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  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    by Mark Twain, George Saunders
    ISBN 0375757376 (0-375-75737-6)
    Softcover, Random House Inc

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    Book summary:

    This perennially popular Norton Critical Edition reprints for the first time the definitive Iowa-California text of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, complete with all original illustrations by Edward Windsor Kemble and John Harley. The text is accompanied by explanatory annotations.

    "Contexts and Sources" provides readers with a rich selection of documents related to the historical background, language, composition, sale, reception, and newly discovered first half of the manuscript of Mark Twain's greatest work. Included are letters on the writing of the novel, excerpts from the author's autobiography, samples of bad poetry that inspired his satire (including an effort by young Sam Clemens himself), a section on the censorship of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by schools and libraries over a hundred-year period, and commentary by David Carkeet on dialects of the book and by Earl F. Briden on its "racist" illustrations. In addition, this section reprints the full texts of both "Sociable Jimmy," upon which is based the controversial theory that Huck speaks in a "black voice," and "A True Story, Repeated Word for Word As I Heard It," the first significant attempt by Mark Twain to capture the speech of an African American in print.

    "Criticism" of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is divided into "Early Responses" (including the first negative review) and "Modern Views" by Victor A. Doyno, T. S. Eliot, Jane Smiley, David L. Smith, Shelley Fisher Fishkin (the "black voice" thesis), James R. Kincaid (a rebuttal of Fishkin), and David R. Sewell. Also included is Toni Morrison's moving personal "Introduction" to the troubling experience of reading and re-reading Mark Twain's masterpiece.

    A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included. [via]

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  • Bradley, Sculley: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    by Sculley Bradley, Mark Twain, E. Hudson Long, Thomas Cooley, Richmond Croom Beatty
    ISBN 0393044548 (0-393-04454-8)
    Softcover, Norton

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  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade)
    by Mark Twain, E.W. Kemble
    ISBN 0394605217 (0-394-60521-7)
    Hardcover, Modern Library

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    Book summary:

    A seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published. [via]

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  • All Souls
    by Michael Patrick MacDonald
    ISBN 034544177X (0-345-44177-X)
    Softcover, Ballantine Books

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    Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in "the best place in the world"--the Old Colony projects of South Boston--where 85% of the residents collect welfare in an area with the highest concentration of impoverished whites in the U.S. In All Souls, MacDonald takes us deep into the secret heart of Southie. With radiant insight, he opens up a contradictory world, where residents are besieged by gangs and crime but refuse to admit any problems, remaining fiercely loyal to their community. MacDonald also introduces us to the unforgettable people who inhabit this proud neighborhood. We meet his mother, Ma MacDonald, an accordion-playing, spiked-heel-wearing, indomitable mother to all; Whitey Bulger, the lord of Southie, gangster and father figure, protector and punisher; and Michael's beloved siblings, nearly half of whom were lost forever to drugs, murder, or suicide. By turns explosive and touching, All Souls ultimately shares a powerful message of hope, renewal, and redemption. [via]

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  • American Pastoral
    by Philip Roth
    ISBN 0375701427 (0-375-70142-7)
    Softcover, Random House Inc

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    Philip Roth's 22nd book takes a life-long view of the American experience in this thoughtful investigation of the century's most divisive and explosive of decades, the '60s. Returning again to the voice of his literary alter ego Nathan Zuckerman, Roth is at the top of his form. His prose is carefully controlled yet always fresh and intellectually subtle as he reconstructs the halcyon days, circa World War II, of Seymour "the Swede" Levov, a high school sports hero and all-around Great Guy who wants nothing more than to live in tranquillity. But as the Swede grows older and America crazier, history sweeps his family inexorably into its grip: His own daughter, Merry, commits an unpardonable act of "protest" against the Vietnam war that ultimately severs the Swede from any hope of happiness, family, or spiritual coherence. [via]

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  • The Annotated Huckleberry Finn
    by Mark Twain, Michael Patrick Hearn
    ISBN 0393020398 (0-393-02039-8)
    Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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    Book summary:

    A seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published. [via]

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  • The Art of Mending
    by Elizabeth Berg
    ISBN 034548648X (0-345-48648-X)
    Softcover, Ballantine Books

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    Book summary:

    It begins with the sudden revelation of astonishing secretssecrets that have shaped the personalities and fates of three siblings, and now threaten to tear them apart. In renowned author Elizabeth Bergs moving new novel, unearthed truths force one seemingly ordinary family to reexamine their disparate lives and to ask themselves: Is it too late to mend the hurts of the past?

    Laura Bartone anticipates her annual family reunion in Minnesota with a mixture of excitement and wariness. Yet this years gathering will prove to be much more trying than either she or her siblings imagined. As soon as she arrives, Laura realizes that something is not right with her sister. Forever wrapped up in events of long ago, Caroline is the familys restless black sheep. When Caroline confronts Laura and their brother, Steve, with devastating allegations about their mother, the three have a difficult time reconciling their varying experiences in the same house. But a sudden misfortune will lead them all to face the past, their own culpability, and their common need for love and forgiveness.

