
My Reading List
Items in this hypelist
Books

Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction
Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction

Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation
Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation
<p><b>Sexuality and Socialism</b> is a remarkably accessible analysis of many of the most challenging questions for those concerned with full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.</p> <p>Inside are essays on the roots of LGBT oppression, the construction of sexual and gender identities, the history of the gay movement, and how to unite the oppressed and exploited to win sexual liberation for all. Sherry Wolf analyzes different theories about oppression--including those of Marxism, postmodernism, identity politics, and queer theory--and challenges myths about genes, gender, and sexuality.</p> <p>"<b>Sexuality and Socialism</b> is the most intelligent and enlightened discussion on sexuality to come from the Left in a long time. No other work that comes to my mind explains the history of sexuality and sexual repression in the United States as comprehensively and compellingly."--<b>Ron Jacobs</b>, <i>Dissident Voice</i></p> <p>"Sherry Wolf: Lesbian, Activist, Communist & Badass-ist... spoke to a pre-National Equality March rally. She. Blew. It. Up."--<i>Austin Chronicle</i></p> <p>"Sherry speaks with such eloquence and plain common sense that I can't help but want to know more about her ideas and convictions."--<b>Derek Washington</b>, "In the LV" radio host, Director of LGBT Outreach, Clark County Democratic Black Caucus</p> <p>"The icons of the new generation of activists are people like Lady Gaga, Dustin Lance Black, Judy Shephard, Lt. Daniel Choi (ret.) and Sherry Wolf (author of <b>Sexuality and Socialism</b>)."--<b>Don Gorton</b>, Join the Impact Board Member</p> <p>"Surprisingly funny, very readable and a fitting tome for a new movement in these troubled times."--<b>Dave Zirin</b> for <i>Progressive</i>'s Best Books of 2009</p> <p>"'What humans have constructed they can tear down.' This is the powerful insight of this rare book that is at once politically important, theoretically and historically sophisticated, and clearly written. <b>Sexuality and Socialism</b> is enlivened in its engagement with a number of controversies, including those over the alleged biological determination of homosexuality, the myth of Black homophobia, and the consequences of postmodernist theories for the politics of gay liberation. Above all else, Wolf puts forward a cogent defense of the Marxist tradition--long and wrongly reviled as homophobic in itself--as a way to explain how LGBT oppression arose and what we can do to put it to bed."--<b>Dana Cloud</b>, University of Texas at Austin</p> <p><b>Sherry Wolf</b> is the associate editor of the International Socialist Review. She was on the executive committee of the National Equality March Oct. 11, 2009 and has written for publications including the <i>Nation</i>, <i>MRZine</i>, <i>Counterpunch</i>, <i>Dissident Voice</i>, and <i>Socialist Worker</i> and speaks frequently across the country on the struggle for LGBT liberation as well as a wide range of social and economic justice issue.</p>

Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection between Queer and Feminist Theory
Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection between Queer and Feminist Theory

Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution: An Oral History
Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution: An Oral History

Dune
Frank Herbert · 2003
• DUNE: PART TWO • THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Directed by Denis Villeneuve, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert • Starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Léa Seydoux, with Stellan Skarsgård, with Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of Paul Atreides—who would become known as Muad'Dib—and of a great family's ambition to bring to fruition mankind's most ancient and unattainable dream. A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

One for the Money (1) (Stephanie Plum)
Janet Evanovich · 2018

The Hobbit
J. R. R. Tolkien · 2012
The journey through Middle-earth begins here with J.R.R. Tolkien's classic prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy.<br/>“A glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible... All those, young or old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will take The Hobbit to their hearts.”—The New York Times Book Review<br/>"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." So begins one of the most beloved and delightful tales in the English language—Tolkien's prelude to The Lord of the Rings. Set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale, The Hobbit is one of literature's most enduring and well-loved novels.<br/>Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien · 2012
<p>Begin your journey into Middle-earth...<br></p><p>The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.<br></p><p>The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.<br></p><p>One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.<br></p><p>Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power—the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring—the ring that rules them all—which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.<br></p><p>In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.<br></p>

The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien · 2012
<p>Begin your journey into Middle-earth... The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.<br></p><p>The Two Towers is the second part of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.<br></p><p>One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.<br></p><p>Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs. Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.<br></p><p>This continues the classic tale begun in The Fellowship of the Ring, which reaches its awesome climax in The Return of the King.<br></p>

The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, 3)
J.R.R. Tolkien · 2012

To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee · 2002
Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American Read<br/>Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South—and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred<br/>One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee
Mary G. Thompson · 2017
Cousins Amy and Dee were kidnapped by a stranger as children. Now, sixteen-year-old Amy is back with her parents. Dressed in purple and clutching a plastic doll, she refuses to answer questions. As Amy struggles towards a normal teenage life, her family - and the police - press her for information. Unable to escape her past, Amy realizes she has to confront the truth. How did she survive? How did she escape? And what happened to Dee?

SHE AND HER CAT
Makoto Shinkai, Naruki Nagakawa · 2022
On the outskirts of Tokyo, in a neighbourhood crossed by a commuter railway, local cats weave their way through the lives and homes of their owners as they navigate difficult times.<br/><br/>A cat named Chobi sends silent messages of courage to a young woman, willing her to end a faltering relationship; a gifted artist fatally misunderstands her boss's enthusiasm for her paintings; a manga fan shuts herself away after the death of her friend, while her cat Cookie hatches a plan to persuade her outside; a woman who has dedicated her life to a distant husband learns a lesson in independence from her cat.<br/><br/>Against the urban backdrop of humming trains and private woes, SHE AND HER CAT explores the gentle magic of the everyday. Populated by both the friendly and the feral, it reveals - with heartstopping clarity and warmth - how even in our darkest moments, community and connection may lead us to a happier place.

How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life
Melissa Hellstern · 2004

Girl, Interrupted
Susanna Kaysen · 1994
<b>30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION <b>• </b>NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. Her memoir of the next two years is a "poignant, honest ... triumphantly funny ... and heartbreaking story" (<i>The New York Times Book Review</i>). <br><br><b>WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR <br></b></b><br>The ward for teenage girls in the McLean psychiatric hospital was as renowned for its famous clientele—Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles—as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary. Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties. <br><br><i>Girl, Interrupted</i> is a clear-sighted, unflinching document that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery.

Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov · 1989
Awe and exhiliration--along with heartbreak and mordant wit--abound in <b>Lolita</b>, Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. <b>Lolita</b> is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love--love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.

Valley of the Dolls
Jacqueline Susann · 1997
The All-Time Pop Culture Classic!<br/><br/>Dolls: red or black; capsules or tablets; washed down with vodka or swallowed straightfor Anne, Neely, and Jennifer, it doesn’t matter, as long as the pill bottle is within easy reach. These three women become best friends when they are young and struggling in New York City and then climb to the top of the entertainment industryonly to find that there is no place left to go but downinto the Valley of the Dolls.

