Best of
Books-About-Books

2016

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts


Christopher de Hamel - 2016
    Coming face to face with an important illuminated manuscript in the original is like meeting a very famous person. We may all pretend that a well-known celebrity is no different from anyone else, and yet there is an undeniable thrill in actually meeting and talking to a person of world stature.The idea for the book, which is entirely new, is to invite the reader into intimate conversations with twelve of the most famous manuscripts in existence and to explore with the author what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history - and sometimes about the modern world too. Christopher de Hamel introduces us to kings, queens, saints, scribes, artists, librarians, thieves, dealers, collectors and the international community of manuscript scholars, showing us how he and his fellows piece together evidence to reach unexpected conclusions. He traces the elaborate journeys which these exceptionally precious artefacts have made through time and space, shows us how they have been copied, who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell), how they have been embroiled in politics and scholarly disputes, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty and luxury and as symbols of national identity. The book touches on religion, art, literature, music, science and the history of taste.Part travel book, part detective story, part conversation with the reader, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts conveys the fascination and excitement of encountering some of the greatest works of art in our culture which, in the originals, are to most people completely inaccessible. At the end, we have a slightly different perspective on history and how we come by knowledge. It is a most unusual book.

Snape: A Definitive Reading


Lorrie Kim - 2016
    This hook-nosed, greasy-haired, grumpy character is one of J.K. Rowling’s enduring gifts to English literature. He’s the archetypal ill-tempered teacher: acerbic, yet horribly, deliciously funny. Every time he opens his mouth, he delivers. When he’s in a scene, you can’t take your eyes off him. Snape is always the story."In this examination of J.K. Rowling's most enigmatic character, Lorrie Kim shows us how to sort through the illusions and lies to the man who dared to spy on Voldemort, and without whom Harry's story would have turned out very differently. In his final moments, he asks Harry (and the reader) to "look at me." This book does just that.

A Library of Lemons


Jo Cotterill - 2016
    Instead he throws himself into writing his book A History of the Lemon. Meanwhile the house is dusty, there's never any food in the fridge, and Calypso retreats into her own world of books and fiction. When a new girl, Mae, arrives at school, the girls' shared love of reading and writing stories draws them together. Mae's friendship and her lively and chaotic home - where people argue and hug each other - make Calypso feel more normal than she has for a long time. But when Calypso finally plucks up the courage to invite Mae over to her own house, the girls discover the truth about her dad and his magnum opus - and Calypso's happiness starts to unravel.

Shakespeare and Company, Paris: A History of the Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart


Krista Halverson - 2016
    It interweaves essays and poetry from dozens of writers associated with the shop--Allen Ginsberg, Anaïs Nin, Ethan Hawke, Robert Stone and Jeanette Winterson, among others--with hundreds of never-before-seen archival pieces. It includes photographs of James Baldwin, William Burroughs and Langston Hughes, plus a foreword by the celebrated British novelist Jeanette Winterson and an epilogue by Sylvia Whitman, the daughter of the store’s founder, George Whitman. The book has been edited by Krista Halverson, director of the newly founded Shakespeare and Company publishing house.

A Child of Books


Oliver Jeffers - 2016
    I come from a world of stories.A little girl sails her raft across a sea of words, arriving at the house of a small boy. She invites him to go away with her on an adventure into the world of stories... where, with only a little imaginaton, anything at all can happen. Irresistibly engaging characters by Oliver Jeffers set sail and chart their way through Sam Winston's fascinating typographical landscapes in this extraordinary ode to the power and promises of storytelling. Forty treasured children's classics and lullabies are featured in the pictures, providing endless opportunities for discovery, memories and sharing. Woven together by a simple story line, the one-of-a-kind illustrations in a A Child of Books provide an unforgettable reading experience that will inspire and encourage readers of all ages to explore, question, and imagine timeless stories of their own.

Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction


Benjamin Percy - 2016
    Now, in his first book of nonfiction, Percy challenges the notion that literary and genre fiction are somehow mutually exclusive. The title essay is an ode to the kinds of books that make many readers fall in love with fiction: science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, horror, from J.R.R. Tolkien to Anne Rice, Ursula K. Le Guin to Stephen King. Percy's own academic experience banished many of these writers in the name of what is "literary" and what is "genre." Then he discovered Michael Chabon, Aimee Bender, Cormac McCarthy, Margaret Atwood, and others who employ techniques of genre fiction while remaining literary writers. In fifteen essays on the craft of fiction, Percy looks to disparate sources such as Jaws, Blood Meridian, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to discover how contemporary writers engage issues of plot, suspense, momentum, and the speculative, as well as character, setting, and dialogue. An urgent and entertaining missive on craft, Thrill Me brims with Percy's distinctive blend of anecdotes, advice, and close reading, all in the service of one dictum: Thrill the reader.

Footnotes from the World's Greatest Bookstores: True Tales and Lost Moments from Book Buyers, Booksellers, and Book Lovers


Bob Eckstein - 2016
    Here is a portrait of our lifelong love affair with bookstores that is at once heartfelt, bittersweet, and filled with good cheer.

Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings


Diana Pavlac Glyer - 2016
    Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Inklings met each week to read and discuss each other's work-in-progress, offering both encouragement and blistering critique. How did these conversations shape the books they were writing? How does creative collaboration enhance individual talent? And what can we learn from their example?