    Readers have come to love Elizabeth Berg for the lucent beauty of [her] prose, the verity of her insights, and the tenderness of her regard for her fellow human (Booklist). In The Art of Mending, her most profound and emotionally satisfying novel to date, she confronts some of the deepest mysteries of life, as she explores how even the largest sins can be forgiven by the smallest gestures, and how grace can come to many through the trials of one.


    From the Hardcover edition. [via]

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  • Beach Music
    by Pat Conroy
    ISBN 0385413041 (0-385-41304-1)
    Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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    Book summary:

    The author of The Prince of Tides takes readers into the heart of a tormented Southern family on a journey that encompasses that past and present in Europe and America and ultimately reaches back to the Holocaust. (General Fiction). [via]

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  • Between Parent and Child
    by Haim Ginott
    ISBN 0380008211 (0-380-00821-1)
    Softcover, Harpercollins

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    Book summary:

    Over the past thirty-five years, Between Parent and Child has helped millions of parents around the world strengthen their relationships with their children. Written by renowned psychologist Dr. Haim Ginott, this revolutionary book offered a straightforward prescription for empathetic yet disciplined child rearing and introduced new communication techniques that would change the way parents spoke with, and listened to, their children. Dr. Ginotts innovative approach to parenting has influenced an entire generation of experts in the field, and now his methods can work for you, too.

    In this revised edition, Dr. Alice Ginott, clinical psychologist and wife of the late Haim Ginott, and family relationship specialist Dr. H. Wallace Goddard usher this bestselling classic into the new century while retaining the books positive message and Haim Ginotts warm, accessible voice. Based on the theory that parenting is a skill that can be learned, this indispensable handbook will show you how to:
    " Discipline without threats, bribes, sarcasm, and punishment
    " Criticize without demeaning, praise without judging, and express anger without hurting
    " Acknowledge rather than argue with childrens feelings, perceptions, and opinions
    " Respond so that children will learn to trust and develop self-confidence [via]

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  • Big Stone Gap
    by Adriana Trigiani
    ISBN 0345438329 (0-345-43832-9)
    Softcover, Ballantine Books

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    In the town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, not much happens. The highlight of 35-year-old Ave Maria Mulligan's week comes on Friday, with the arrival of the Bookmobile, the sight of which sends her into raptures. Her favorite book concerns the ancient Chinese art of reading faces. Through her face-readings, we come to understand the hostilities simmering within her family: her father whose small eyes are the clear "sign of a deceptive nature." Her aunt who "has a small head and thin lips. (That's a terrible combination.)" Adriana Trigiani's first novel concerns the family scandals that befall Ave Maria in this seemingly uneventful town. Greed, lust, envy--all the ancient emotional elements--manifest themselves even in this hamlet of "ordinary folk." Fans of Fannie Flagg or Rebecca Wells will enjoy this down-home tale, full of small, everyday details and colloquial revelations. The writing is often awkward, but so too are the characters who inhabit this place: the Bookmobile lady who thinks of herself as the sexiest woman alive; the amateur actors in the local Outdoor Drama who bristle with ambition when they hear that Elizabeth Taylor is coming to visit. In Big Stone Gap, her visit is so anticipated, it's like she's an angel sent from heaven. --Ellen Williams [via]

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  • Brideshead Revisited
    by Evelyn Waugh
    ISBN 0316926345 (0-316-92634-5)
    Softcover, Little Brown & Co

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    A departure from Evelyn Waugh's normally comic theater, Brideshead Revisited concerns the tale of Charles Ryder, a captain in the British Army in post-World War I England. Unlike Waugh's previous narrators, Ryder is an intelligent man, looking back on much of his life from his current post in Oxford. He strikes a special friendship with Lord Sebastian Flyte as the setting moves to the Brideshead estate and a baroque castle that recalls England's prior standing in the world. Ryder falls for Flyte's sister while families, politics and religions collide. What makes the book extraordinary is Waugh's sharp, vivid style and his use of dialect and minor characters. This is one of Waugh's finest accomplishments and a superb book. [via]

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  • Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
    by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake
    ISBN 0375815252 (0-375-81525-2)
    Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books

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    Book summary:

    Picking right up where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory left off, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator continues the adventures of Charlie Bucket, his family, and Willy Wonka, the eccentric candy maker. As the book begins, our heroes are shooting into the sky in a glass elevator, headed for destinations unknown. What follows is exactly the kind of high-spirited magical madness and mayhem we've all come to expect from Willy Wonka and his creator Roald Dahl. The American space race gets a send-up, as does the President, and Charlie's family gets a second chance at childhood. Throw in the Vermicious Knids, Gnoolies, and Minusland and we once again witness pure genius. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]