The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath · 2015

The Virgin Suicides
Jeffrey Eugenides · 2002
The shocking thing about the girls was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date of their lives. Twenty years on, their enigmatic personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassiere draped over a crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters' breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear.

The Lover
Marguerite Duras · 1998
<p>An international best-seller with more than one million copies in print and a winner of France’s Prix Goncourt, <i>The Lover</i> has been acclaimed by critics all over the world since its first publication in 1984.<br><br>Set in the prewar Indochina of Marguerite Duras’s childhood, this is the haunting tale of a tumultuous affair between an adolescent French girl and her Chinese lover. In spare yet luminous prose, Duras evokes life on the margins of Saigon in the waning days of France’s colonial empire, and its representation in the passionate relationship between two unforgettable outcasts.<br><br>Long unavailable in hardcover, this edition of <i>The Lover</i> includes a new introduction by Maxine Hong Kingston that looks back at Duras's world from an intriguing new perspective—that of a visitor to Vietnam today.<br><br><i>(With an introduction by Maxine Hong Kingston; translated from the French by Barbara Bray.)</i></p>

A Certain Hunger
Chelsea G. Summers · 2021
One of Vanity Fair's Books That Will Get You Through This Winter<br/>“One of the most uniquely fun and campily gory books in my recent memory... A Certain Hunger has the voice of a hard-boiled detective novel, as if metaphor-happy Raymond Chandler handed the reins over to the sexed-up femme fatale and really let her fly." ―The New York Times<br/><br/>Food critic Dorothy Daniels loves what she does. Discerning, meticulous, and very, very smart, Dorothy’s clear mastery of the culinary arts make it likely that she could, on any given night, whip up a more inspired dish than any one of the chefs she writes about. Dorothy loves sex as much as she loves food, and while she has struggled to find a long-term partner that can keep up with her, she makes the best of her single life, frequently traveling from Manhattan to Italy for a taste of both.<br/><br/>But there is something within Dorothy that’s different from everyone else, and having suppressed it long enough, she starts to embrace what makes Dorothy uniquely, terrifyingly herself. Recounting her life from a seemingly idyllic farm-to-table childhood, the heights of her career, to the moment she plunges an ice pick into a man's neck on Fire Island, Dorothy Daniels show us what happens when a woman finally embraces her superiority.<br/><br/>A satire of early foodieism, a critique of how gender is defined, and a showcase of virtuoso storytelling, Chelsea G. Summers’ A Certain Hunger introduces us to the food world’s most charming psychopath and an exciting new voice in fiction.

The Goldfinch: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Donna Tartt · 2015
A young New Yorker grieving his mother's death is pulled into a gritty underworld of art and wealth in this "extraordinary" and beloved Pulitzer Prize winner from the author of The Secret History that "connects with the heart as well as the mind" (Stephen King, New York Times Book Review).<br/><br/>Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by a longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into a wealthy and insular art community.<br/><br/>As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love — and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.<br/><br/>The Goldfinch is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention. From the streets of New York to the dark corners of the art underworld, this "soaring masterpiece" examines the devastating impact of grief and the ruthless machinations of fate (Ron Charles, Washington Post).

Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert · 2003

A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara · 2016
<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (<i>NPR</i>) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.<br></b><br><b><b><b><b><b><b><b>NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST <b><b><b>•</b></b></b></b> MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST <b>• <b><b><b><b><b> WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE</b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b><br><br><i>A Little Life</i> follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.

The Great Gatsby: The Original 1925 Edition (A F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic Novel)
F. Scott Fitzgerald · 2021
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby<br/>The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, the novel depicts narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.<br/>A youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922 inspired the novel. Following a move to the French Riviera, he completed a rough draft in 1924. He submitted the draft to editor Maxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. After his revisions, Fitzgerald was satisfied with the text, but remained ambivalent about the book's title and considered several alternatives. The final title he desired was Under the Red, White, and Blue. Painter Francis Cugat's final cover design impressed Fitzgerald who incorporated a visual element from the art into the novel.<br/>Gatsby continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. The novel was most recently adapted to film in 2013 by director Baz Luhrmann, while contemporary scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited wealth compared to those who are self-made, race, environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American dream. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterpiece and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel.<br/>A True Classic that Belongs on Every Bookshelf!

Romeo and Juliet (Folger Shakespeare Library)
William Shakespeare · 2004
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud.<br/><br/>In this death-filled setting, the movement from love at first sight to the lovers’ final union in death seems almost inevitable. And yet, this play set in an extraordinary world has become the quintessential story of young love. In part because of its exquisite language, it is easy to respond as if it were about all young lovers.<br/><br/>The authoritative edition of Romeo and Juliet from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:<br/><br/>-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play<br/>-Newly revised explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play<br/>-Scene-by-scene plot summaries<br/>-A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases<br/>-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language<br/>-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play<br/>-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books<br/>-An up-to-date annotated guide to further reading<br/><br/>Essay by Gail Kern Paster<br/><br/>The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

The Book Thief
Markus Zusak · 2013

The Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger · 2001

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V. E. Schwab · 2023
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER<br/>USA TODAY BESTSELLER<br/>NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER<br/>THE WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER<br/><br/>In the vein of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Life After Life, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab’s genre-defying tour de force.<br/><br/>Recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, NPR, Slate, and Oprah Magazine<br/>#1 Library Reads Pick―October 2020<br/>#1 Indie Next Pick―October 2020<br/>BOOK OF THE YEAR (2020) FINALIST―Book of The Month Club<br/><br/>A “Best Of” Book From: Oprah Mag * CNN * Amazon * Amazon Editors * NPR * Goodreads * Bustle * PopSugar * BuzzFeed * Barnes & Noble * Kirkus Reviews * Lambda Literary * Nerdette * The Nerd Daily * Polygon * Library Reads * io9 * Smart Bitches Trashy Books * LiteraryHub * Medium * BookBub * The Mary Sue * Chicago Tribune * NY Daily News * SyFy Wire * Powells.com * Bookish * Book Riot * Library Reads Voter Favorite *<br/><br/>A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.<br/><br/>France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever―and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.<br/><br/>Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.<br/><br/>But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.<br/><br/>Also by V. E. Schwab<br/><br/>Shades of Magic<br/>A Darker Shade of Magic<br/>A Gathering of Shadows<br/>A Conjuring of Light<br/><br/>Villains<br/>Vicious<br/>Vengeful

The Secret History
Donna Tartt · 1992
<b><b><b><b>ONE OF <i>TIME MAGAZINE</i>'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • </b>INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "a<b>n accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (<i>Village Voice</i>)</b>, f<b>rom the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of <i>The Goldfinch.<br><br></i></b></b></b>One of <i>The Atlantic</i>’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years</b><br><br>Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.<br><br><b>“A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment . . . Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.” —<i>The New York Times</i></b>

Angel Meat
Laura Lee Bahr · 2017
"Laura Lee Bahr writes masterpiece fiction. Oh my God, we're witnessing the beginning of a brilliant canon and career. " - Josh Malerman, author of Bird Box<br/>These nine prime cuts of Angel Meat feed the soul in a collection precisely crafted for connoisseur and newcomer alike. Taste the "Grade A" stick-to-your-ribs psychological horror of "The Liar," the dark love magic cast by "Rat-Head," the bold blend of sci-fi and noir in "The Cause," and the naked truth revealed "In the Desert."<br/>Laura Lee Bahr's distinctive flavors linger on the tongue long after the reading's done. Her transcendent servings of flesh, wings, and heart are yours to savor for years to come.