The Literature Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained


James Canton - 2016
    Around 100 crystal-clear articles explore landmark novels, short stories, plays, and poetry that reinvented the art of writing in their time, whether Ancient Greece, post-classical Europe, or modern-day Korea.As part of DK's award-winning Big Ideas Simply Explained series, The Literature Book uses infographics and images to explain key ideas and themes. Biographies of important authors offer insight into their lives and other writings, and a section on Further Reading details more than 150 additional works to explore.Discover masterpieces from the world's greatest authors, and explore the context, creative history, and literary traditions that influenced each major work of fiction with The Literature Book.Series Overview: Big Ideas Simply Explained series uses creative design and innovative graphics, along with straightforward and engaging writing, to make complex subjects easier to understand. These award-winning books provide just the information needed for students, families, or anyone interested in concise, thought-provoking refreshers on a single subject.

Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time


Jamie C. Martin - 2016
    But as they grow, worries often crowd out wonder. Knowing this, how can parents strengthen their kids’ love for the world so it sticks around for the long haul?Thankfully, parents have at their fingertips a miracle vaccine—one that can boost their kids' immunity to the world’s distractions. Well-chosen stories connect us with others, even those on the other side of the globe. Build your kids’ lives on a story-solid foundation and you’ll give them armor to shield themselves from the world’s cynicism. You’ll give them confidence to persevere in the face of life’s conflicts. You’ll give them a reservoir of compassion that spills over into a lifetime of love in action.Give Your Child the World features inspiring stories, practical suggestions, and carefully curated reading lists of the best children’s literature for each area of the globe. Reading lists are organized by region, country, and age range (ages 4-12). Each listing includes a brief description of the book, its themes, and any content of which parents should be aware.Parents can introduce their children to the world from the comfort of home by simply opening a book together. Give Your Child the World is poised to become a bestselling family reading treasury that promotes literacy, develops a global perspective, and strengthens family bonds while increasing faith and compassion.

Classic Penguin: Cover to Cover


Paul Buckley - 2016
    This curated tour begins with the now-iconic redesign of the signature Penguin Classics black-spine series in 2003 and moves through award-winning series like the Penguin Classics Graphic Deluxe Editions, Penguin Drop Caps, and Penguin Horror. Exhibiting a mesmerizing array of front covers and full cover layouts, Paul Buckley illuminates the unique and inventive approaches to typography, image, and design that grace Penguin’s covers of the best works in literature. Throughout the book, the artists and designers including Chris Ware, Ivan Brunetti, Jillian Tamaki, Jessica Hische, and Ruben Toledo who have collaborated with Penguin Classics offer commentary on the design process. For lovers of classic literature, book design, and all things Penguin, Classic Penguin has you covered.

Sex with Shakespeare: Here's Much to Do with Pain, but More with Love


Jillian Keenan - 2016
    In Sex with Shakespeare, she tells the story of how the Bard’s plays helped her embrace her unusual sexual identity and find a love story of her own.Four hundred years after Shakespeare’s death, Keenan’s smart and passionate memoir brings new life to his work. With fourteen of his plays as a springboard, she explores the many facets of love and sexuality—from desire and communication to fetish and fantasy. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Keenan unmasks Helena as a sexual masochist—like Jillian herself. In Macbeth, she examines criminalized sexual identities and the dark side of “privacy.” The Taming of the Shrew goes inside the secret world of bondage, domination, and sadomasochism, while King Lear exposes the ill-fated king as a possible sexual predator. Moving through the canon, Keenan makes it abundantly clear that literature is a conversation. In Sex with Shakespeare, words are love.As Keenan wanders the world in search of connection, from desert dictatorships to urban islands to disputed territories, Shakespeare goes with her —and provokes complex, surprising, and wildly important conversations about sexuality, consent, and the secrets that simmer beneath our surfaces.

The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time


Keith Houston - 2016
    And everybody who has read it will agree that reports of the book’s death have been greatly exaggerated.”―Erik Spiekermann, typographerWe may love books, but do we know what lies behind them? In The Book, Keith Houston reveals that the paper, ink, thread, glue, and board from which a book is made tell as rich a story as the words on its pages―of civilizations, empires, human ingenuity, and madness. In an invitingly tactile history of this 2,000-year-old medium, Houston follows the development of writing, printing, the art of illustrations, and binding to show how we have moved from cuneiform tablets and papyrus scrolls to the hardcovers and paperbacks of today. Sure to delight book lovers of all stripes with its lush, full-color illustrations, The Book gives us the momentous and surprising history behind humanity’s most important―and universal―information technology.71 color illustrations

The Mermaid's Purse


Patricia Polacco - 2016
      Young Stella loves books so much, her books begin to take over the farmhouse. “Why, Stell, you need your own library to hold those books,” her pa tells her, so he and the neighbors build her one! She calls it “the Mermaid’s Purse,” since the midwife said Stella was born in one. Stella opens the Purse to her neighbors and travels around the countryside, sharing her books door-to-door. Not everyone gives them a chance at first, like grouchy Pig Ears Lonsberry. But farmer Dunkle sure changes his mind when information in a book saves his sick sheep. Eventually, everybody comes to love the Mermaid’s Purse—so when a tornado destroys it, scattering Stella’s precious books far and wide, the whole community rallies to help.

How This Book Was Made


Mac Barnett - 2016
    Sure, the author wrote many drafts, and the illustrator took a long time creating the art, but then what? How'd it get into your hands? Well, open the cover and read through these pages to find out. Just beware of the pirates and angry tiger.New York Times best-selling creators Mac Barnett and Adam Rex reveal the nitty gritty process of making a book . . . with a few unexpected twists along the way! Budding writers and artists will laugh at the mix of reality and the absurd as the story makes its way to a shelf, and a reader.

