It includes subtle discoveries lying just "beneath" the text -- hidden messages, encryptions, deliberate misspellings and other amendments to the text -- that present implications beyond the immediate context, demonstrating a skillful design that has its origin from outside our space and time. Drawing upon over forty years of collecting, Chuck highlights in this book many of the precious nuggets that have become characteristic of his popular Bible studies around the world.It is guaranteed to stimulate, provoke, and, hopefully, to disturb. It will confound the skeptic and encourage the believer. It is a "must read" for every thinking seeker of truth and serious inquirer of reality.

    In The Total Library, more than 150 of Borges' most brilliant pieces are brought together for the first time in one volume - all in superb new translations. More than a hundred of the pieces have never previously been published in English. The Total Library presents Borges at once as a deceptively self-effacing guide to the universe and as the inventor of a universe that is an indispensible guide to Borges.

    From a first reading of Beckett and Faulkner at the feet of an inspirational high-school English teacher to a meeting of the P. G. Wodehouse Society, from an obsession with Nabokov's Lolita to the discovery of the Japanese epic The Tale of Genji, these essays chronicle a lifetime of literary enjoyment.The crime of his life --The quest for Scrivener --Talismans --Maxims, etc. --Heart of the matter --Bookman's Saturday --Supplementary materials --Listening to my father --Romantic scholarship --Weekend with Wodehouse --An abecedary --Mr. Wright --Heian holiday --Childhood's end --The one and the many --Commencement advice --Four novels and a memoir --The October country --Bookish fantasies --Pages on life's way --A garland for Max --Read at whim! --Comedy tonight --Light of other days --Data daze --Four-leaf clovers --Sez who? --Lament for a maker --Clubland --The learning channels --Guy Davenport --Eros by any other name --Frank confessions --Mememormee --Tomes for tots --Three classics --Vacation reading --One more modest proposal --Shake scenes --After strange books --Awful bits --Turning 50 --Blame it on books --On the road not taken --Excursion --Millennial readings

    Stet is a must-read for the literarily curious, who will revel in Athill's portraits of such great literary figures as Jean Rhys, V. S. Naipaul, Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Mordecai Richler, and others. Spiced with candid observations about the type of people who make brilliant writers and ingenious publishers (and the idiosyncrasies of both), Stet is an invaluable contribution to the literature of literature, and in the words of the Sunday Telegraph, "all would-be authors and editors should have a copy."

    Now, its 150,000 devoted readers can devour The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors -- an all-original, A-to-Z guide to 225 of the most fascinating writers of our time, penned by an international cast of talented young critics and reviewers. Here are profiles, reviews, and bibliographies of the authors that matter most now -- from Margaret Atwood to Tobias Wolff, Paul Auster to Alice Walker. Also included are essays and recommended reading lists by some of the authors themselves, such as Dorothy Allison on the books that shaped her, A. S. Byatt on her five favorite historical novels, Rick Moody on postmodern fiction, Robert Stone on the greatest war novels, and Ian McEwan on the best fiction about work.Peppered throughout with marvelously witty illustrations, The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors will be a must-have for anyone who is looking for cocktail party conversation starters, a good read, or advice on what to read next.

    But love of books soon turns deeper as he encounters and eventually marries Helen, and fulfills his dream of opening a real bookshop (albeit "haunted") in Brooklyn. Wherein the booksellers become embroiled in a plot to assassinate the President of the United States. A must read for book lovers.

    Yet Boswell himself has generally been considered little more than an idiot and condemned by posterity as a lecher and drunk. How could such a fool have written such a book? With great wit, Adam Sisman here tells the story of Boswell's presumptuous task-the making of the greatest biography of all time. Sisman traces the friendship between Boswell and Samuel Johnson, his great mentor, and provides a fascinating account of Boswell's seven-year struggle to write The Life of Samuel Johnson.

    This volume is a celebration of bad writing - a journey into the lives of writers so wonderfully awful, they have unwittingly arrived at genius from the other direction.

    In an acute and often very funny critique of the critics, Acocella untangles Cather's reputation from decades of politically motivated misreadings, and proposes her own clear-headed view of Cather’s genius. At once a graceful summary of Cather's life and work, and a refreshing plea that books be read for themselves, Willa Cather and the Politics of Criticism will also inspire readers to return to one of America's great novelists.

    Much more than embossed names on leather-bound tomes, they are the creators of the stories that mold our lives, our deaths, our dreams and our politics, not to mention our dining habits, our lovemaking and the new media.The Golden Thread takes its readers on an exciting voyage of discovery through some of the most important works of Western literature: from the Bible, The Aeneid and The Odyssey to King Lear, A Room of One's Own and Ulysses, Bruce Meyer offers a fresh and accessible approach to reading and understanding the narratives that underlie our culture. Meyer gives his readers the keys to unlock the joys of both ancient and contemporary literature, and in doing so unearths the basis of many of our contemporary ideas and allusions. This is a guide that will enable the lover of literature, or the reader who has always felt intimidated by the classics, to navigate through the great works with confidence--and a sense of wonder.