Boulder
Eva Baltasar · 2023

GIRL MESS: a Katabasis in verse
Kim Rashidi · 2024
Dante's Inferno, but for the girls.<br/>I open my mouth, swallow myself whole / I am inside the beast, the machine of a girl<br/>A ritualized traverse into the underworld, GIRL MESS is a way back into the body. The feeling, pulsing, tragicomic body. This atmospheric story, guided by a whimsical psychopomp, follows a girl’s peculiarities as she navigates uncanny rooms with strange creatures and even stranger memories. Loosely following the stages of spiritual alchemy from calcination to coagulation, the girl evolves past the nightmares of ageing and comes to understand what it means to live a wondrous life.<br/><br/>***<br/>GIRL MESS is a cabinet of curiosities, a kaleidoscopic experience, and a decadent feat of imagination. Conceptually playing with the notorious demonization of girls' interests, this novel in verse is a lyrical exploration of the human condition through the trials and trepidations of girlhood. Poetically bold and idiomatically subversive, the pages of this book journey into a celestial realm of introspection to form a connection with the psyche. Pulling on occult threads and alchemical traditions, these poems take inspiration from Rashidi’s dreams and mediations and are aided by Jungian analysis.

Crime and Punishment (Vintage Classics)
Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1993
<b>Hailed by <i>Washington Post Book World</i> as “the best [translation] currently available" when it was first published, this second edition of <i>Crime and Punishment </i>has been updated in honor of the 200th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth. • <b>ONE OF <i>TIME MAGAZINE</i>'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME</b></b><br><br>With the same suppleness, energy, and range of voices that won their translation of <i>The Brothers Karamazov</i> the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky offer a brilliant translation of <i>Crime and Punishment, </i>Dostoevsky's astounding pyschological thriller, newly revised for his bicentenniel. <br><br>In <i>Crime and Punishment</i>, when Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in the St. Petersburg of the tsars, commits an act of murder and theft, he sets into motion a story that is almost unequalled in world literature for its excruciating suspense, its atmospheric vividness, and its depth of characterization and vision. Dostoevsky’s drama of sin, guilt, and redemption transforms the sordid story of an old woman’s murder into the nineteenth century’s profoundest and most compelling philosophical novel.

White Nights
Fyodor Dostoevsky · 2024
Embark on a poignant journey through the streets of St. Petersburg with Fyodor Dostoevsky’s "White Nights." This classic novella weaves an intricate tapestry of longing and ephemeral romance, capturing the essence of human emotion in a world where dreams and reality blur.<br/><br/>Meet the nameless narrator, a lonely dreamer who roams the city’s shimmering nights, filled with hope and heartache. His solitary existence takes a turn when he encounters Nastenka, a spirited young woman yearning for love. Their chance meeting unfolds a tender yet tragic tale, exploring themes of unfulfilled desires, the nature of love, and the contrasts between reality and fantasy.<br/><br/>Perfect for fans of classic literature and deep psychological insights, "White Nights" invites readers to reflect on their own experiences of love and isolation. Dostoevsky’s lyrical prose and profound character development resonate with timeless relevance, making this novella a must-read for anyone seeking an introspective escape into the human soul.<br/><br/>Join the ranks of literary enthusiasts and discover why "White Nights" remains a beloved work in the canon of world literature. Immerse yourself in this emotional landscape, and let Dostoevsky's genius illuminate the depths of your heart.

War and Peace (AmazonClassics Edition)
Leo Tolstoy · 2019

After Midnight
Irmgard Keun · 2020

Racism as Zoological Witchcraft: A Guide to Getting Out
Aph Ko · 2019

Spinning Silver: A Novel
Naomi Novik · 2018
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “One of the year’s strongest fantasy novels” (NPR), an imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the bestselling author of Uprooted. NEBULA AND HUGO AWARD FINALIST • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Public Library With the Nebula Award–winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Time, Tordotcom, Popsugar, Vox, Vulture, Paste, Bustle, Library Journal “A perfect tale . . . A big and meaty novel, rich in both ideas and people, with the vastness of Tolkien and the empathy and joy in daily life of Le Guin.”—The New York Times Book Review “Gorgeous, complex, and magical . . . This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Cool and clever and . . . dire and wonderful.”—Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer “The Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale has never been as captivating. . . . Spinning Silver further cements [Novik’s] place as one of the genre greats.”—Paste

Dead Poets Society
N.H. Kleinbaum · 2012
Todd Anderson and his friends at Welton Academy can hardly believe how different life is since their new English professor, the flamboyant John Keating, has challenged them to "make your lives extraordinary! Inspired by Keating, the boys resurrect the Dead Poets Society--a secret club where, free from the constraints and expectations of school and parents, they let their passions run wild. As Keating turns the boys on to the great words of Byron, Shelley, and Keats, they discover not only the beauty of language, but the importance of making each moment count. Can the club and the individuality it inspires survive the pressure from authorities determined to destroy their dreams? But the Dead Poets pledges soon realize that their newfound freedom can have tragic consequences. Can the club and the individuality it inspires survive the pressure from authorities determined to destroy their dreams?

Howl, Kaddish and Other Poems
Allen Ginsberg · 2013

Howl’s Moving Castle
Diana Wynne Jones · 2012
A New Look For One Of Diana Wynne Jones’ Funniest And Most Popular Novels.

BONES AND ALL
Camille DeAngelis · 2022
Maren Yearly è una giovane donna che desidera ciò che desiderano tutti: vorrebbe essere ammirata e rispettata. Vorrebbe essere amata. Ma Maren ha anche delle esigenze particolari e segrete, che l'hanno costretta a una specie di esilio dal genere umano. Si odia per quella cosa brutta che fa, e per ciò che la cosa brutta ha fatto alla sua famiglia e al suo senso di identità, per come la cosa brutta determina il suo posto nel mondo e il modo in cui le persone la vedono e la giudicano. In fondo, non ha scelto lei di essere così. Perché Maren Yearly non si limita a spezzare cuori: li divora. Letteralmente. L'amore può avere molte forme diverse, ma per Maren finisce sempre nello stesso modo: lei che nasconde le prove e sua madre che carica i bagagli in auto. Ma quando, il giorno dopo il suo sedicesimo compleanno, la madre l'abbandona, Maren decide di andare in cerca del padre che non ha mai conosciuto. E finirà per scoprire molto più di quanto si aspettasse: perché, oltre a suo padre, sta cercando se stessa.