Blood, Bone, and Marrow: A Biography of Harry Crews


Ted Geltner - 2016
    His health rapidly deteriorating, Crews told Geltner he was on board and would even sit for interviews and tell his stories one last time. "Ask me anything you want, bud," Crews said. "But you'd better do it quick."The result is Blood, Bone, and Marrow, the first full-length biography of one of the most unlikely figures in twentieth-century American literature, a writer who emerged from a dirt-poor South Georgia tenant farm and went on to create a singularly unique voice of fiction. With books such as Scar Lover, Body, and Naked in Garden Hills, Crews opened a new window into southern life, focusing his lenson the poor and disenfranchised, the people who skinned the hogs and tended the fields, the "grits," as Crews affectionately called his characters and himself. He lived by a code of his own design, flouting authority and baring his soul, and the stories of his whiskey-and-blood-soaked lifestyle created a myth to match any of his fictional creations. His outlaw life, his distinctive voice and the context in which he lived combine to form the elements of a singularly compelling narrative about an underappreciated literary treasure.

The Art of X-Ray Reading


Roy Peter Clark - 2016
    In THE ART OF X-RAY READING, Clark invites you to don your X-ray reading glasses and join him on a guided tour through some of the most exquisite and masterful literary works of all time, from The Great Gatsby to Lolita to The Bluest Eye, and many more. Along the way, he shows you how to mine these masterpieces for invaluable writing strategies that you can add to your arsenal and apply in your own writing. Once you've experienced X-ray reading, your writing will never be the same again.

Hot Dudes Reading


Hot Dudes Reading - 2016
    Using their expert photography skills (covert iPhone shots) and journalistic ethics (#NoKindles), the authors capture the most beautiful bibliophiles in all of New York—and take a few detours to interview some of the most popular hot dudes from the early days of the Instagram account. Fun, irreverent, and wittily-observed, this book is tailor-made for book lovers in search of their own happy endings—and those who just want to get lost between the covers for a while.

On Reading


Steve McCurry - 2016
    This homage to the beauty and seductiveness of reading brings together a collection of photographs taken by Steve McCurry over his nearly four decades of travel and is introduced by award-winning writer, Paul Theroux. McCurry's mesmerizing images of the universal human act of reading are an acknowledgement of - and a tribute to - the overwhelming power of the written word.

Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000–2016, with A Journal of a Writer's Week


Ursula K. Le Guin - 2016
    Le Guin:"I read her nonstop growing up and read her still. What makes her so extraordinary for me is that her commitment to the consequences of our actions, of our all too human frailties, is unflinching and almost without precedent for a writer of such human optimism."—Junot Diaz"A lot of her work is about telling stories, and what it means to tell stories, and what stories look like. She's been extremely influential on me in that area of what I, as a beginning writer, thought a story must look like, and the much more expan-sive view I have now of what a story can be and can do."—Karen Joy Fowler"She was and remains a central figure for me."—Michael ChabonUrsula K. Le Guin is one of our foremost public literary intellectuals and this collection of her recent talks, essays, introductions, and book reviews is the best manual we have for traveling the worlds explored in recent fiction; the most useful guide to the country we're visiting, life.Ursula K. Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California, in 1929. Among her honors are the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a National Book Award, the Hugo, Nebula, and Kafka awards, a Pushcart Prize, and the Harold D. Vursell Me-morial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Portland, Ore-gon.

The Care and Feeding of an Independent Bookstore: Three Instructive Essays


Ann Patchett - 2016
    Published for Independent Bookstore Day 2016, this pamphlet contains The Bookstore Strikes Back, originally published in Atlantic Monthly.

Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises


Lesley M.M. Blume - 2016
    Then, over the next six weeks, he channeled that trip’s maelstrom of drunken brawls, sexual rivalry, midnight betrayals, and midday hangovers into his groundbreaking novel The Sun Also Rises. This revolutionary work redefined modern literature as much as it did his peers, who would forever after be called the Lost Generation. But the full story of Hemingway’s legendary rise has remained untold until now.  Lesley Blume resurrects the explosive, restless landscape of 1920s Paris and Spain and reveals how Hemingway helped create his own legend. He made himself into a death-courting, bull-fighting aficionado; a hard-drinking, short-fused literary genius; and an expatriate bon vivant. Blume’s vivid account reveals the inner circle of the Lost Generation as we have never seen it before, and shows how it still influences what we read and how we think about youth, sex, love, and excess.

Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago


Anna Pasternak - 2016
    Though Stalin spared the life of Boris Pasternak—whose novel-in-progress, Doctor Zhivago, was suspected of being anti-Soviet—he persecuted Boris’s mistress, typist, and literary muse, Olga Ivinskaya. Boris’s affair with Olga devastated the straitlaced Pasternaks, and they were keen to disavow Olga’s role in Boris’s writing process. Twice Olga was sentenced to work in Siberian labor camps, where she was interrogated about the book Boris was writing, but she refused to betray the man she loved. When Olga was released from the gulags, she assumed that Boris would leave his wife for her but, trapped by his family’s expectations and his own weak will, he never did. Drawing on previously neglected family sources and original interviews, Anna Pasternak explores this hidden act of moral compromise by her great-uncle, and restores to history the passionate affair that inspired and animated Doctor Zhivago. Devastated that Olga suffered on his behalf and frustrated that he could not match her loyalty to him, Boris instead channeled his thwarted passion for Olga into the love story in Doctor Zhivago. Filled with the rich detail of Boris’s secret life, Lara unearths a moving love story of courage, loyalty, suffering, drama, and loss, and casts a new light on the legacy of Doctor Zhivago.

