion Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Pleasure of My Company'Book summary:Readers expecting something zany, something crudely humorous from Steve Martin's second novel, The Pleasure of My Company, will discover much greater riches. While the book has a sense of humor, Martin moves everywhere with a gentler, lighter touch in this elegant little fiction that verges on the profound and poetic.
Daniel Pecan Cambridge is the narrator and central consciousness of the novel (actually a novella). Daniel, an ex-Hewlett-Packard communiqué encoder, is a savant whose closely proscribed world is bounded on every side by neuroses and obsessions. He cannot cross the street except at driveways symmetrically opposed to each, and he cannot sleep unless the wattage of the active light bulbs in his apartment sums to 1,125. Daniel's starved social life is punctuated by twice-weekly visits from a young therapist in training, Clarissa; by his prescription pick-ups from a Rite Aid pharmacist, Zandy; and by his "casual" meetings with the bleach-blond real estate agent, Elizabeth, who is struggling to sell apartments across the street. But Daniel's dysfunctional routines are shattered one day when he becomes entangled in the chaos of Clarissa's life as a single mother. Taking care of Clarissa's tiny son, Teddy, Daniel begins to emerge from the safety of logic, magic squares, and obsessive counting.
Martin's craftsmanship is remarkable. The tightly packed novella paints rich portraits with restraint and balance, including nothing extraneous to Daniel's world. The book does not try for pyrotechnics but is contented with a Zen-like simplicity in both prose and plot. Avoiding the crushing bleakness of much contemporary fiction, Martin insists through Daniel--a man haunted by horrors of his own making--that there is possibility for compassion, that broken lives can actually be healed. --Patrick O'Kelley [via]
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Pricksongs and Descantsby Robert CooverISBN 0802136672 (0-8021-3667-2)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Pricksongs and Descants'Book summary:Pricksongs & Descants, originally published in 1969, is a virtuoso performance that established its author - already a William Faulkner Award winner for his first novel - as a writer of enduring power and unquestionable brilliance, a promise he has fulfilled over a stellar career. It also began Coover's now-trademark riffs on fairy tales and bedtime stories. In these riotously word-drunk fictional romps, two children follow an old man into the woods, trailing bread crumbs behind and edging helplessly toward a sinister end that never comes; a husband walks toward the bed where his wife awaits his caresses, but by the time he arrives she's been dead three weeks and detectives are pounding down the door; a teenaged babysitter's evening becomes a kaleidoscope of dangerous erotic fantasies-her employer's, her boyfriend's, her own; an aging, humble carpenter marries a beautiful but frigid woman, and after he's waited weeks to consummate their union she announces that God has made her pregnant. Now available in a Grove paperback, Pricksongs & Descants is a cornerstone of Robert Coover's remarkable career and a brilliant work by a major American writer.[via]More editions of Pricksongs and Descants:
The Prince of Tidesby Pat ConroyISBN 0792713591 (0-7927-1359-1)
Hardcover, Curley Pub
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Returning to Earthby Harrison JimISBN 0802118380 (0-8021-1838-0)
Hardcover, Grove Pr
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Returning to Earthby Jim HarrisonISBN 0802118437 (0-8021-1843-7)
Hardcover, Grove Pr
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Richard Wright's Native Sonby Harold BloomISBN 0791041395 (0-7910-4139-5)
Softcover, Facts on File
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River, Cross My Heartby Breena ClarkeISBN 0786224312 (0-7862-2431-2)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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Robinson Crusoeby Daniel Defoe, Julek HellerISBN 0789436256 (0-7894-3625-6)
Hardcover, Dk Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Robinson Crusoe'Book summary:Recreations of two of the world's most unforgettable and enthralling adventure stories: one about storm and shipwreck, pirates and mutiny, the other a tale of a fantastical underwater world of mythical monsters and a mysterious sea captain. The action-packed storylines retain all the impact of the authors' own words; photos and narrative illustrations help readers to absorb the full flavor of the original novels. Fact-filled boxes examine the books' themes, characters, and each author's life and times. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea includes a map of the journey and explores marine life and oceanography in Jules Verne's time. A specially researched map of Crusoe's exotic island gives facts on its flora and fauna. [via]
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Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare, Janie B. Yates-GlandorfISBN 0789160870 (0-7891-6087-0)
Softcover, Perfection Learning
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Romeo And Juliet: Internet Referencedby William Shakespeare, Jana Costa, Anna ClaybourneISBN 0794512402 (0-7945-1240-2)
Hardcover, Edc Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Romeo And Juliet: Internet Referenced'Book summary:Product Details Reading level: Ages 7 and up Hardcover: 64 pages Publisher: Usborne Pub Ltd; New edition (June 2006) Language: English ISBN-10: 0794512402 ISBN-13: 978-0794512408 Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces [via]