Greatest Works of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe · 2018

On the Road: The Original Scroll (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Jack Kerouac · 2008

The Consolations of Philosophy
Alain De Botton · 2013
From the author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, a delightful, truly consoling work that proves that philosophy can be a supreme source of help for our most painful everyday problems. Perhaps only Alain de Botton could uncover practical wisdom in the writings of some of the greatest thinkers of all time. But uncover he does, and the result is an unexpected book of both solace and humor. Dividing his work into six sections -- each highlighting a different psychic ailment and the appropriate philosopher -- de Botton offers consolation for unpopularity from Socrates, for not having enough money from Epicurus, for frustration from Seneca, for inadequacy from Montaigne, and for a broken heart from Schopenhauer (the darkest of thinkers and yet, paradoxically, the most cheering). Consolation for envy -- and, of course, the final word on consolation -- comes from Nietzsche: "Not everything which makes us feel better is good for us." This wonderfully engaging book will, however, make us feel better in a good way, with equal measures of wit and wisdom.

Meditations on First Philosophy
René Descartes · 1993
Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy, the fundamental and originating work of the modern era in Western philosophy, is presented here in Donald Cress's completely revised edition of his well-established translation, bringing this version even closer to Descartes's original, while maintaining its clear and accessible style.

The Problems of Philosophy
Bertrand Russell · 2020
The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell is an essential read for anyone interested in philosophy. This seminal work provides a concise introduction to the fundamental questions of philosophy, such as the nature of truth, the existence of the external world, and the nature of knowledge. Written in a clear and accessible style, Russell's book offers an in-depth exploration of the fundamental problems that have occupied thinkers for centuries. It covers topics such as the nature of language, the limits of human knowledge, the relationship between thought and reality, and the moral implications of philosophical thought. This work is an invaluable resource for anyone studying philosophy and provides a comprehensive overview of the field. Its timeless relevance and Russell's clear, accessible writing make it an essential read for both students and scholars alike.<br/><br/>Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) was a renowned British philosopher, mathematician, social critic, and political activist. He is widely considered one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century and is best known for his contributions to the fields of logic, mathematics, and the philosophy of language. Born in Wales to an aristocratic family, Russell demonstrated an aptitude for mathematics from a young age and was educated at Cambridge University, where he studied mathematics and philosophy. He soon became a professor of philosophy and wrote extensively on a variety of topics, including logic, language, ethics, and metaphysics. His most influential works include The Principles of Mathematics (1903), The Problems of Philosophy (1912), and An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth (1940). Throughout his life, Russell remained active in politics and was an outspoken advocate for social justice. He was especially critical of the Cold War, nuclear weapons, and oppressive regimes. His work in philosophy and activism earned him numerous awards and accolades, including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Russell was also a prolific writer, producing numerous books and essays on a wide range of topics. He continued to write and lecture well into his 90s and died in 1970 at the age of 98. His legacy continues to live on, with his work continuing to inspire future generations of philosophers and social activists.

Defence of Socrates, Euthyphro, Crito
Plato · 1997

The Republic by Plato
Plato · 2021

Politics - ARISTOTLE
Aristotle · 2004

Critique of Pure Reason
Immanuel Kant · 2021
A new edition of Immanuel Kant's monumental philosophical treatise Critique of Pure Reason, which seeks to determine the limits and scope of metaphysics. Though it received little attention when it was first published, the Critique of Pure Reason eventually drew fire from both empiricist and rationalist critics, and became a source of substantial controversy before becoming one of the most enduringly influential works of Western philosophy. The book is now considered to be the culmination of several centuries of early modern philosophy and the inauguration of modern philosophy.<br/><br/>This edition is based on Kant's 1787 second edition of Critique of Pure Reason and uses the 1872 version of a translation by John Miller Dow Meiklejohn (1836 – 1902).<br/><br/>Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is widely considered to be one of the greatest thinkers of all time and one of the most important figures in Western philosophy. He is best known for his seminal work, the Critique of Pure Reason, which is credited with revolutionizing philosophical thought and laying the foundations for modern philosophy. Kant's philosophy was deeply rooted in the Enlightenment tradition and focused on the concept of universal morality and the power of reason. He believed that all humans have a moral obligation to obey certain laws, and that these laws should be based on rational principles. Kant also argued that all knowledge comes from experience, and that the ultimate truth lies in a synthesis of intuition and reason. Further, he argued that morality must be based on universal principles, rather than on subjective considerations. Kant's work has had a profound impact on the development of many philosophical schools of thought, including Kantianism, Neo-Kantianism, and Post-Kantianism. His influence continues to be felt in many fields, from philosophy to theology and beyond.

The Symposium (Penguin Classics)
Plato · 2003
A fascinating discussion on sex, gender, and human instincts, as relevant today as ever<br/><br/>In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of Athenian intellectuals exchange views on eros, or desire. From their conversation emerges a series of subtle reflections on gender roles, sex in society and the sublimation of basic human instincts. The discussion culminates in a radical challenge to conventional views by Plato's mentor, Socrates, who advocates transcendence through spiritual love. The Symposium is a deft interweaving of different viewpoints and ideas about the nature of love—as a response to beauty, a cosmic force, a motive for social action and as a means of ethical education.<br/><br/>For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller · 2012
WINNER OF THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION 2012 Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Circe
Madeline Miller · 2018
This #1 New York Times bestseller is a "bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story" that brilliantly reimagines the life of Circe, formidable sorceress of The Odyssey (Alexandra Alter, TheNew York Times). In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world. #1 New York Times Bestseller -- named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, the Washington Post, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor, Refinery 29, Buzzfeed, Paste, Audible, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Thrillist, NYPL, Self, Real Simple, Goodreads, Boston Globe, Electric Literature, BookPage, the Guardian, Book Riot, Seattle Times, and Business Insider.

The Iliad
Homer · 2007
A new translation of Homer's classic follows Merrill's successful earlier version of the "Odyssey" in capturing the feel of the original Greek

The Odyssey
Homer
The Odyssey, translated by T. E. Lawrence, an epic 12,000-line poem composed over 2,700 years ago, is the first adventure story in Western literature. It describes the ten-year wanderings of Odysseus in his quest to return home after the Trojan War. Hounded by the sea-god Poseidon and championed by the goddess Athene, he encounters giants, sorceresses, and sea monsters before finally reaching his beloved Ithaca. There he must endure the taunts of the Suitors to his queen, Penelope, who have taken up residence in his palace. At once enchanting fairy tale and gripping drama, the Odyssey is eminently readable, not least for the rich complexity and magnetism of its hero. An inspiration to writers as diverse as Virgil, Swift, and Joyce, the Odyssey has proved enormously influential and continues to captivate readers of all ages.

Ithaca
Claire North · 2022
From the multi-award-winning author Claire North comes a daring reimagining that breathes life into ancient myth and gives voice to the women who stand defiant in a world ruled by ruthless men. It’s time for the women of Ithaca to tell their tale . . . "North brings a powerful, fresh, and unflinching voice to ancient myth. Breathtaking." —Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom. Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door. No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus' empty throne—not yet. But as everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca's shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women—and their goddesses—that will change the course of the world.