The People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature


Adam Kirsch - 2016
    The People and the Books shows how central questions and themes of our history and culture are reflected in the Jewish literary canon: the nature of God, the right way to understand the Bible, the relationship of the Jews to their Promised Land, and the challenges of living as a minority in Diaspora. Adam Kirsch explores eighteen classic texts, including the biblical books of Deuteronomy and Esther, the philosophy of Maimonides, the autobiography of the medieval businesswoman Glückel of Hameln, and the Zionist manifestoes of Theodor Herzl. From the Jews of Roman Egypt to the mystical devotees of Hasidism in Eastern Europe, The People and the Books brings the treasures of Jewish literature to life and offers new ways to think about their enduring power and influence.

Bookish: Adult Coloring Book


Martha Sweeney - 2016
    That's right. It's a coloring book dedicated to reading and books. With over 40 different designs and fun games, this coloring book is perfect for the book lover in you.Find some of your favorite book terms and phrases to color: book lover, so many books so little time, once upon a time, and much more.Each page is single-sided, allowing those who prefer markers to color also. (Note: A divider is recommended when using markers.)

Kingdom of Ashes


Elena May - 2016
    She has only heard stories from the eldest among them; tales of the Old World and of the scientists who invented the WeatherWizard - a technological innovation that controls the weather. Unfortunately, the device also gave an ambitious vampire prince the means to cover the world in impenetrable clouds, allowing his armies to crawl out of their caves and conquer all.Vampires rule over the New World, breeding humans for food. After fifty years of guerrilla warfare, the Resistance is fading, its supplies dwindling. They must rally and succeed—and soon—or all hope of restoring human civilization will be lost.When Myra goes on a desperate mission to help the Resistance, she ends up a captive in the vampires’ palace. With time running out, she must find a way to stop Prince Vladimir, and every wrong step leads to the death of innocents. Her battle abilities prove useless, but Myra discovers she has another skill that can give her an edge over her captors. Now, Myra must defeat the vampire leader at a power game he has been playing for almost two millennia.

Horror: A Literary History


Xavier Aldana Reyes - 2016
    It seeks to provoke uniquely strong reactions, such as fear, shock, dread or disgust, and yet remains very popular. Horror is most readily associated with the film industry, but horrific short stories and novels have been wildly loved by readers for well over two centuries. Despite its persistent popularity, until now there has been no up-to-date history of horror fiction for the general reader. This book offers a chronological overview of the genre in fiction and explores its development and mutations over the past 250 years. It also challenges the common misjudgement that horror fiction is necessarily frivolous or dispensable. Leading experts on Gothic and horror literature introduce readers to classics of the genre as well as exciting texts they may not have encountered before. The topics examined include: horror’s roots in the Gothic romance and antebellum American fiction; the penny dreadful and sensation novels of Victorian England; fin-de-siècle ghost stories; decadent fiction and the weird; the familial horrors of the Cold War era; the publishing boom of the 1980s; the establishment of contemporary horror auteurs; and the post-millennial zombie trend.

Such Stuff: A Story-maker's Inspiration


Michael Morpurgo - 2016
    Revealing essays from Michael about more than twenty of his most popular novels are combined with key extracts from his books along with historical context and illuminating background information from Michael’s brother Mark. Stunning illustrations from Michael Foreman, photographs and facsimiles complete the immersive experience.

The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane


Ellen Berry - 2016
    Her cookbooks are her life, and there isn’t an issue that ‘Cooking with Aspic’ can’t fix. Her only wish is that she had a book entitled ‘Rustling Up Dinner When Your Husband Has Left You’.Forty years later…On Rosemary Lane, Della Cartwright plans to open a very special little bookshop. Not knowing what to do with the hundreds of cookbooks her mother left her, she now wants to share their recipes with the world – and no amount of aspic will stand in her way.But with her family convinced it’s a hare-brained scheme, Della starts to wonder if she’s made a terrible decision. One thing’s for sure: she’s about to find out…Lose yourself in Della’s world of food, family and friends. The perfect read for fans of Trisha Ashley and Carole Matthews.

The Story Cure: An A-Z of Books to Keep Kids Happy, Healthy and Wise


Ella Berthoud - 2016
    With The Story Cure, bibliotherapists Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin have put together the perfect manual for grown-ups who want to initiate young readers into one of life's greatest pleasures.There's a remedy for every hiccup and heartache, whether it's between the covers of a picture book, a pop-up book, or a YA novel. You'll find old favourites like The Borrowers and The Secret Garden alongside modern soon-to-be classics by Michael Morpurgo, Malorie Blackman and Frank Cottrell-Boyce, as well as helpful lists of the right reads to fuel any obsession - from dogs or dinosaurs, space or spies. Wise and witty, The Story Cure will help any small person you know through the trials and tribulations of growing up, and help you fill their bookshelves with adventure, insight and a lifetime of fun.

A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter


S.P. Sipal - 2016
    Includes references to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Improve Your Writing with Harry Potter as Your Text!The Harry Potter magic lives on as J.K. Rowling expands her wizarding world into new stories and formats. For five years, writers and fans from all continents have used A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter to delve beneath her pages' surface to discover the skill and artistry which created a story that enchanted audiences across generations. In this newly revised and expanded edition, S.P. Sipal takes you even deeper than before, exploring new techniques, and even peering into the artistic and marketing vision behind the upcoming Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.No matter your genre, this guide will help you strengthen your writing by virtually apprenticing under a bestselling mentor. Through fourteen lessons, discover the expert techniques Ms. Rowling employs which makes her series such a phenomenal success and which will help improve your own craft and style.Topics include: characterization world building backstory mystery plotting myths and archetypes fan interaction social media and author-driven publishing and promotion.

The Trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover


Sybille Bedford - 2016
    Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1960, they were charged with the crime of publishing obscene material and made to defend the book’s literary merit in court. Thus began one of the most famous trials of the 20th century.There to take it all in was Sybille Bedford. With her trademark wit and flair, she presents us with a play-by-play of the trial: from the prosecution’s questioning of the novel’s thirteen ‘unvarying’ sex scenes and 66 swear words, to the dozens of witnesses who testified – including the Bishop of Woolwich and E. M. Forster.Bedford gives us a timeless and dramatic account that captures one of the most fascinating and absurd moments in both legal and publishing history, when attitudes and morals shifted forever.

The Jane and Bertha in Me


Rita Maria Martinez - 2016
    Each poem is a smartly annotated, hauntingly revisionist homage to Jane Eyre. Martinez’s astounding poems are literary, conversational, personal, fun, as she confidently transports her Janes from the Moors to Macy’s, from Thornfield Hall to the world of tattoos.—Denise Duhamel, author of BlowoutThere is some kind of serious magic at work in this wonderful book. Reading it, I feel as if I am waking up in another world where Gothic sensibility of Jane Eyre joins the surreal of contemporary American culture. The experience is nothing short of intoxicating. I can’t wait to read more of Rita Maria Martinez’s work.—Nin Andrews, author of Why God is a WomanRita Maria Martinez’s The Jane and Bertha in Me gives an unusual twist to the well-known characters from Jane Eyre, envisioning Jane at the guidance counselor, Bertha getting a makeover. These persona poems give us greater insight into the minds of madwoman and governess alike and even minor characters like Blanche and Alice, with beautiful, lush language and empathetic vision. Even casual fans of Brontë’s great book will enjoy this lively re-imagining.—Jeannine Hall Gailey, author of The Robot Scientist’s Daughter

Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live


Peter Orner - 2016
    Orner reads—and writes—everywhere he finds himself: a hospital cafeteria, a coffee shop in Albania, or a crowded bus in Haiti. The result is “a book of unlearned meditations that stumbles into memoir.” Among the many writers Orner addresses are Isaac Babel and Zora Neale Hurston, both of whom told their truths and were silenced; Franz Kafka, who professed loneliness but craved connection; Robert Walser, who spent the last twenty-three years of his life in a Swiss insane asylum, “working” at being crazy; and Juan Rulfo, who practiced the difficult art of silence. Virginia Woolf, Eudora Welty, Yasunari Kawabata, Saul Bellow, Mavis Gallant, John Edgar Wideman, William Trevor, and Václav Havel make appearances, as well as the poet Herbert Morris—about whom almost nothing is known.An elegy for an eccentric late father, and the end of a marriage, Am I Alone Here? is also a celebration of the possibility of renewal. At once personal and panoramic, this book will inspire readers to return to the essential stories of their own lives.

First Light: A Celebration of Alan Garner


Erica Wagner - 2016
    Described by Philip Pullman as 'the most important British writer of fantasy since Tolkien', Alan Garner has inspired readers and writers alike.Now, in celebration of his 80th birthday, comes First Light. A collaboration by many of the acclaimed writers, artists, archaeologists and historians he has influenced over the years, this anthology includes original contributions from David Almond, Margaret Atwood, John Burnside, Susan Cooper, Helen Dunmore, Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Garner, Paul Kingsnorth, Katherine Langrish, Helen Macdonald, Robert Macfarlane, Gregory Maguire, Neel Mukherjee, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith, Elizabeth Wein, Michael Wood, and many, many more.Whether a literary essay, a personal response to Alan's work, a memory of the first time they read his work, or a story about the man himself, each piece is a tribute to his remarkable impact.Edited by the acclaimed literary journalist and novelist, Erica Wagner, First Light is a striking collection that will touch the heart of anyone who grew up reading the works of Alan Garner.

Slightly Foxed No. 52 (Winter 2016)


Gail Pirkis - 2016
    

The Onyx Vial


Alexis Lampley - 2016
    These portal books are dangerous. But to Ariana, they are freedom. Her world is one of several ruled by a tyrant king. The books are banned and burned, their creators along with them. She wants nothing more than to keep creating them, so that her fellow countrymen can have means of escape and, if she succeeds, rebellion. Driven by that desire, Ariana disregards the dangers and entangles herself in a rebel society's plot to regain freedom. Along the way, her fate collides with Hunter Woodworth and Killian Fyrenn, identical twin sons of the king. The king and the rebels are after a deadly weapon, known as the Onyx Vial. The king wants to use it, the rebels want to destroy it. The rebels' success depends on Ariana partnering with the boys, but they are worlds apart and she is convinced their motives aren’t pure. With the king closing in on the location of the vial, time is running out. Ariana must trust them or uncover their true intentions before it’s too late. The fate of the worlds rest in her hands.

Beyond the Ninety-Five Theses: Martin Luther's Life, Thought, and Lasting Legacy


Stephen J. Nichols - 2016
    Stephen Nichols also gives encouragement and guidance for studying Luther's ethical writings, "table talk," hymns, and sermons. Includes a select guide for further reading.

Much Ado: A Summer with a Repertory Theater Company


Michael Lenehan - 2016
    Through Lenehan's keen reporter eyes, Much Ado explores the evolution of this complicated stage production, from casting to costumes to curtain call. In doing so, it provides readers with a deeper sense of the company's astonishing artistry and craft, a peek into the intricate technical logistics involved with outdoor theater, and a refreshing perspective on one of the Bard's most famous plays.Lenehan weaves together firsthand observations and literary analysis with interviews with key members of the APT's artistic ensemble and production staff—including lauded director David Frank, lead actors Colleen Madden (Beatrice) and David Daniel (Benedick), and set and costume designer Robert Morgan—to paint a remarkable portrait of one of our most treasured artistic institutions.