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  • L'Engle, Madeleine: A Circle of Quiet
    A Circle of Quiet
    by Madeleine L'Engle
    ISBN 0374123748 (0-374-12374-8)
    Hardcover, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

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  • Coraline
    by Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean
    ISBN 0380807343 (0-380-80734-3)
    Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books

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    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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  • The Crow Road
    by Iain Banks
    ISBN 0349103232 (0-349-10323-2)
    Hardcover, Abacus

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    Book summary:

    TV trade edition paperback, fine in specially printed TV dw (fine (as new)) [via]

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  • Disgrace
    by J. M. Coetzee
    ISBN 0436204894 (0-436-20489-4)
    Hardcover, Secker & Warburg

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    Book summary:

    David Lurie is hardly the hero of his own life, or anyone else's. At 52, the protagonist of Disgrace is at the end of his professional and romantic game, and seems to be deliberately courting disaster. Long a professor of modern languages at Cape Town University College, he has recently been relegated to adjunct professor of communications at the same institution, now pointedly renamed Cape Technical University:

    Although he devotes hours of each day to his new discipline, he finds its first premise, as enunciated in the Communications 101 handbook, preposterous: "Human society has created language in order that we may communicate our thoughts, feelings and intentions to each other." His own opinion, which he does not air, is that the origins of speech lie in song, and the origins of song in the need to fill out with sound the overlarge and rather empty human soul.
    Twice married and twice divorced, his magnetic looks on the wane, David rather cruelly seduces one of his students, and his conduct unbecoming is soon uncovered. In his eighth novel, J.M. Coetzee might have been content to write a searching academic satire. But in Disgrace he is intent on much more, and his art is as uncompromising as his main character, though infinitely more complex. Refusing to play the public-repentance game, David gets himself fired--a final gesture of contempt. Now, he thinks, he will write something on Byron's last years. Not empty, unread criticism, "prose measured by the yard," but a libretto. To do so, he heads for the Eastern Cape and his daughter's farm. In her mid-20s, Lucy has turned her back on city sophistications: with five hectares, she makes her living by growing flowers and produce and boarding dogs. "Nothing," David thinks, "could be more simple." But nothing, in fact, is more complicated--or, in the new South Africa, more dangerous. Far from being the refuge he has sought, little is safe in Salem. Just as David has settled into his temporary role as farmworker and unenthusiastic animal-shelter volunteer, he and Lucy are attacked by three black men. Unable to protect his daughter, David's disgrace is complete. Hers, however, is far worse.

    There is much more to be explored in Coetzee's painful novel, and few consolations. It would be easy to pick up on his title and view Disgrace as a complicated working-out of personal and political shame and responsibility. But the author is concerned with his country's history, brutalities, and betrayals. Coetzee is also intent on what measure of soul and rights we allow animals. After the attack, David takes his role at the shelter more seriously, at last achieving an unlikely home and some measure of love. In Coetzee's recent Princeton lectures, The Lives of Animals, an aging novelist tells her audience that the question that occupies all lab and zoo creatures is, "Where is home, and how do I get there?" David, though still all-powerful compared to those he helps dispose of, is equally trapped, equally lost.

    Disgrace is almost willfully plain. Yet it possesses its own lean, heartbreaking lyricism, most of all in its descriptions of unwanted animals. At the start of the novel, David tells his student that poetry either speaks instantly to the reader--"a flash of revelation and a flash of response"--or not at all. Coetzee's book speaks differently, its layers and sadnesses endlessly unfolding. --Kerry Fried [via]

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  • Fatherhood
    by Bill Cosby
    ISBN 0425097722 (0-425-09772-2)
    Softcover, Berkley Pub Group

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    Book summary:

    From one of america's most beloved funnymen comes a hilarious look at the lighter side of fatherhood. So, what is fatherhood...? it's pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope. It's helping your children learn english as a second language. It's asking your son to make up a name rather than tell anyone who he is. It's knowing that "everything's okay, dad!" means "i haven't killed anyone!" it's the book every father will love. It's bill cosby at his wittiest, wisest, and warmest. "bill cosby makes fatherhood come alive. He takes us on a comedic yet insightful journey through the awesome shifting sands of parenthood. Though this volume is titled fatherhood, its effect will be to strengthen the entire family." --from the afterword by alvin f. Poussaint, m.d [via]

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  • Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden
    by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
    ISBN 0393926354 (0-393-92635-4)
    Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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    Book summary:

    Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]

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  • Gone With the Wind
    by Margaret Mitchell
    ISBN 0380001098 (0-380-00109-8)
    Softcover, Harpercollins

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    Book summary:

    Set in Georgia at the time of the American Civil War, this is the story of headstrong Scarlett O'Hara, her three marriages and her determination to keep her father's property of Tara, despite the vicissitudes of war and passion. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize. [via]