    In fact, 38 percent of American fourth graders are unable to read at a basic level. But now you can turn your nonreader child into a reading star—in just a few short weeks.Based on research done at Yale, this simple yet revolutionary guide merges the three essential elements of reading instruction: auditory training, phonics, and whole language. Inside, teachers and parents will find easy-to-read cartoons, games, and fun phonic sheets that will help almost any child read at or above grade level. Reading expert Peggy Wilber will show you how to help your child develop better fluency, language skills, and comprehension. You'll learn how to:Determine your child's specific reading needs Help your child develop comprehension strategies Enhance your child's phonic skills Choose great reading selections at the right level for your child And much more! "This is an effective, user-friendly program for parents who want to get involved in their child's literacy education." —Doug Wittenberg, executive director, Whiz Kids Tutoring Inc."An invaluable tool in helping teachers and parents partner in a most daunting task . . . teaching our children to read with comprehension." —John T. Jenkins, former state senator, Maine"An invaluable tool for parents and teachers alike—a very comprehensive book!" —Dr. Barbara Swaby, director of the Graduate Reading Program, School of Education, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

    TheFact into Fiction section presents factual accounts of events that inspired selected authors to write particular works.

    It focuses upon dialect speech and proverbial wisdom, old wives' tales and children's lore, historical legends and local customs, scurrilous versifying and scandalous rumor-mongering. Adam Fox demonstrates the extent to which this vernacular world was fundamentally structured by written and printed sources over the course of the period.

    A well-known storyteller and Gestalt therapist, she finds strength in stories – her own, other people’s, and the myths and legends of the world. She has lived a life that fell apart not once but several times. Each time, she pieced her life together again; she has learned to appreciate both the mosaic and the cracks.Joan’s father was an officer in the United States Coast Guard; her British mother came from a distinguished – and eccentric – shipping family. Because of her father’s job, she moved frequently from one tough American port town to another. But she also lived for a time in an English country house. Trying to fit herself into each new situation, she not only relied on the family stories she knew so well, but she also became an acute observer of the nuances of class shibboleth, racial prejudice, and regional and national differences. Her observations are always sharp, often funny.Graduating from high school shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she attended university for two years and then joined the army. After the war she returned to university, married, and attended Columbia University where she took – and was struck by – a course in storytelling. Although she refers to herself as a suburban wife and mother at this time, her suburb was Shanks Village, a community of veterans studying on the G.I. Bill, which was a hotbed of political activism and social experimentation. Joan read, wrote, and studied continually. She steeped herself in folklore and anthropology.When tragedy struck, in the form of mental illness, marriage breakdown, and the loss of her seven-year-old daughter, Joan drew on what she had learned during these years. She helped start a nursery school in a black neighborhood and became director of the first Headstart Program in New York State. She later directed a therapeutic nursery school in a New York City orphanage, taught at Bank Street Graduate School of Education, wrote How the Heather Looks, a book about British children’s literature, and became a book reviewer for the New York Times. In 1968-69 she was invited to become Director of Children’s Services, State Library of Missouri, only to be fired before a year was up – as a Communist pornographer. (Her name was subsequently cleared by the American library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee.) Stories saved her once again. Hired by the legendary Bennett Cerf, she became a liaison editor of children’s books – a sort of roving ambassador – for Random House-Pantheon-Knopf.It was in this role that she made a trip to Toronto, and fell in love with the Canadian who became her second husband. Moving to Canada, she again rebuilt her life on the foundation of story, training as a Gestalt therapist and helping to start the Storytelling School of Toronto. When tragedy struck once more, she continued to live her life with courage and resilience, sustained by these interests.Since childhood, Joan has had a fine eye for detail, and the ability to put her observations into words. She has lived in awareness of the history of her time, and has frequently been swept up in its events. She writes frankly of the discoveries of childhood, the mysteries of family life, the power of sexuality, the devastating effect of loss, and, through it all, the transforming influence of literature, of story. A remarkable old woman, she tells her story with honesty, candor, and wit. This courageous autobiography will be an inspiration to all readers – but particularly to women dealing with the poorly charted territory of their later years.

    An overview of the development of the stories is covered along with their influence on authors and publishers.