The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction


M.A. Orthofer - 2016
    Expanding upon the site's content, this wide-ranging yet user-friendly resource is the perfect guide for English-language readers eager to explore fiction from around the world. Profiling hundreds of titles and authors from 1945 to today, with an emphasis on fiction published in the past two decades, this reference provides a fascinating portal into the styles, trends, and genres of the world's literatures, from Scandinavian crime thrillers and cutting-edge works in China to Latin American narco-fiction and award-winning French novels.What sets this guide apart is its critical selection of titles that define the arc of a nation's literary development, paired with lively summaries that convey both the enjoyment and significance of each work. Arranged by region, country, and language, entries illuminate the fiction of individual nations, cultures, and peoples, while concise biographies sketch the careers of noteworthy authors. Compiled by M. A. Orthofer, an avid book reviewer and founder of the "Complete Review," this reference will benefit from an actively maintained companion site featuring additional links and resources and new reviews as contemporary works are published. "The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction" is perfect for readers who wish to expand their reading choices and knowledge of contemporary world fiction.

A Day at the Fare: One Woman's Welfare Passage


Pamela M. Covington - 2016
    "Then I learned I couldn't have been more wrong."This memoir depicts the author's unexpected plunge into, and triumphant emergence from, deep poverty."A Day at the Fare" is a welfare success story. An example of what can happen when an adequate safety net is available to assist those attempting to help themselves by making the best of its resources.It's also a demonstration of the pros and cons of the welfare system and the kinds of things about it that need to be changed.SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?IF your head is full of preconceived notions about everyone who receives government aid, this book is for you. You'll see that each welfare case is as individual as each welfare applicant.Have you ever wondered, "Why would anyone want to be on welfare? To depend on food stamps?"Honestly. No one says, "When I grow up I'm going to be on welfare." Many times people end up on welfare through no fault of their own. The author recalls that when faced with adversity, "Applying for assistance was my last resort to having nothing at all."IF you've been lucky enough in life to avoid any form of economic struggle, this book is for you. You'll gain an understanding of the complexities of poverty.Are you a policy maker or other individual in position to determine how much assistance poor people should receive and for how long, yet have no experience yourself with the struggles of poverty?IF so, this book is for you. Reading it will provide you insight into the everyday realities of a family struggling to meet basic needs.Are you someone, maybe even a member of the working poor class, who requires government aid just to be able to barely get by, and are finding it hard to envision ever being able to move beyond your struggle with poverty?THEN this book is especially for you. It may leave you somewhat inspired.IMAGINE...You’re living a good life in a grand old house with your family, spending your summer looking out from your veranda onto a picturesque park and enjoying the scent of flowers in the air—until fall arrives and you’re beholding a multi-colored canopy of foliage.But... by winter you’re stealing toilet tissue from a restaurant restroom and wondering what you’re going to do with your first welfare check that won’t even pay the rent for the ghetto apartment you and your children are now calling home.The reality is we’re all only living one or two misfortunes away from losing the people or things we’re depending upon, and if and when that happens, you could easily find yourself enduring A Day at the Fare.What would you be willing to do to survive its grim circumstances?

The Last War in Albion Volume 1: The Early Work of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison


Elizabeth Sandifer - 2016
    The stakes were unfathomably vast: the fate of the twenty-first century, the shape of an entire artistic medium, and whether or not several people would make their rent. On one side was Alan Moore, the acclaimed literary genius who would transform comics forever. On the other was Grant Morrison, the upstart punk who never met an idol he didn't want to knock off its perch. In Volume One of this incredible tale you'll learn how an ex-drug dealer from the slums of Northampton and a failed rock star from Glasgow made their way into the comics industry and found themselves locked in an artistic rivalry that would shake the very foundations of Britain. Starting from their beginnings writing and drawing comic strips like Captain Clyde and Maxwell the magic Cat and continuing through Moore's breakout runs on Marvelman and V for Vendetta and explosion onto the US scene with Swamp Thing, it is the fantastically unlikely tale of how the British comics industry came to produce the two greatest wizards of their generation. This is the story of gothic rock and obscenity trials. Of William Blake and William S. Burroughs. Of Hieronymus Bosch and Enid Blyton. This is the story of the Last War in Albion.

The House of Writers


M.J. Nicholls - 2016
    THE HOUSE OF WRITERS is a playful novel set in 2050, when the publishing industry has collapsed, literature has become a micro-niche interest, and Scotland itself has become an enormous call center. Those writers who remain reside in a dilapidated towerblock, where they churn out hack works tailored to please their small audiences. The novel weaves together individual stories of life inside (and outside) the building, where each floor houses a different genre, as the writers fight to keep the process of literature alive with varying degrees of success. THE HOUSE OF WRITERS is a feast of wit: a surreal entertainment, a bracing satire, a verbal tour- de-force, and a good-spirited dystopian comedy; it is also a loving homage to language, literature, and the imagination, and a plea that they remain vital well into the dubious future that awaits us.

The Best of Writers & Company


Eleanor Wachtel - 2016
    . . and her uncanny ability to ask difficult questions . . . have endeared her to readers and listeners."—Carol ShieldsEleanor Wachtel is one of the English-speaking world's most respected interviewers. This book, celebrating her show's twenty-five-year anniversary, presents her best conversations from the show, including Jonathan Franzen, Alice Munro, J.M. Coetzee, Zadie Smith, W.G. Sebald, Toni Morrison, Seamus Heaney, and nearly a dozen others who share their views on process and the writing life.

Otto the Book Bear in the Snow


Katie Cleminson - 2016
    But this winter they are desperate to get back to the library for the special winter party. It's time for an incredible adventure through the snow...