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  • The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank
    by Erma Bombeck
    ISBN 0345471725 (0-345-47172-5)
    Softcover, Fawcett Books

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    Book summary:

    "She is marvelously funny, direct as a hypodermic, a virtuoso in the field of suburban living....Lovely stuff."
    VOGUE
    It's the expose to end all exposes--the truth about the suburbs: where they planted trees and crabgrass came up, where they planted the schools and taxes came up, where they died of old age trying to merge onto the freeway and where they finally got sex out of the schools and back into the gutters. [via]

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  • Hamlet
    by William Shakespeare, Cyrus Henry Hoy
    ISBN 0393316424 (0-393-31642-4)
    Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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    Book summary:

    This revised Norton Critical Edition of one of the series' most widely read texts is based on the second quarto (1604-05). Where necessary, the editor has also drawn from the folio text, recording all departures from the quarto in the Textual Notes. Punctuation and stage directions for the play have been refined, and textual annotations have been revised and expanded.

    The "Intellectual Backgrounds" and "Extracts from the Sources" sections, both highly praised, remain as germane as ever. Intellectual Backgrounds includes important readings on melancholy, demonology, the nature of man, and death, including works by Peter de la Primaudaye, Timothy Bright, Lewes Lavater, G. Gifford, Michel de Montaigne, and Heironymous Cardanus. Extracts from the Sources provides pre-Shakespearean accounts of the story of Hamlet, reprinting substantial excerpts from Saxo Grammaticus's Historia Danica and Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques.

    "Criticism" has been revised to accommodate the most significant recent interpretations of Hamlet while retaining the seminal essays of the First Edition. Twenty-three critical analyses are featured, including those by Samuel Johnson, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Hazlitt, A. C. Bradley, D. H. Lawrence, T. S. Eliot, G. Wilson Knight, C. S. Lewis, Harry Levin, Peter J. Seng, Rebecca West, Arnold Kettle, Margaret W. Ferguson, Jacqueline Rose, and William Empson.

    An updated Selected Bibliography is also included.

    [via]

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  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
    by J. K. Rowling, Mary Grandpre
    ISBN 0439785960 (0-439-78596-0)
    Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks

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    Book summary:

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

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

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    Begin at the Beginning

    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    Hardcover
    Paperback     		Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

    Hardcover
    Paperback     		Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    Hardcover
    Paperback     		Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    Hardcover
    Paperback     		Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    Hardcover
    Paperback

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

    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

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

    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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

    Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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

    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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

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

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

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



    Did You Know?

    The Little White Horse was J.K. Rowling's favorite book as a child. Jane Austen is Rowling's favorite author. Roddy Doyle is Rowling's favorite living writer.

    A Few Words from Mary GrandPré

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

    [via]

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  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    by J. K. Rowling, Mary Grandpre
    ISBN 0439358078 (0-439-35807-8)
    Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks

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    Book summary:

    As his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer with the despicable Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief& or will it?

    Book five in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard, who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last year. Over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to ridicule and discount the teenager. Even Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of the school, has come under scrutiny from the Ministry of Magic, which refuses to officially acknowledge the terrifying truth: that Voldemort is back. Enter a particularly loathsome new character: the toad-like and simpering ("hem, hem") Dolores Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the minister of Magic, who takes over the vacant position of defence against dark arts teacher--and in no time manages to become the high inquisitor of Hogwarts. Life isn't getting any easier for Harry Potter. With an overwhelming course load as the fifth years prepare for their examinations, devastating changes in the Gryffindor Quidditch team line-up, vivid dreams about long hallways and closed doors, and increasing pain in his lightning-shaped scar, Harry's resilience is sorely tested.

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, more than any of the four previous novels in the series, is a coming-of-age story. Harry faces the thorny transition into adulthood, when adult heroes are revealed to be fallible, and matters that seemed black and white suddenly come out in shades of gray. Gone is the wide-eyed innocent, the whiz kid of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Here we have an adolescent who's sometimes sullen, often confused (especially about girls), and always self-questioning. Confronting death again, as well as a startling prophecy, Harry ends his year at Hogwarts exhausted and pensive. Readers, on the other hand, will be energised as they enter yet again the long waiting period for the next title in the marvellous magical series. --Emilie Coulter [via]

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  • Home at the End of the World/30664
    by Michael Cunningham
    ISBN 0374172501 (0-374-17250-1)
    Hardcover, Daedalus Books

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    Book summary:

    Two lifelong friends in their 20s form a triangle with a young woman in New York City. When she becomes pregnant, the three move to the country to set up housekeeping in Woodstock, embarking on a daring voyage toward a new vision of what a family can be. "A gripping, haunting piece of work from a writer of real promise and power".--Publishers Weekly. [via]