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Room Temperatureby Nicholson BakerISBN 0802112242 (0-8021-1224-2)
Hardcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Room Temperature'Book summary:Nicholson Baker writes in 360-degree Sensurround--his descriptions of the seemingly banal awakening the most jaded of senses into recognition, admiration, and amusement. In Room Temperature, his self-deprecating, endlessly curious narrator is at home giving his baby girl a bottle and allowing his mind to wander. Uppermost in his thoughts are his wife and daughter, but there is also that obsession with commas and some concern with tiny taboos like nose-picking and stealing change from his parents. Truth-telling is the operative mode; at one point he tries to get his wife to explain a doodle by quoting a review of early Yeats: "Always true is always new." Room Temperature is a rare novel of domestic pleasure and stability, with a twist. "Was there ever a limit between us? Would disgust ever outweigh love?" Baker's alter ego asks, and seems determined to find out. [via]
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Rose in Bloomby Louisa May AlcottISBN 0786272945 (0-7862-7294-5)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Rose in Bloom'Book summary:In this sequel to Eight Cousins, Rose Campbell returns to the "Aunt Hill" after two years of traveling around the world. Suddenly, she is surrounded by male admirers, all expecting her to marry them. But before she marries anyone, Rose is determined to establish herself as an independent young woman. Besides, she suspects that some of her friends like her more for her money than for herself. [via]
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Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Deadby Tom StoppardISBN 0802132758 (0-8021-3275-8)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead'Book summary:Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead is the fabulously inventive tale of Hamlet as told from the worms-eve view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeares play. In Tom Stoppards best-known work, this Shakespearean Laurel and Hardy finally get a chance to take the lead role, but do so in a world where echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, where reality and illusion intermix, and where fate leads our two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end.[via]
Tom Stoppard was catapulted into the front ranks of modem playwrights overnight when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead opened in London in 1967. Its subsequent run in New York brought it the same enthusiastic acclaim, and the play has since been performed numerous times in the major theatrical centers of the world. It has won top honors for play and playwright in a poll of London Theater critics, and in its printed form it was chosen one of the Notable Books of 1967 by the American Library Association.More editions of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead:
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Smilla's Sense of Snowby Peter HoegISBN 0792720245 (0-7927-2024-5)
Softcover, Chivers North Amer
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Smilla's Sense of Snow'Book summary:In this international bestseller, Peter Høeg successfully combines the pleasures of literary fiction with those of the thriller. Smilla Jaspersen, half Danish, half Greenlander, attempts to understand the death of a small boy who falls from the roof of her apartment building. Her childhood in Greenland gives her an appreciation for the complex structures of snow, and when she notices that the boy's footprints show he ran to his death, she decides to find out who was chasing him. As she attempts to solve the mystery, she uncovers a series of conspiracies and cover-ups and quickly realizes that she can trust nobody. Her investigation takes her from the streets of Copenhagen to an icebound island off the coast of Greenland. What she finds there has implications far beyond the death of a single child. The unusual setting, gripping plot, and compelling central character add up to one of the most fascinating and literate thrillers of recent years. [via]
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Snow Gardenby Christopher RiceISBN 0786888067 (0-7868-8806-7)
Softcover, Miramax
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Snow Garden'Book summary:Christopher Rice became a publishing sensation overnight with his rst novel, A Density of Souls. The stunningly wide-ranging coverage included appearances on The Rosie ODonnell Show, MTVs Real World, and The Early Show, print features in everything from USA Today to The Advocate, and a website deluged with e-mails from fans. One of the most original writers of a new generation was launched. His new novel, The Snow Garden, is a story of murder and sexual menace on a snowbound university campus. When a respected professors wife drives to her death in an icy river, an illicit relationship between a student and his teacher threatens to come to light, and within days Atherton University is the scene of escalating speculation and intrigue. Another death emerges from the shadows, and the connections between the two accidents begin to look uncomfortably close. As in A Density of Souls, Christopher Rice explores the dynamic within a tightly knit group of young people haunted by sexual memories and fears and driven by obscure desires. The Snow Garden casts this web of friendship and passion against the backdrop of a threat that grows darker as the novel proceeds. The result is a stunning new novel from an arresting talent. [via]