Animal Farm
George Orwell · 2021

1984
George Orwell · 2014
George Orwell's Dystopian Masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-four Is Perhaps The Most Pervasively Influential Book Of The Twentieth Century, Making Famous Big Brother, Newspeak And Room 101. 'who Controls The Past Controls The Future: Who Controls The Present Controls The Past'

Long Way Down
Jason Reynolds · 2017

No Longer Human
太宰治 · 1958
<p> Mine has been a life of much shame. I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being. </p><p>Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. His attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.</p><p>Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan, No Longer Human is an important and unforgettable modern classic: "The struggle of the individual to fit into a normalizing society remains just as relevant today as it was at the time of writing." (The Japan Times)</p>

Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury · 1968
A fireman in charge of burning books meets a revolutionary school teacher who dares to read. Depicts a future world in which all printed reading material is burned.

Lord of the Flies
William Golding · 2003
The classical study of human nature which depicts the degeneration of a group of schoolboys marooned on a desert island.

The Help
Kathryn Stockett · 2011
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film—a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.<br/><br/>Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure.<br/><br/>Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town...

Little Women
Louisa May Alcott · 2009

Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë · 2009
'I am Heathcliff - he's always, always in my mind ...' Discovered on the streets of Liverpool, Heathcliff is rescued by Mr Earnshaw and taken to the remote Yorkshire farmhouse of Wuthering Heights. Earnshaw's daughter Catherine rapidly forms a passionate attachment to him, but when Catherine's brother takes over the Heights, Heathcliff is lowered to the position of a barely-tolerated farmhand. When Catherine decides to marry the refined Edgar Linton instead, Heathcliff turns revenger. He determines to degrade not only those who sought to degrade him, but their children after them. Wuthering Heights is one of the most famous love stories in the English language. It is also, as the Introduction to this edition explores, one of the most potent revenge narratives. Its ingenious narrative structure, vivid evocation of landscape, and the extraordinary power of its depiction of love and hatred have given it a unique place in English literature. This edition reproduces the authoritative Clarendon text, with revised and expanded notes and a selection from the poems of Emily Brontë. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte · 2012
From A to Z, the Penguin Drop Caps series collects 26 unique hardcovers—featuring cover art by type superstar Jessica Hische It all begins with a letter. Fall in love with Penguin Drop Caps, a new series of twenty-six collectible and gift-worthy hardcover editions, each with a type cover showcasing a gorgeously illustrated letter of the alphabet by superstar type designer Jessica Hische, whose work has appeared everywhere from Tiffany & Co. to Wes Anderson's film Moonrise Kingdom to Penguin's own bestsellers Committedand Rules of Civility. A collaboration between Jessica Hische and Penguin Art Director Paul Buckley, the series design encompasses foil-stamped paper-over-board cases in a rainbow-hued spectrum across all twenty-six book spines and a decorative stain on all three paper edges. Penguin Drop Caps debuts with an “A” for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a “B” for Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and a “C” for Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, and continues with more classics from Penguin. B is for Brontë. A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzles and shocks readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom. Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit—which proves necessary when she takes a position as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving the man she loves?

My Sweet Audrina
V.C. Andrews · 2015

Emma
Jane Austen · 2016

Lady Susan
Jane Austen · 2018

The Complete Maus
Art Spiegelman · 1996
The definitive edition of the graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker) • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • One of Variety’s “Banned and Challenged Books Everyone Should Read”<br/><br/>A brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats.<br/><br/>Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history's most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.

Babel
R. F. Kuang · 2022
Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War “Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide… Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

The Complete Poppy War Trilogy
R. F. Kuang · 2023
From R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Babel, this collection features the novels in her historical military fantasy trilogy—The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, and The Burning God—a complete epic inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic. The Poppy War A war orphan, Rin earned her place in Nikan’s most elite military school. There, she discovers her lethal, unearthly power of shamanism—and learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive. When an inevitable conflict arises between longtime enemies the Nikara Empire and the Federation of Mugen, Rin realizes her shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity. . . The Dragon Republic After committing an atrocity in battle, shamanic warrior Rin is consumed with guilt, an opium addiction, and the murderous commands of the fiery Phoenix god. Channeling her anger against the Empress who betrayed Rin’s homeland, she chooses to join forces with the Empress’s enemy, the Dragon Warlord. But as Rin discovers the true natures of the Empress and the Dragon Warlord, the temptation to unleash the Phoenix’s fearsome power grows—and so does her vengeance. . . The Burning God After saving Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress in a brutal civil war, Rin realizes that her homeland’s real power lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation. Vowing to defeat all who threaten the shamanic arts, Rin’s power and influence grows—but so does the Phoenix’s intoxicating voice urging her to burn the world and everything in it. . . “Mixing historical parallels of Chinese history, the themes of war, politics, and colonialism are balanced with terrific, flawed characters and amazing worldbuilding.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Interview with the Vampire
Anne Rice · 2010
The spellbinding classic that started it all, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author—the inspiration for the hit television series “A magnificent, compulsively readable thriller . . . Rice begins where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth—the education of the vampire.”—Chicago Tribune Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly sensual, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force—a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

Butter
Asako Yuzuki · 2024

Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami · 2006
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and one of the world’s greatest storytellers comes "an insistently metaphysical mind-bender” (The New Yorker) about a teenager on the run and an aging simpleton.<br/><br/>Now with a new introduction by the author.<br/><br/>Here we meet 15-year-old runaway Kafka Tamura and the elderly Nakata, who is drawn to Kafka for reasons that he cannot fathom. As their paths converge, acclaimed author Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder, in what is a truly remarkable journey.<br/><br/>“As powerful as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.... Reading Murakami ... is a strikingexperience in consciousness expansion.” —The Chicago Tribune

Paris
Paris Hilton · 2023
***An Instant New York Times Bestseller*** From the woman who is credited for launching what we know as the celebrity focused, “brand” driven, social media obsessed popular culture of today, comes an honest and surprising memoir that reckons with that truth, and shows that there is so much more to Paris Hilton than you might believe. I was born in New York City on February 17, 1981, three days after Valentine’s Day. From the time I was a toddler, my brain skipped and flickered with the chemical imbalance of ADHD. Sometimes it was too much. I’m not bragging or complaining about it, just telling you: This is my brain. It has a lot to do with how this whole book thing is going to play out, because I love run-on sentences—and dashes. And sentence fragments. I’m probably going to jump around a lot while I tell the story. I came of age during the most turbulent pop culture period ever. The character I played—part Lucy, part Marilyn—was my steel-plated armor. People loved her. Or they loved to hate her, which was just as marketable. I leaned into that character, my ticket to financial freedom and a safe place to hide. I made sure I never had a quiet moment to figure out who I was without her. I was afraid of that moment because I didn’t know what I’d find. I wrote this book in an effort to understand my place in a watershed moment: the technology renaissance, the age of influencers. I also wrote this book so that the world could know who I am today. I focused on key aspects of my life that led to what I am most proud of--how my power was taken away from me and how I took it back, how I built a thriving business, a marriage and a family. There are so many young women who need to hear this story. I don’t want them to learn from my mistakes; I want them to stop hating themselves for their own mistakes. I want them to laugh and cry and embrace every aspect of who they are with fearlessness and pride. We all have our own brand of intelligence, and, girl, fuck fitting in.