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  • Ward, Amanda Eyre: How To Be Lost
    How To Be Lost
    by Amanda Eyre Ward
    ISBN 0345483170 (0-345-48317-0)
    Softcover, Ballantine Books

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  • Huckleberry Finn / Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
    by Mark Twain
    ISBN 0394847245 (0-394-84724-5)
    Softcover, Random House Inc

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    Book summary:

    A seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published. [via]

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  • Alcott, Louisa May: Little Men
    Little Men
    by Louisa May Alcott
    ISBN 0440401526 (0-440-40152-6)
    Softcover, Bantam Classic & Loveswept

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  • The Newlyweds
    by Elizabeth Bevarly
    ISBN 0373613938 (0-373-61393-8)
    Softcover, Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

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    Book summary:

    Follow the investigation by a "husband and wife" team as true crime turns to true love. . .

    Known more for her work ethic than for her romantic history, FBI agent Bridget Logan landed an assignment that involved issues too close to home-and a "husband" as part of the sting. If Agent Samuel Jones weren't so sexy, Bridget would have had no problem handling this case. But he was, and for the first time in her career, Bridget had trouble keeping a cool head under fire. A lot was at stake, though, and Bridget was determined to solve this case and move on, no harm done. But then her "husband" made love to her. . .and suddenly their role as a devoted couple transformed into a passion over which neither had control! [via]

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  • Blume, Judy: The Pain and the Great One
    The Pain and the Great One
    by Judy Blume
    ISBN 0440409675 (0-440-40967-5)
    Softcover, Yearling Books

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  • A Painted House
    by John Grisham
    ISBN 0385337930 (0-385-33793-0)
    Softcover, Delta

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    Book summary:

    Ever since he published The Firm in 1991, John Grisham has remained the undisputed champ of the legal thriller. With A Painted House, however, he strikes out in a new direction. As the author is quick to note, this novel includes "not a single lawyer, dead or alive," and readers will search in vain for the kind of lowlife machinations that have been his stock-in-trade. Instead, Grisham has delivered a quieter, more contemplative story, set in rural Arkansas in 1952. It's harvest time on the Chandler farm, and the family has hired a crew of migrant Mexicans and "hill people" to pick 80 acres of cotton. A certain camaraderie pervades this bucolic dream team. But it's backbreaking work, particularly for the 7-year-old narrator, Luke: "I would pick cotton, tearing the fluffy bolls from the stalks at a steady pace, stuffing them into the heavy sack, afraid to look down the row and be reminded of how endless it was, afraid to slow down because someone would notice."

    What's more, tensions begin to simmer between the Mexicans and the hill people, one of whom has a penchant for bare-knuckles brawling. This leads to a brutal murder, which young Luke has the bad luck to witness. At this point--with secrets, lies, and at least one knife fight in the offing--the plot begins to take on that familiar, Grisham-style momentum. Still, such matters ultimately take a back seat in A Painted House to the author's evocation of time and place. This is, after all, the scene of his boyhood, and Grisham waxes nostalgic without ever succumbing to deep-fried sentimentality. Meanwhile, his account of Luke's Baptist upbringing occasions some sly (and telling) humor:

    I'd been taught in Sunday school from the day I could walk that lying would send you straight to hell. No detours. No second chances. Straight into the fiery pit, where Satan was waiting with the likes of Hitler and Judas Iscariot and General Grant. Thou shalt not bear false witness, which, of course, didn't sound exactly like a strict prohibition against lying, but that was the way the Baptists interpreted it.
    Whether Grisham will continue along these lines, or revert to the judicial shark tank for his next book, is anybody's guess. But A Painted House suggests that he's perfectly capable of telling an involving story with nary a subpoena in sight. --James Marcus [via]

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  • The Pilot's Wife
    by Anita Shreve
    ISBN 0316788228 (0-316-78822-8)
    Softcover, Lb Books

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    Book summary:

    With five novels to her credit, including the acclaimed The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve now offers a skillfully crafted exploration of the long reach of tragedy in The Pilot's Wife. News of Jack Lyons's fatal crash sends his wife into shock and emotional numbness: "Kathryn wished she could manage a coma. Instead, it seemed that quite the opposite had happened: She felt herself to be inside of a private weather system, one in which she was continuously tossed and buffeted by bits of news and information, sometimes chilled by thoughts of what lay immediately ahead, thawed by the kindness of others ... frequently drenched by memories that seemed to have no regard for circumstance or place, and then subjected to the nearly intolerable heat of reporters, photographers and curious on-lookers. It was a weather system with no logic, she had decided, no pattern, no progression, no form." The situation becomes even more dire when the plane's black box is recovered, pinning responsibility for the crash on Jack. In an attempt to clear his name, Kathryn searches for any and all clues to the hours before the flight. Yet each discovery forces her to realize that she didn't know her husband of 16 years at all. Shreve's complex and highly convincing treatment of Kathryn's dilemma, coupled with intriguing minor characters and an expertly paced plot, makes The Pilot's Wife really take off. [via]