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The Soft Machineby William S. BurroughsISBN 0802133290 (0-8021-3329-0)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Soft Machine'Book summary:In Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs revealed his genius. In The Soft Machine he begins an adventure that will take us even further into the dark recesses of his imagination, a region where nothing is sacred, nothing taboo. Continuing his ferocious verbal assault on hatred, hype, poverty, war, bureaucracy, and addiction in all its forms, Burroughs gives us a surreal space odyssey through the wounded galaxies in a book only he could create.[via]More editions of The Soft Machine:
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Sophie's Choiceby William StyronISBN 0791071707 (0-7910-7170-7)
Softcover, Facts on File
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sophie's Choice'Book summary:Set in Brooklyn in 1947, this is the story of Sophie, a Polish Catholic immigrant who is haunted by her memories of the concentration camp in wartime Europe, and the terrible choice she was forced to make. [via]
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Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadaversby Mary RoachISBN 0786258535 (0-7862-5853-5)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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Subterraneansby Jack KerouacISBN 0802131867 (0-8021-3186-7)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Subterraneans'Book summary:Written over the course of three days and three nights, The Subterraneans was generated out of the same ecstatic flash of inspiration that produced another one of Kerouac's early classic, On The Road. Centering on the tempestous breakup of Leo Percepied and Mardou Fox--two denizens of the 1950s San Francsico underground--The Subterraneans is a tale of dark alleys and dark rooms,of artists, of visionaries,[via]More editions of Subterraneans:
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Sulaby Toni MorrisonISBN 0786246537 (0-7862-4653-7)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sula'Book summary:In Sula, Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature, tells the story of two women--friends since childhood, separated in young adulthood, and reunited as grown women. Nel Wright grows up to become a wife and mother, happy to remain in her hometown of Medallion, Ohio. Sula Peace leaves Medallion to experience college, men, and life in the big city, an exceptional choice for a black woman to make in the late 1920s.
As girls, Nel and Sula are the best of friends, only children who find in each other a kindred spirit to share in each girl's loneliness and imagination. When they meet again as adults, it's clear that Nel has chosen a life of acceptance and accommodation, while Sula must fight to defend her seemingly unconventional choices and beliefs. But regardless of the physical and emotional distance that threatens this extraordinary friendship, the bond between the women remains unbreakable: "Her old friend had come home.... Sula, whose past she had lived through and with whom the present was a constant sharing of perceptions. Talking to Sula had always been a conversation with herself."
Lyrical and gripping, Sula is an honest look at the power of friendship amid a backdrop of family, love, race, and the human condition. --Gisele Toueg [via]
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Tatlin!by Guy DavenportISBN 0801828007 (0-8018-2800-7)
Softcover, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
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Ten Little Indiansby Sherman AlexieISBN 0802117449 (0-8021-1744-9)
Hardcover, Grove Pr
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Thirteen Stories and Thirteen Epitaphsby William T. VollmannISBN 0802133959 (0-8021-3395-9)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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This Is About the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the World, Time, and Fateby Diane WilliamsISBN 0802132391 (0-8021-3239-1)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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To the Lighthouseby Susan DickISBN 0802055249 (0-8020-5524-9)
Hardcover, Univ of Toronto Pr
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The Toughest Indian in the Worldby Sherman AlexieISBN 0802138004 (0-8021-3800-4)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Toughest Indian in the World'Book summary:Call Sherman Alexie any number of things--novelist, poet, filmmaker, thorn in the side of white liberalism--just don't call him "universal." Aside from his well-documented distaste for the word, its fuzziness misses the point. The Toughest Indian in the World, Alexie's second collection, succeeds as brilliantly as it does because of its particularity. These aren't stories about the Indian Condition; they're stories about Indians--urban and reservation, street fighters and yuppies, husbands and wives. "She understood that white people were eccentric and complicated and she only wanted to be understood as eccentric and complicated as well," thinks the Coeur d'Alene narrator of "Assimilation," who's married (unhappily) to a white man. And yet the issue of race has taken up permanent residence inside her house: the marriage survives, but it's love that's the most thorough assimilation of all.