Books Do Not Have Wings


Brynne Barnes - 2016
    From a pirate adventure to a fairy fete, Books Do Not Have Wings explores all the wonderful things a book is that go way beyond its cover and pages.

Pete's Exhaustive Review of Modelland


Peter Derk - 2016
    It also ended in 2012, somewhere about 20% into the book. I couldn’t take any more. There were so many other things I could enjoy, why spend time on Modelland? There were birds…trees… Then, in 2015, I decided “screw birds and trees.” I threw up a Kickstarter. Pete’s Exhaustive Review of Modelland. And with that, I answered the question, “How much would money would convince me to read Modelland?” A hundo, it turns out. A well-earned hundo. I read the damn book, and as part of the deal, I wrote a long, detailed, exhaustive review. And here it is. Now, full disclosure, this gets long. About 50,000 words long, if numbers matter to you. There was just so much to say, so much to outline, and so many dead ends and wrong turns that made reviewing the book a true challenge. Which details are significant, and which will be dropped almost immediately and without fanfare? Which characters will return, and which will be left to the wayside as completely unimportant? It’s impossible to say. But I’ll say this: the book itself clocks in at over 500 pages, and I counted exactly ONE decent joke in those pages. So if you want to experience the crazy of Modelland without the pain, or at least without ALL of the pain, then this is the way to go. Think about this like the MST3K of book reviews. Frame by frame, page by page, we’ll go through this mother. Crack a beer. Maybe five. Hundred. And enjoy Pete’s Exhaustive Review of Modelland

Shadowhunters & Myths: Discovering the Legends Behind The Mortal Instruments


Valerie Estelle Frankel - 2016
    Like Harry Potter and other beloved fantasies, the epic story's secrets lie in the real-world myths and legends that fuel its adventures. Shadowhunters use runes of angelic power from The Book of Raziel - inspired by its earthly counterpart and many a medieval codex. Real angelologies and demonologies supply the monsters and divine guidance as Lilith, Abbadon, and Asmodeus strike. Nephilim, parabatai, iratzes and the Sword of Heavenly Fire arrive straight from the Bible. Idris is from the Qur'an and the Silent Brothers from the mystical The Book of Enoch. Reaching wider, world folklore offers the nixies, djinn, warlocks, vampires, and fairies, along with oni, kappa, rakshasas and all the other magical peoples. Now learn more of them all, read from Dante, Milton, and Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, and discover the truths behind the Shadowhunters' deepest secrets.

Bookburners: Season One Volume Two (Bookburners #1.9-1.16)


Max Gladstone - 2016
    Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. Freshly awake to just what dangers are lurking, she joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad: Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum. Together they stand between humanity and magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label.Originally presented serially in 16 episodes, this omnibus collects installments 9 through 16 of Bookburners Season One into one edition.

The Ultimate Read-Aloud Resource: Making Every Moment Intentional and Instructional With Best Friend Books


Lester L. Laminack - 2016
    Laminack provides guidelines, lessons, and resources for making every read-aloud experience intentional and instructional. Central to Laminack’s message is his breakthrough thinking about the value and importance of “Best Friend Books” – a small, carefully curated collection that you turn to repeatedly for specific teaching purposes. You’ll also find:- Step by step lessons for “first visits” and “return visits” with recommended Best Friend Books—clear guidelines for digging deeply into the books and enriching students’ understanding of content and craft.- Links to an online resource bank that contains “Spotlight on Lester” videos and graphic organizers for you and downloadables for your students.- “What the Research Says” boxes that point to studies supporting Laminack’s professional advice.- A list of Laminack’s favorite Best Friend Books to date, annotated and alphabetically organized.- “Home Visit” boxes that contain tips and tools for welcoming families into the work

Read, Talk, Write: 35 Lessons That Teach Students to Analyze Fiction and Nonfiction (Corwin Literacy)


Laura J. Robb - 2016
    Literary conversations don’t just enrich kids days; they offer young people gifts that keep on giving: the ability to take risks, exercise creativity, build empathy, and develop the ability to negotiate.”—from the foreword by Harvey “Smokey” DanielsWhen you get right down to it, literacy comes down to this: read, talk, write. But as every teacher knows, it can be hard for students to see and use these three moves in concert—until now. In Read, Talk, Write, Laura Robb lays out the classroom structures that create the time and space for students to have productive talk and written discourse about texts. With Laura’s guidance you’ll Use short texts by Seymour Simon, Kathleen Krull, Priscilla Cummings, and other popular fiction and nonfiction authors to teach students how to analyze and converse about texts Incorporate six kinds of talk into your instruction, including turn-and-talk, partner talks, and small-group discussions Use the wealth of in-book and online reproducibles to help students facilitate their own comprehension-building discussions  Select from 35 lessons that address literary elements and devices, text structures, and comprehension strategies, and then use them to launch student-led talk about any text you teach Help your readers get in a read-talk-write flow, and know how to move from reading to talking to writing, to bring about deeper thinking Achieve high levels of performance around inferring, comparing and contrasting, summarizing and synthesizing, and other key skills by way of classroom conversations that make these advanced levels the norm

The Lively Library & An Unlikely Romance


Niranjan Navalgund - 2016
    Hiriya Halepu, Pu.Nayaka, Kapshi and and many others live there. They have a secret world with celebrations, romances, pangs of separation and conflicts. This is the Book-World. As two souls in this world fall in love, they encounter a strange predicament that separates them from each other. Things go from bad to worse when an unknown enemy sends a threat of destruction to this whole mysterious world. They call their resolute protector, Helmine, who unravels many unknown facets of this world, in an attempt to save it from the danger. The lovers struggle to find each other, and Helmine tries hard to decipher the threat messages. But will she be able to save this world from destruction? Will the two souls in love be united? There are no easy answers. Because, this is no ordinary Library, this is the place where books come to life.