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  • Ramona and Her Father
    by Beverly Cleary
    ISBN 0380709163 (0-380-70916-3)
    Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books

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    Book summary:

    Second grade is not turning out the way it should for Ramona Quimby. Her dad has lost his job, her mom has found a full-time job, and her big sister Beezus has "reached a difficult age." In her inimitable way, Ramona decides to take charge. She practices TV commercials in hopes of earning a million dollars, but only ends up insulting her teacher and getting into a prickly mess with some burrs. Then she embarks on a campaign to make her father stop smoking. Mr. Quimby manages to hold up under all these strains, but the challenge is on for the whole family to prove their mettle.

    Once again, Beverly Cleary proves her own mettle in this touching and hilarious Newbery Honor Book. Beloved author of over two dozen children's books, and recipient of many awards, including another Newbery Honor for Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and a Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, Cleary's instinct for children's jumbled emotions is flawless. Alan Tiegreen's adroit line drawings perfectly complement Cleary's style; it's hard to imagine one without the other. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter [via]

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  • Ramona Quimby, Age 8
    by Beverly Cleary
    ISBN 0380709562 (0-380-70956-2)
    Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books

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    Book summary:

    From the first day of third grade, when Ramona Quimby meets her eventual nemesis Yard Ape, life moves on at its usual wild pace--usual for the boisterous Ramona, that is. Soon she is accidentally squashing a raw egg into her hair at the school cafeteria, being forced to play Uncle Rat with her annoying young neighbor, and, worst of all, throwing up in her classroom. The responsibilities of an 8-year-old are sometimes daunting, especially in a family that is trying to squeak by while the father goes back to school. But Ramona is full of too much vim and vigor to ever be down for long.

    In her second Newbery Honor Book about Ramona (the first was Ramona and Her Father), Beverly Cleary presents another slice of the Quimby family life. Author of more than two dozen children's books, Cleary has a true knack for understanding the tangle of thoughts and emotions in a child's mind and heart. Empathic, witty, and astute, she has earned many other awards, including the Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. Alan Tiegreen's clever line drawings have charmed countless readers of Cleary's books over the years, and his style is now inextricably tied to hers. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter [via]

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  • A Ring of Endless Light: The Austin Family Chronicles, Book 4
    by Madeleine L'Engle
    ISBN 0374362998 (0-374-36299-8)
    Hardcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux

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    Book summary:

    "This wasn't the first tie that I'd come close to death, but it was the first time I'd been involved in this part of it, this strange, terrible saying goodbye to someone you've loved."

    These are Vicky Austin's thoughts as she stands near Commander Rodney's grave while her grandfather, who himself is dying of cancer, recites the funeral service. Watching his condition deteriorate over that long summer is almost more than she can bear. Then, in the midst of her struggle, she finds herself the center of attention for three young men. Leo, Commander Rodney's son, turns to her as an old friend seeki comfort but longing for romance. Zachary, whose attempted suicide inadvertently cauesd Commander Rodney's death, sees her as the one sane and normal person who can give some meaning ot his life. And Adam, a serious young student working at the nearby marine-biology station, discvoers Vicky, his friend's little sister, incipient telepathic powers that can help him with his experiments in dolphin communications. Vicky finds solace and brief moments of peace in her poetry, but life goes on around her, and the strain intensifies as she confromts matters of love and of death, of dependence and of responsibility, universal concerns that we all must face. The inevitable crisis comes and Vicky must rely on openness, sensitivity, and the love of others to overcome her private grief. Once again, Madeleine L'Engle has written a story that reveals in the drama of vividly portrayed characters and events the spiritual and moral dimensions of common human experiences.
     
    A Ring of Endless Light is a 1981 Newbery Honor Book.
    [via]

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  • Rules
    by Cynthia Lord
    ISBN 0439443822 (0-439-44382-2)
    Hardcover, Scholastic

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    A heartfelt and witty debut about feeling different and finding acceptance--beyond the rules.Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules-from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"-in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal? [via]

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  • The Secret Garden : A Young Reader's Edition of the Classic Story
    by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Thomas B. Allen, James Howe
    ISBN 0394864670 (0-394-86467-0)
    Hardcover, Random House Children's Books

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    Book summary:

    Illus. in full color. A storybook edition of Burnett's classic tale about the healing power of love. [via]

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  • The Shining
    by Stephen King
    ISBN 0385121679 (0-385-12167-9)
    Hardcover, Doubleday

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    Book summary:

    In MINT UNREAD condition. A first edition book club printing. Published 1977 by DoubleDay [via]

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  • Shopaholic & Sister
    by Sophie Kinsella
    ISBN 0385336829 (0-385-33682-9)
    Softcover, Delta