Like The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, much of The Toughest Indian in the World combines deft psychological realism with the kind of narrative logic more commonly found in dreams. In "South by Southwest," a white drifter finds love on a "nonviolent killing spree" with an overweight Indian he calls Salmon Boy; in "Dear John Wayne," the cowboy actor falls in love with a young Spokane woman and proves himself a charmingly feminist hero. ("Oh, sons, you're just engaging in some harmless gender play," he tells his boys when he finds them trying on lipstick.) But for every bear hibernating on top of the Catholic church, there's also a GAP-wearing, Toyota-driving urban Indian on a quest for his roots. In both realist and surrealist modes, Alexie writes incantatory prose--as well as the kind of dialogue that makes even secondary characters leap into sudden focus: "'What?' asked Wonder Horse, as simple a question as could possibly be tendered, though he made it sound as if he'd asked Where's the tumor?"
Alexie is sometimes guilty of painting his white characters with too broad a brush. (Is any anthropologist truly as obtuse as the one in "Dear John Wayne"? Could any reader really want Mary Lynn, the narrator of "Assimilation," to stay with her boorish white husband?) Yet his kind of firebrand politics still has the power to shock. A harrowing fable about whites kidnapping Indians for the medical properties of their blood, "The Sin Eaters" could be dismissed as paranoid if it weren't so hauntingly written:
On that morning, the sun rose and bloomed like blood in a glass syringe. The entire Spokane Indian Reservation and all of its people and places were clean and scrubbed. The Spokane River rose up from its bed like a man who had been healed and joyously wept all the way down to its confluence with the Columbia River. There was water everywhere: a thousand streams interrupted by makeshift waterfalls; small ponds hidden beneath a mask of thick fronds and anonymous blossoms; blankets of dew draped over the shoulders of isolated knolls. An entire civilization of insects lived in the mud puddle formed by one truck tire and a recent rain storm. The blades of grass, the narrow pine needles, and the stalks of roadside wheat were as sharp and bright as surgical tools.
It's a hard story to read, and that's only right. The Toughest Indian in the World offers so many pleasures, who could deny it the power to disturb us as well? Funny, dreamlike, heartbreaking, angry--these are stories that could have been written by no one but Sherman Alexie. --Mary Park [via]More editions of The Toughest Indian in the World:
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Trickster's Choiceby Tamora PierceISBN 0786267380 (0-7862-6738-0)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Trickster's Choice'Book summary:To the great joy of her many fans, Tamora Pierce with this book begins a new saga of Tortall to add to The Song of the Lioness Quartet, the Immortals Quartet, and The Protector of the Small tetralogy. At the center of each of these books is always a strong and resourceful young woman who masters the arts of swordplay and knightly warfare in the magical medieval country of Tortall. Alianne, or Aly, daughter of the warrior queen Alanna the Lioness, has all these skills, but also a delicious sense of humor, which serves her well when she is chosen by the trickster god Kyprioth to serve as his secret agent and a slave for a year in the embattled Copper Isles. There the dark-skinned natives, or raka, have been conquered and crushed by the laurin, light-skinned people from the mainland. The burning raka resentment is fueled by prophecies of a twice royal queen who will free them, aided by the "wise one, the cunning one, the strong one, the warrior, and the crows." Just how each of the colorful characters and Aly herself fit into this prophecy and Kyprioths tricky plan keeps readers guessing. Aly plots to show her skill at spying as she flirts with the god and is courted by Nawat, a crow transformed into a handsome young man, who is puzzled when she rejects his attempts to mate-feed her with grubs and ants.