Battle Royale
Koushun Takami · 2007
The cult Japanese bestselling phenomenon! Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of 42 junior high school students are taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are electronically collared, provided with weapons of varying potency, and sent out onto the island. If they are in the wrong part of the island at the wrong time, their collars will explode. If they band together to save themselves a collar will explode at random. If they try to escape from the island, they will be blown up. Their only chance for survival lies in killing their classmates. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - BATTLE ROYALE is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, and a potent story of politics and survival in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, BATTLE ROYALE is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, and is now available for the first time to the UK mainstream.

The Willoughbys
Lois Lowry · 2010

The Willoughbys Return
Lois Lowry · 2020

Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass
Lana Del Rey · 2020
The New York Times bestselling debut book of poetry from Lana Del Rey, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. “Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is the title poem of the book and the first poem I wrote of many. Some of which came to me in their entirety, which I dictated and then typed out, and some that I worked laboriously picking apart each word to make the perfect poem. They are eclectic and honest and not trying to be anything other than what they are and for that reason I’m proud of them, especially because the spirit in which they were written was very authentic.” —Lana Del Rey Lana’s breathtaking first book solidifies her further as “the essential writer of her times” (The Atlantic). The collection features more than thirty poems, many exclusive to the book: Never to Heaven, The Land of 1,000 Fires, Past the Bushes Cypress Thriving, LA Who Am I to Love You?, Tessa DiPietro, Happy, Paradise Is Very Fragile, Bare Feet on Linoleum, and many more. This beautiful hardcover edition showcases Lana’s typewritten manuscript pages alongside her original photography. The result is an extraordinary poetic landscape that reflects the unguarded spirit of its creator. Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is also brought to life in an unprecedented spoken word audiobook which features Lana Del Rey reading fourteen select poems from the book accompanied by music from Grammy Award–winning musician Jack Antonoff.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Alvin Schwartz · 2010

More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Alvin Schwartz · 2019

Magnolia Parks
Jessa Hastings · 2021

Daisy Haites
Jessa Hastings · 2021
All twenty-year-old Daisy Haites has ever wanted is a normal life, but as the heiress to London’s most notorious criminal empire, it’s just not in the cards for her. Raised by her older brother, Julian, after their parents were murdered, Daisy has never been able to escape the watchful gaze of her gang-lord brother. But Julian’s line of work means that Daisy’s life is . . . complicated. And things don’t become any easier when she falls hard for the beautiful and emotionally unavailable Christian Hemmes, who happens to be one of the few men in London who doesn’t answer to Julian. Christian’s life is no walk in the park either, since he’s in love with his best friend’s girlfriend, Magnolia Parks. He’s happy enough to use Daisy to throw off the scent of his true affections—until she starts to infiltrate those, too. As their romance blossoms into something neither was anticipating, Daisy and Christian must come to terms with the fact that in this life everything comes at a price. Relationships intersect and tangle, and Daisy, Christian, and Julian will learn that sometimes life’s most worthwhile pursuits can only be paid in blood.

Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home
Jessa Hastings · 2022

Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing
Jessa Hastings · 2022

Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark
Jessa Hastings · 2024
Book five in the sensational Magnolia Parks Universe series!<br/><br/>How many loves do you actually get in a lifetime? Everyone knows by now that Magnolia and BJ are in the stars, but is that enough?<br/><br/>Magnolia and BJ are reeling from a devastating loss as they try to plan what’s been dubbed “the wedding of the century”. As family tensions mount and their respective pasts begin catching up to them, they finally have to look the truth in the eye: Can they learn to trust and be with one another again, or will they die trying?

Stardust
Neil Gaiman · 2006

Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn · 2012
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “mercilessly entertaining” (Vanity Fair) instant classic “about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships” (Lev Grossman, Time “One of the Best Books of the Decade”)—now featuring never-before-published deleted scenes ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME, ONE OF CNN'S MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE, AND ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Janet Maslin, The New York Times, People, Entertainment Weekly, O: The Oprah Magazine, Slate, Kansas City Star, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Chicago Tribune, HuffPost, Newsday

Bunny: A Novel
Mona Awad · 2020
NATIONAL BESTSELLER<br/><br/>Soon to be a major motion picture<br/><br/>"Jon Swift + Witches of Eastwick + Kelly 'Get In Trouble' Link + Mean Girls + Creative Writing Degree Hell! No punches pulled, no hilarities dodged, no meme unmangled! O Bunny you are sooo genius!" —Margaret Atwood, via Twitter<br/><br/>"A wild, audacious and ultimately unforgettable novel." —Michael Schaub, Los Angeles Times<br/><br/>"Awad is a stone-cold genius." —Ann Bauer, The Washington Post<br/><br/>The Vegetarian meets Heathers in this darkly funny, seductively strange novel from the acclaimed author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl and Rouge<br/><br/>"We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly did, didn't we?"<br/><br/>Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny," and seem to move and speak as one.<br/><br/>But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon," and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies' sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus "Workshop" where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.<br/><br/>The spellbinding new novel from one of our most fearless chroniclers of the female experience, Bunny is a down-the-rabbit-hole tale of loneliness and belonging, friendship and desire, and the fantastic and terrible power of the imagination.<br/><br/>Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue, Electric Literature, and The New York Public Library

Quantum Physics for Poets
Leon M. Lederman · 2011
Quantum theory is the bedrock of contemporary physics and the basis of understanding matter in its tiniest dimensions and the vast universe as a whole. But for many, the theory remains an impenetrable enigma. Now, two physicists seek to remedy this situation by both drawing on their scientific expertise and their talent for communicating science to the general reader. In this lucid, informative book, designed for the curious, Lederman and Hill make the seemingly daunting subject of quantum physics accessible, appealing, and exciting. Their story is partly historical, covering the many "Eureka" moments when great scientists-Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and others-struggled to come to grips with the bizarre realities that quantum research revealed. Although their findings were indisputably proven in experiments, they were so strange and counterintuitive that Einstein refused to accept quantum theory, despite its great success. The authors explain the many strange and even eerie aspects of quantum reality at the subatomic level, from "particles" that can be many places simultaneously and sometimes act more like waves, to the effect that a human can have on their movements by just observing them! Finally, the authors delve into quantum physics' latest and perhaps most breathtaking offshoots-field theory and string theory. The intricacies and ramifications of these two theories will give the reader much to ponder. In addition, the authors describe the diverse applications of quantum theory in its almost countless forms of modern technology throughout the world. Using eloquent analogies and illustrative examples, Quantum Physics for Poets renders even the most profound reaches of quantum theory understandable and something for us all to savor.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein
Mellors Coco · 2023
For readers of Modern Lovers and Conversations with Friends, an addictive, humorous, and poignant debut novel about the shock waves caused by one couple's impulsive marriage.‘A tender, devastating and funny exploration of love and friendship and the yearning for self-evisceration. Coco Mellors is an elegant and exciting new voice’ PANDORA SYKES, author of How Do We Know We’re Doing It RightNew York is slipping from Cleo’s grasp. Sure, she’s at a different party every other night, but she barely knows anyone. Her student visa is running out, and she doesn’t even have money for cigarettes. But then she meets Frank. Twenty years older, Frank's life is full of all the success and excess that Cleo's lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a green card. She offers him a life imbued with beauty and art—and, hopefully, a reason to cut back on his drinking. He is everything she needs right now. Cleo and Frank run head-first into a romance that neither of them can quite keep up with. It reshapes their lives and the lives of those around them, whether that’s Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender identity in the wake of her marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates after being cut off. Ultimately, this chance meeting between two strangers outside of a New Year’s Eve party changes everything, for better or worse. Cleopatra and Frankenstein is an astounding and painfully relatable debut novel about the spontaneous decisions that shape our entire lives and those imperfect relationships born of unexpectedly perfect evenings.