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    Book summary:

    What's a round-the-world honeymoon if you can't buy the odd souvenir to ship back home? Like the twenty silk dressing gowns Becky found in Hong Kong...the hand-carved dining table (and ten chairs) from Sri Lanka...the, um, huge wooden giraffes from Malawi (that her husband Luke expressly forbade her to buy)... Only now Becky and Luke have returned home to London and Luke is furious. Two truckloads of those souvenirs have cluttered up their loft, and the bills for them are outrageous. Luke insists Becky go on a budget. And worse: her beloved best friend Suze has found a new best friend while Becky was away. Becky's feeling rather blue-when her parents deliver some incredible news. She has a long-lost sister! Becky is thrilled! She's convinced her sister will be a true soulmate. They'll go shopping together, have manicures together....Until she meets Jessica for the first time and gets the shock of her life. Surely Becky Bloomwood's sister can't...hate shopping? Sophie Kinsella is a former financial journalist and the author of the bestselling novels Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Can You Keep a Secret?, and The Undomestic Goddess. She lives in England, where she is at work on her next book. [via]

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  • Shopaholic and Sister
    by Sophie Kinsella
    ISBN 0385338090 (0-385-33809-0)
    Hardcover, Dell Publishing

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    Book summary:

    Sophie Kinsella has conquered the hearts of millions with her New York Times bestselling Shopaholic novels, which feature the irresistible one-woman shopping phenomenon Becky Bloomwood. Now Beckys back in a hilarious, heartwarming tale of married life, best friends, and long-lost sisters (and the perils of simply having to own an Angel handbag!).

    Whats a round-the-world honeymoon if you cant buy the odd souvenir to ship back home? Like the Chinese urns and twenty silk dressing gowns Becky found in Hong Kong&the five kilim rugs from Turkey&the splendid hand-carved dining table (and ten chairs) from Sri Lanka&the, um, huge wooden giraffes from Malawi (that her husband Luke expressly forbade her to buy)&

    Only now Becky and Luke have returned home to London and Luke is furious. Two truckloads of those souvenirs have cluttered up their usually immaculate loft, and the bills for them are outrageous. Beckys even maxed out on her second secret credit card, and she doesnt have a new job yet!

    Luke insists she go on a budget. And worse: her beloved best friend Suze has found a new best friend while Becky was away. Beckys feeling rather bluewhen her parents deliver some incredible news. She has a long-lost sister! Becky is thrilled! Shes convinced her sister will be a true soulmate. Theyll go shopping together, drink cappuccinos together, have manicures together, and watch their favorite videos together.

    Until she meets Jessica for the first time and gets the shock of her life. Surely Becky Bloomwoods sister cant&hate shopping? [via]

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  • Song and Dance Man
    by Karen Ackerman, Stephen Gammekk
    ISBN 0394893301 (0-394-89330-1)
    Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books

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    Once a song and dance man, Grandpa reclaims his youth and profession before the delighted eyes of his three grandchildren one afternoon. He simply cannot resist the urge to dress up in clothes left over from his vaudeville days--complete with top hat and gold-headed cane--and to perform tricks, play banjo and tell jokes. He taps, twirls and laughs himself to tears on a thrown-together stage in his attic. Artist Stephen Gammell takes full advantage of lamplight to render Grandpa in shadow and silhouette, trivializing the concept of age and creating a feeling of intense nostalgia. Related from the point of view of the children, the text in Song and Dance Man is soft and understated, and Gammell's artistry is superb. The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1989. [via]

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  • Song and Dance Man
    by Stephen Gammell, Karen Ackerman
    ISBN 0394993306 (0-394-99330-6)
    Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books

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    Book summary:

    Once a song and dance man, Grandpa reclaims his youth and profession before the delighted eyes of his three grandchildren one afternoon. He simply cannot resist the urge to dress up in clothes left over from his vaudeville days--complete with top hat and gold-headed cane--and to perform tricks, play banjo and tell jokes. He taps, twirls and laughs himself to tears on a thrown-together stage in his attic. Artist Stephen Gammell takes full advantage of lamplight to render Grandpa in shadow and silhouette, trivializing the concept of age and creating a feeling of intense nostalgia. Related from the point of view of the children, the text in Song and Dance Man is soft and understated, and Gammell's artistry is superb. The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1989. [via]

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  • Shakespeare, William: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
    The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
    by William Shakespeare
    ISBN 0424000946 (0-424-00094-6)
    Softcover, Sydney Univ Pr

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  • Tuck Everlasting
    by Natalie Babbitt
    ISBN 0374378487 (0-374-37848-7)
    Hardcover, Sunburst

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    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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  • Until I Find You
    by John Irving
    ISBN 0345479726 (0-345-47972-6)
    Softcover, Ballantine Books

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    Book summary:

    At over 800 pages, John Irving's Until I Find You is a daunting proposition at best. Anyone who finishes it will have acquired forearm muscles, sore shoulders, and not much else. The story is self-indulgent, repetitive and, ultimately, boring, that cardinal sin that readers can't forgive. Longtime Irving readers have stayed with him through a few hits and a miss or two, but this is an all-time low. We are accustomed to Irving's work as quirky, bizarre, and off-the-wall and have forgiven all by calling such high-jinks and characters "imaginative" or "absolutely original." The only thing original about this tome is the descent into soft porn.

