— books

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky · 2021

Crime And Punishment, Russian Prestupleniye I Nakazaniye, Novel By Russian Writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, First Published In 1866. His First Masterpiece, The Novel Is A Psychological Analysis Of The Poor Former Student Raskolnikov, Whose Theory That He Is An Extraordinary Person Able To Take On The Spiritual Responsibility Of Using Evil Means To Achieve Humanitarian Ends Leads Him To Murder. The Act Produces Nightmarish Guilt In Raskolnikov. The Story Is One Of The Finest Studies Of The Psychopathology Of Guilt Written In Any Language.

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath · 2013

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels<br/>A beautifully designed Harper Perennial Deluxe Edition of this haunting American classic: a realistic and emotional novel about a woman battling mental illness and societal pressures written by the iconic American writer Sylvia Plath.<br/>“It is this perfectly wrought prose and the freshness of Plath’s voice in The Bell Jar that make this book enduring in its appeal.” — USA Today<br/>The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther’s breakdown with such intensity that Esther’s neurosis becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar an enduring classic.

Just Kids

Patti Smith · 2010

<p> It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. </p> <p> Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous—the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years. </p> <p> <i>Just Kids</i> begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame. </p>

Caraval

Stephanie Garber · 2018