Robot Dreams
Isaac Asimov · 1990

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Neil deGrasse Tyson · 2017

Engines of Creation
K. Eric Drexler · 1990

The Theory Of Everything
Stephen W Hawking · 2006
The Theory Of Everything

In Search of Schrodinger's Cat
John Gribbin · 1999

The Little Book of Cosmology
Lyman Page · 2020
The cutting-edge science that is taking the measure of the universe<br/><br/>The Little Book of Cosmology provides a breathtaking look at our universe on the grandest scales imaginable. Written by one of the world's leading experimental cosmologists, this short but deeply insightful book describes what scientists are revealing through precise measurements of the faint thermal afterglow of the Big Bang―known as the cosmic microwave background, or CMB―and how their findings are transforming our view of the cosmos.<br/><br/>Blending the latest findings in cosmology with essential concepts from physics, Lyman Page first helps readers to grasp the sheer enormity of the universe, explaining how to understand the history of its formation and evolution in space and time. Then he sheds light on how spatial variations in the CMB formed, how they reveal the age, size, and geometry of the universe, and how they offer a blueprint for the formation of cosmic structure.<br/><br/>Not only does Page explain current observations and measurements, he describes how they can be woven together into a unified picture to form the Standard Model of Cosmology. Yet much remains unknown, and this incisive book also describes the search for ever deeper knowledge at the field's frontiers―from quests to understand the nature of neutrinos and dark energy to investigations into the physics of the very early universe.

50 Quantum Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know
Joanne Baker · 2023

Alice In Quantumland
Gilmore, Robert

Quantum Enigma
Bruce Rosenblum, Fred Kuttner

Brief Answers To The Big Questions
Hawking Stephen · 2020

A Brief History of Black Holes: And why nearly everything you know about them is wrong
Dr Becky Smethurst · 2022

The Planets: A Sunday Times Bestseller
Professor Brian Cox, Andrew Cohen · 2021

Space: The 10 Things You Should Know
Rebecca Smethurst · 2019
This book is for anyone who wants to easily understand the mind-blowing fundamentals of our extraordinary, expanding universe.<br/><br/>Written by Oxford astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst and composed of ten captivating, simple essays, it guides you swiftly through the galaxies, explaining the mysteries of black holes, dark matter and what existed before the Big Bang, presenting the evidence as to whether we really are alone, illuminating what we still don't know, and much more besides.<br/><br/>If you have big questions about Space, this book will provide you with the answers in an engaging and succinct way.

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog
Chad Orzel · 2010

Parallel Worlds
Michio Kaku · 2006

How to Build a Universe

PARADOX
Jim AlKhalili · 1800

Time and Space
Barry Dainton · 2010

Mastery Of Space-time Transposing
· 2003

My Dark Vanessa: A Novel
Kate Elizabeth Russell · 2020
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “[An] exceedingly complex, inventive, resourceful examination of harm and power.” —The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice “A lightning rod . . . brilliantly crafted.”—The Washington Post Recommended by The New York Times • USA Today • Entertainment Weekly • Marie Claire • Elle • Harper's Bazaar • Newsweek • New York Post • Esquire • Real Simple • The Sunday Times • The Guardian • and more! Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer. 2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed? Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.

The house in the Cerulean Sea
T. J. Klune, Carlos Abreu Fetter · 2019

Animals
Emma Jane Unsworth · 2015

Play It as It Lays: A Novel
Joan Didion · 2017
A “scathing novel” of one woman’s path of self-destruction in 1960s Hollywood—by the New York Times–bestselling author of The White Album (The Washington Post Book World). Spare, elegant, and terrifying, Play It as It Lays is the unforgettable story of a woman and a society come undone. Raised in the ghost town of Silver Wells, Nevada, Maria Wyeth is an ex-model and the star of two films directed by her estranged husband, Carter Lang. But in the spiritual desert of 1960s Los Angeles, Maria has lost the plot of her own life. Her daughter, Kate, was born with an “aberrant chemical in her brain.” Her long-troubled marriage has slipped beyond repair, and her disastrous love affairs and strained friendships provide little comfort. Her only escape is to get in her car and drive the freeway—in the fast lane with the radio turned up high—until it runs out “somewhere no place at all where the flawless burning concrete just stopped.” But every ride to nowhere, every sleepless night numbed by pills and booze and sex, makes it harder for Maria to find the meaning in another day. Told with profound economy of style and a “vision as bleak and precise as Eliot’s in ‘The Wasteland’,” Play It as It Lays ruthlessly dissects the dark heart of the American dream (The New York Times). It is a searing masterpiece “from one of the very few writers of our time who approaches her terrible subject with absolute seriousness, with fear and humility and awe” (Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Times Book Review).

Heroes
Stephen Fry · 2018

Mythos: (Ancient Greek Mythology Book for Adults, Modern Telling of Classical Greek Myths Book) (Stephen Fry's Greek Myths, 1)
Stephen Fry · 2019
<b><i>Mythos</i> is a modern collection of Greek myths, stylishly retold by legendary writer, actor, and comedian Stephen Fry.</b> Fry transforms the adventures of Zeus and the Olympians into emotionally resonant and deeply funny stories, without losing any of their original wonder.<br><br><b>This stunning book features classical artwork</b> inspired by the myths, as well as learned notes from the author.<br><br>• Each adventure is infused with Fry's distinctive wit, voice, and writing style<br>• Connoisseurs of the Greek myths will appreciate this fresh-yet-reverential interpretation, while newcomers will feel welcome<br>• Retellings brim with humor and emotion and offer rich cultural context<br><br><b>Celebrating the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths, <i>Mythos</i> breathes life into ancient tales—from Pandora's box to Prometheus's fire.<br><br>This gorgeous volume invites you to explore a captivating world with the brilliant storyteller Stephen Fry as your guide.</b><br>• A collectible volume complete with a textured case, a foil-stamped jacket, and full-color art throughout<br>• The perfect gift for Greek mythology and history buffs, lovers of ancient Greece, art aficionados, and devoted fans of Stephen Fry<br>• Add it to the shelf with books like <i>Circe</i> by Madeline Miller, <i>Norse Mythology</i> by Neil Gaiman, and <i>Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes</i> by Edith Hamilton

My Year of Rest and Relaxation: A Novel
Ottessa Moshfegh · 2019
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Time, NPR, Vice, Bustle, The New York Times, The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews, Entertainment Weekly, The AV Club, & Audible A New York Times Bestseller • New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century “One of the most compelling protagonists modern fiction has offered in years: a loopy, quietly furious pillhead whose Ambien ramblings and Xanaxed b*tcheries somehow wend their way through sad and funny and strange toward something genuinely profound.” — Entertainment Weekly “Darkly hilarious . . . [Moshfegh’s] the kind of provocateur who makes you laugh out loud while drawing blood.” —Vogue From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a novel about a young woman's efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes. Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong? My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.

Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier · 2013
The classic Gothic suspense novel by Daphne du Maurier -- winner of the Anthony Award for Best Novel of the Century -- is now a Netflix film starring Lily James and Armie Hammer. Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . . The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave. "Daphne du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings." --Stephen King

Normal People
Sally Rooney · 2019
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE: A wondrously wise, genuinely unputdownable new novel from Sally Rooney, winner of the 2017 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award (at 26, tied with Zadie Smith for the youngest-ever recipient)--the quintessential coming-of-age love story for our time. Connell Waldron is one of the most popular boys in his small-town high school--he is a star of the football team, an excellent student, and never wanting for attention from girls. The one thing he doesn't have is money. Marianne Sheridan, a classmate of Connell's, has the opposite problem. Marianne is plain-looking, odd, and stubborn, and while her family is well-off, she has no friends to speak of. There is, however, a deep and undeniable connection between the two teenagers, one that develops into a secret relationship. Everything changes when both Connell and Marianne are accepted to Trinity College. Suddenly Marianne is well-liked and elegant, holding court with her intellectual friends while Connell hangs at the sidelines, not quite as fluent in language of the elite. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle each other, falling in and out of romance but never straying far from where they started. And as Marianne experiments with an increasingly dangerous string of boyfriends, Connell must decide how far he is willing to go to save his oldest friend. Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a novel that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the inescapable challenges of family and friendships. Normal People is a book that you will read in one sitting, and then immediately share with your friends.

Conversations with Friends: A Novel
Sally Rooney · 2018
<b>NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • From the <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Normal People</i> . . . “[A] cult-hit . . . [a] sharply realistic comedy of adultery and friendship.”—<i>Entertainment Weekly</i><br><br>SALLY ROONEY NAMED TO THE <i>TIME</i> 100 NEXT LIST • WINNER OF THE <i>SUNDAY TIMES</i> (UK) YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD • ONE OF <i>BUZZFEED</i>’S BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE AND <i>THE TELEGRAPH</i>’S 20 BEST NOVELS OF ALL TIME • ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>Vogue, Slate</i> • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>Elle</i></b><br><br>Frances is a coolheaded and darkly observant young woman, vaguely pursuing a career in writing while studying in Dublin. Her best friend is the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi. At a local poetry performance one night, they meet a well-known photographer, and as the girls are then gradually drawn into her world, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman’s sophisticated home and handsome husband, Nick. But however amusing Frances and Nick’s flirtation seems at first, it begins to give way to a strange—and then painful—intimacy.<br><br>Written with gemlike precision and marked by a sly sense of humor, <i>Conversations with Friends</i> is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth, and the messy edges of female friendship.<br><br><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD</b><br><br>“Sharp, funny, thought-provoking . . . a really great portrait of two young women as they’re figuring out how to be adults.”<b>—Celeste Ng, <i>Late Night with Seth Meyers Podcast</i></b><br><br>“The dialogue is superb, as are the insights about communicating in the age of electronic devices. Rooney has a magical ability to write scenes of such verisimilitude that even when little happens they’re suspenseful.”<b>—Curtis Sittenfeld, <i>The Week</i></b><br><br>“Rooney has the gift of imbuing everyday life with a sense of high stakes . . . a novel of delicious frictions.”<b>—<i>New York</i></b><br><br>“A writer of rare confidence, with a lucid, exacting style . . . One wonderful aspect of Rooney’s consistently wonderful novel is the fierce clarity with which she examines the self-delusion that so often festers alongside presumed self-knowledge. . . . But Rooney’s natural power is as a psychological portraitist. She is acute and sophisticated about the workings of innocence; the protagonist of this novel about growing up has no idea just how much of it she has left to do.”<b>—Alexandra Schwartz, <i>The New Yorker</i></b><br><br>“This book. This book. I read it in one day. I hear I’m not alone.”<b>—Sarah Jessica Parker (Instagram)</b>

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Elizabeth Gilbert · 2007
One of the most iconic, beloved, and bestselling books of our time from the bestselling author of City of Girls and Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert.<br/><br/>Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love touched the world and changed countless lives, inspiring and empowering millions of readers to search for their own best selves. Now, this beloved and iconic book returns in a beautiful 10th anniversary edition, complete with an updated introduction from the author, to launch a whole new generation of fans.<br/><br/>In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want—husband, country home, successful career—but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and set out to explore three different aspects of her nature, against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.

Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century
kashner-sam-schoenberger-nancy · 2010

The Marvels
Brian Selznick · 2015
Don't miss Selznick's other novels in words and pictures, <i>The Invention of Hugo Cabret</i> and <i>Wonderstruck</i>, which together with <i>The Marvels</i>, form an extraordinary thematic trilogy!<p></p><b>A breathtaking new voyage from Caldecott Medalist Brian Selznick.</b>Two stand-alone stories--the first in nearly 400 pages of continuous pictures, the second in prose--create a beguiling narrative puzzle.The journey begins at sea in 1766, with a boy named Billy Marvel. After surviving a shipwreck, he finds work in a London theatre. There, his family flourishes for generations as brilliant actors until 1900, when young Leontes Marvel is banished from the stage.Nearly a century later, runaway Joseph Jervis seeks refuge with an uncle in London. Albert Nightingale's strange, beautiful house, with its mysterious portraits and ghostly presences, captivates Joseph and leads him on a search for clues about the house, his family, and the past.A gripping adventure and an intriguing invitation to decipher how the two stories connect, <i>The Marvels</i> is a loving tribute to the power of story from an artist at the vanguard of creative innovation.

Project Hail Mary: A Novel
Andy Weir · 2021
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING RYAN GOSLING AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER LORD AND PHIL MILLER From the author of The Martian, a lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this “propulsive” (Entertainment Weekly), cinematic thriller full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science. HUGO AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Bill Gates, GatesNotes, New York Public Library, Parade, Newsweek, Polygon, Shelf Awareness, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal • New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century “An epic story of redemption, discovery and cool speculative sci-fi.”—USA Today “If you loved The Martian, you’ll go crazy for Weir’s latest.”—The Washington Post Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone. Or does he? An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.