    Jack Burns, the hero of the tale, is four years old when it all begins. He is the illegitimate son of Daughter Alice, a tattoo artist and, guess what, daughter of a tattoo artist. She takes Jack on a pilgrimage to find his womanizing father, William, a church organist and "ink addict." By seeking out church organs and tattoo parlors, she expects to find him. She doesn't, and by now we have spent more than a hundred pages in Northern European cities doing an imitation of Groundhog Day. Same story, different day: a little prostitution for Alice, a few questions asked; alas, no daddy.

    Alice and Jack return to Toronto so that Jack may enter a previously all-girls school, which will admit little boys for the first time. There begins another 200 pages of the girls and the teachers abusing Jack, over and over again. By now, he is five and is, for some unfathomable reason, eminently interesting to girls and women. His "friend" Emma keeps careful track of "the little guy," as she calls Jack's penis, looking for signs of life. The worst part of all this is that none of it is funny or sad or even clever. There are wrestling vignettes, of course, and prep school tedium, but no bears. Maybe bears would have saved it. There were funny parts in The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules as well as poignant, horrific parts in both of those and other Irving novels. This story is flat. The voice never changes; it just drones on.

    Jack becomes an actor. First, he is a boy in drag because he is so pretty, then he takes transvestite parts. He and Emma, now a published novelist, live together in LA, which provides endless opportunity for name-dropping. His career eventually takes off and he gets recognition and awards, but still no daddy. Irving, it turns out, never knew his father, either. Perhaps this exercise will exorcise that demon once and for all and Irving's next book will be about something more compelling than a little boy's penis and his trashy mother's antics. If you do make it through to the book's snapper of an ending, you deserve to find out what it is on your own. Call it a reward. --Valerie Ryan [via]

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  • William Shakespeare's Hamlet: Prince Of Denmark
    by Constance Jordan
    ISBN 0321317297 (0-321-31729-7)
    Softcover, Longman Pub Group

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    Book summary:

    From Longman's new Cultural Edition series, Hamlet, edited by Constance Jordan, includes the play and contextual materials from the era of Shakespeare.

     

    This edition represents Shakespeare's text as it appears in the most authoritative of early editions, the Folio, published in 1623, and it supplies students with useful footnotes to the interpretation of the text. It also includes brief samples of works by Shakespeare's contemporaries in a section entitled Contexts; which will help students understand the historical setting and cultural ideas that helped shape the meaning of Shakespeare's play. By listening to these voices from the past, students can approach the play with some knowledge of why Hamlet asks the questions he does and of why the character himself, the creation of a distant century, also seems so much a part of our own world.

     

    The Longman Cultural Edition series is composed of teaching texts edited by prominent scholars. In addition to the recently published Cultural Editions Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, and Othello, titles in the series for this year include Dickens' Hard Times, Beowulf, and Oscar Wilde'sThe Picture of Dorian Gray.

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    More editions of William Shakespeare's Hamlet: Prince Of Denmark:

  • William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
    by William Shakespeare, Constance Jordan
    ISBN 032114922X (0-321-14922-X)
    Softcover, Addison-Wesley

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    › Find signed collectible books: 'William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'
    Book summary:

    From Longman's new Cultural Editions Series, Hamlet, edited by Constance Jordan, includes the play and contextual materials from the era of Shakespeare. This edition represents Shakespeare's text as it appears in the most authoritative of early editions, the Folio, published in 1623, and it supplies readers with useful footnotes to the interpretation of the text. It also includes brief samples of works by Shakespeare's contemporaries in a section entitled Contexts; these will help readers to understand the historical setting and the cultural ideas that helped shape the meaning of Shakespeare's play. By listening to these voices from the past, readers can approach the play with some knowledge of why Hamlet asks the questions he does and of why the character himself, the creation of a distant century, also seems so much a part of our own world. Readers interested in Shakespeare's Plays and the time they were written Jordan Hamlet SMP.doc Page 1 of 1 [via]

    More editions of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark:

  • The Witching Hour
    by Anne Rice
    ISBN 0345367898 (0-345-36789-8)
    Softcover, Ballantine Books

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    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Witching Hour'
    Book summary:

    In this engrossing and hypnotic tale of witchcraft and the occult spanning four centuries, we meet a great dynasty of witches--a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is haunted by a powerful, dangerous and seductive being. [via]

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