    This lively and richly varied collection offers more than two dozen essays that are uniformly original, challenging, playful, and ruthlessly individualistic.

    because they're not sexy enough.A playful and biting critique, Ugresic's essays hit on all of the major aspects of publishing: agents, subagents, and scouts, supermarket-like bookstores, Joan Collins, book fairs that have little to do with books, authors promoted because of sex appeal instead of merit, and editors trying to look like writers by having their photograph taken against a background of bookshelves.Thanks to cultural influences such as Oprah, The Today Show, and Kelly Ripa, best-seller lists have become just a modern form of socialist realism, a manifestation of a society that generally ignores literature in favor of the next big thing.

    She explains the tools, methods, and materials used in flat, raised, and patterned gilding for both manuscripts and paintings. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

    "Fairy tales clear the way for sanctity.  They are the child's first morality play, clear-cut, no-nonsense black and white, good and evil, life and death - with a bit of fun thrown in to alleviate the pain."   -Ethel Pochocki       The wonders found in fairy tales and myths have enriched childhoods for centuries.  In between "Once upon a time" and "happily ever after" we embark on adventures that seem an eternity away from our everyday lives, and yet through these adventures we are brought back to the innocence and beauty of the truth.  In The Mysteries of Life in Children's Literature,  journey through a treasury of well-known fables and folk tales, as well as others not so well known, and discover the wisdom hiding within them.  In an age that rejects the moral absolutes and repudiates the whole idea of intrinsic evils, children's literature restores the meaning of good and evil, beautiful and ugly, and normal and abnormal, helping us see the nature of our world more clearly than we ever have before.

    Winner of the National Book Award for Marcel Proust, a sweeping examination of Proust's life and works, Shattuck now offers a useful and eminently readable guidebook to Proust's epic masterpiece, and a contemplation of memory and consciousness throughout great literature. Here, Shattuck laments Proust's defenselessness against zealous editors, praises some translations, and presents Proust as a novelist whose philosophical gifts were matched only by his irrepressible comic sense. Proust's Way, the culmination of a lifetime of scholarship, will serve as the next generation's guide to one of the world's finest writers of fiction.

    Combing typographic scholarship and literary criticism, Alastair Johnston presents and discusses hundreds of examples of texts that show the founders' interests and preoccupations, from the arcane to the mundane.

    Each listing includes information on contacting the community, the art disciplines served, facilities, housing, meals, selection process and fees.

    Packed with facts as well as expert opinions, each book has all the key information you need to know about such popular topics as film, television, cult fiction, history, and more. The literary style of noir both influenced and was influenced by its cinematic equivalent, film noir. Both document the adventures of hard-boiled detectives and double-crossing dames, and often feature a backdrop of corruption and ambiguity and twisted storylines that leave the characters confused and adrift. As well as the quintessential noir authors James M. Cain and James Ellroy, you can read about such lesser known British innovators as Gerald Kersh and Derek Raymond, both of whom have written landmark novels in the development of noir fiction. As well as having an introductory overview, 9 of the most significant authors in the history of noir fiction are profiled in depth. Additionally, there's a handy reference section for readers who want to know more.

    

    She covers it all: stories, books, the media; with lots of questions, puzzles, and trivia facts. No true Sherlockian will want to miss this grand Triviography and Quiz Book." -Michael R. Pitts, author of "Famous Movie Detectives I, II, " and "III," and co-author of "The Great Detective Pictures"Step out of your hansom cab and onto the foggy streets of Edwardian London with "The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book," a comprehensive collection of fun and challenging trivia about the adventures of the inimitable detective whose intellectual feats overwhelmed criminals and Scotland Yard. More than a century after Sherlock Holmes stepped from the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's first detective story, the greatest sleuth of all time is still firmly solidly ensconced in the work of modern literature. Television series, new Holmes writers, Holmes books, Holmes societies, websites, and numerous films have kept Sherlock Holmes fans intrigued with Holmes and Watson lore. "The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book" offers brainteasers on each story and novel about the detective and his associate Dr. Watson, as well as background on how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own experiences contributed to his literary work.

    Perfect for grades 7-10, the book also includes adult books suitable for young adult readers. Providing an evaluative listing of thousands of titles that have received two or more recommendations from leading journals, Best Books for Teen Readers will enhance the curriculum, encourage recreational reading, and assist in preparing general and specific reading lists. And, as with all of the Best Books, you're assured of getting the most value for your book buying budget.

    It draws on writers as diverse as George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Rudyard Kipling as well as pre-Raphaelite and realist painters including Millais, Burne-Jones, William Powell Frith and Whistler, and a host of Victorian scientists, cultural commentators and art critics. Topics discussed include blindness, memory, hallucination, dust, and the importance of the horizon--a dazzling array of subjects linked together by the operations of the eye and brain. This richly illustrated book will appeal to anyone studying Victorian culture.

    Nesbit, Hugh Lofting, A.A. Milne, and Arthur Ransome for the ways these writers consciously and unconsciously used the metaphors of empire in their writing for children.