The pages of this long but fast-paced adventure zip by, enlivened by intrigue, skirmishes, comedy, romance, and lots of dramatic clothes. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell [via]
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Tuck Everlastingby Natalie BabbittISBN 0786263229 (0-7862-6322-9)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tuck Everlasting'Book summary:Imagine coming upon a fountain of youth in a forest. To live forever--isn't that everyone's ideal? For the Tuck family, eternal life is a reality, but their reaction to their fate is surprising. Award winner Natalie Babbitt (Knee-Knock Rise, The Search for Delicious) outdoes herself in this sensitive, moving adventure in which 10-year-old Winnie Foster is kidnapped, finds herself helping a murderer out of jail, and is eventually offered the ultimate gift--but doesn't know whether to accept it. Babbitt asks profound questions about the meaning of life and death, and leaves the reader with a greater appreciation for the perfect cycle of nature. Intense and powerful, exciting and poignant, Tuck Everlasting will last forever--in the reader's imagination. An ALA Notable Book. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter [via]
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Under the Roofs of Parisby Henry MillerISBN 0802131832 (0-8021-3183-2)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Villa Incognitoby Tom RobbinsISBN 0786258055 (0-7862-5805-5)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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Vinegar Hillby A. Manette AnsayISBN 0786225122 (0-7862-2512-2)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Vinegar Hill'Book summary:Oprah Book Club® Selection, November 1999: Vinegar Hill is an appropriate address for the characters who populate A. Manette Ansay's novel of the same name. After all, when Ellen Grier and her family return to the rural hamlet of Holly's Field, Wisconsin, it's not exactly a happy homecoming. Her husband, James, has been laid off from his job in Illinois. And for the moment, the family has moved in with Ellen's in-laws, Fritz and Mary-Margaret, an unhappy pair who dislike their daughter-in-law almost as much as they despise each other:
The first time Ellen sat at this table she was twenty years old, bright-cheeked after a spring afternoon spent walking along the lakefront with James, planning their upcoming wedding. It was 1959 and she was eager to make a good impression. She didn't know then that Mary-Margaret disliked her, that she was considered Jimmy's mistake.
Thirteen years later, in 1972, Ellen is back at the table with no escape in sight. Both she and her husband do find work. Yet James seems to settle a tad too easily into his old life, and shows no interest in finding a place of their own. Even worse, his job takes him away from home for weeks at a time, leaving Ellen to cope with her abusive in-laws.In Vinegar Hill Ansay paints a searing portrait of the Midwest's dark side, of a rural culture infected with despair and ruled over by an unforgiving God. Yet she does hold out a grain of hope, too. Just as Ellen seems permanently entangled in familial desperation, she makes a surprising discovery about James's long-dead grandmother--a woman whose rebellious spirit inspires Ellen to rescue herself and her loved ones from the impinging darkness. This late-breaking redemption doesn't cancel out the preceding unhappiness: Vinegar Hill remains a tough, uncompromising tale, one that requires some fortitude to read. But those with the heart for it will be rewarded with fine, spare prose and a hopeful ending. --Alix Wilber [via]
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Walk Two Moonsby Sharon CreechISBN 0786227737 (0-7862-2773-7)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Walk Two Moons'Book summary:Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother. Walk Two Moons won the 1995 Newbery Medal. [via]
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WLT: A Radio Romanceby Garrison KeillorISBN 0792713052 (0-7927-1305-2)
Softcover, Chivers North Amer
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› Find signed collectible books: 'WLT: A Radio Romance'More editions of WLT: A Radio Romance:
Word Virusby William S. Burroughs, Ira Silverberg, James GrauerholzISBN 080213694X (0-8021-3694-X)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Word Virus'Book summary:Collected in one volume, the essential writings of William S. Burroughs, America's foremost literary innovator, and including a chapter from his and Jack Kerouac's never-before-seen collaborative novel. [via]
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Yonder Stands Your Orphanby Barry HannahISBN 0802138934 (0-8021-3893-4)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Yonder Stands Your Orphan'Book summary:Barry Hannah has long been considered one of the country's best living writers, whose singular voice and wicked genius for storytelling have earned him legions of diehard fans. His first novel in ten years, Yonder Stands Your Orphan opens with the establishment of an orphans' camp and the discovery of an abandoned car with two skeletons in the trunk. Man Mortimer, a pimp and casino pretty boy who resembles dead country singer Conway Twitty, has just been betrayed, and his revenge becomes a madness that will ravage the Mississippi community of Eagle Lake and give vent to his lifelong fascination with knives. The pompous young sheriff is useless at solving the crimes, so Mortimer's only challengers are three eccentric Christians -- a disgraced doctor and two ex-bikers, all prey to their addictions -- and an African-American Vietnam veteran whose wife is ill with cancer. Mortimer has a hold on each one of them -- a long-standing debt, a forgotten crime, or responsibilities they cannot yet desert. Yonder Stands Your Orphan paints a searing picture of the American South and establishes Barry Hannah once again as one of the most important writers in America.[via]More editions of Yonder Stands Your Orphan:
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