Defending Frequently Challenged Young Adult Books: A Handbook for Librarians and Educators


Pat R. Scales - 2016
    Leaving controversial titles such as these out of your collection or limiting their access is not the answer to challenges. While ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom reports more than 4,500 challenges to young adult literature from 2000 through 2009. This authoritative handbook gives you the information you need to defend challenged books with an informed response and ensure free access to young book lovers. With a profile of each book that includes its plot and characters, related materials and published reviews, awards and prizes, and Web and audiovisual resources, you will be prepared to answer even the toughest attacks.

Housman Country: Into the Heart of England


Peter Parker - 2016
    E. Housman and the influence of his particular brand of Englishness“He is a strange phenomenon,” Ted Hughes wrote of A. E. Housman, “but to my mind the most perfect expression of a whole mood of English history—a true master.” Housman—classical scholar and poet—is best known for the collection A Shropshire Lad. When the book was published in 1896, it made little impact, but it has since become one of the best-loved volumes of poetry in the English language. An evocation of English character and countryside, A Shropshire Lad remains as potent today as it was more than a century ago.Housman Country is an account of the life and times of A Shropshire Lad. In this absorbing volume, Peter Parker investigates the particular English sensibility that imbues Housman’s verse. A believer in the power of poetry to both provide pleasure and harmonize grief, Housman was a romantic—though a romantic of a doom-laden English variety. Deftly intertwining literary analysis, biography, and cultural history, Parker shows that these poems were not only far-reaching—carried into battle by World War I soldiers and set to music by twentieth-century composers—but also deeply communal, shaping notions of English national identity.Mapping out a terrain that is as literary as it is historical, Parker animates the fascinating personality of a man who produced one of England’s most influential works of literature.

The Lotus Sūtra: A Biography


Donald S. Lopez Jr. - 2016
    Composed in India in the first centuries of the Common Era, it is renowned for its inspiring message that all beings are destined for supreme enlightenment. Here, Donald Lopez provides an engaging and accessible biography of this enduring classic.Lopez traces the many roles the Lotus Sutra has played in its travels through Asia, Europe, and across the seas to America. The story begins in India, where it was one of the early Mahayana sutras, which sought to redefine the Buddhist path. In the centuries that followed, the text would have a profound influence in China and Japan, and would go on to play a central role in the European discovery of Buddhism. It was the first Buddhist sutra to be translated from Sanskrit into a Western language--into French in 1844 by the eminent scholar Eug�ne Burnouf. That same year, portions of the Lotus Sutra appeared in English in The Dial, the journal of New England's Transcendentalists. Lopez provides a balanced account of the many controversies surrounding the text and its teachings, and describes how the book has helped to shape the popular image of the Buddha today. He explores how it was read by major literary figures such as Henry David Thoreau and Gustave Flaubert, and how it was used to justify self-immolation in China and political extremism in Japan.Concise and authoritative, this is the essential introduction to the life and afterlife of a timeless masterpiece.

Slightly Foxed 49: Murder at the Majestic


Gail Pirkis - 2016
    

Narnia, Middle-Earth and The Kingdom of God: A History of Fantasy Literature and the Christian Tradition


Mark Worthing - 2016
    In this book, Worthing looks at early influences on the genre, including European fairy tales and folklore, Northern and classical mythology, and Christian allegory. He also explores the contours of a variety of fantasy worlds from MacDonald's Faerie, Lewis' Narnia and Tolkien's Middle-Earth, to LeGuin's Earthsea, Pratchett's Discworld and Rowling's world of Hogwarts. In these worlds, and many more, we discover themes such as the battle between good and evil, the question of the existence of God, and the problem of suffering. Fantasy fans of all religious persuasions will find in this book a delightful and informative exploration of the rich history and profound themes of the fantasy genre.

A Better Truth


Valerie Joan Connors - 2016
    life becomes too much for her to bear, Willow St. Claire takes refuge in the North Georgia Mountains. She buys a bookstore, hoping to spend her days talking to customers about the latest releases, and her evenings in the quiet oasis of her mountain retreat. Alone in her cabin, two miles away from the nearest neighbor, Willow must learn to cope with the terror of her past, heal from the loss of her mother, and maintain a relationship with a teenaged daughter who refuses to leave D.C. where she lives with her father. But a knock at Willow’s kitchen door late one night, sets off a series of events that will shatter her newly found peace and tranquility, and threaten to trigger another breakdown. Willow has held tightly to her own version of the truth for over three decades, because for her, the real truth is far too disturbing.

I'd Rather Read: Your Favourite Authors on their Favourite Books


A.P.J. Abdul Kalam - 2016
    And it's not just you; your favourite authors also feel the same way. In this collection, find out which are the books that inspired Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; what is Ruskin Bond's favourite book series; Subhadra Sen Gupta's favourite reading spots; and how Sudha Murty's longstanding relationship with libraries continues to this day. Plus, Roopa Pai talks about her love for Enid Blyton, Jash Sen narrates how reading detective fiction in a spooky old house only added to the fun, Arundhati Venkatesh reminisces about her childhood spent in the company of books and Anita Nair fondly describes the 'place of enchantment' a book provided her. Plus, there are more delightful anecdotes by Satyajit Ray, Tanu Shree Singh, Jerry Pinto, Nilanjana Roy and Deepa Agarwal. Brimming with nostalgia and a love for books, I'd Rather Read will make you fall in love with the written word all over again.

Lines Between the Stacks


Danielle Gregori - 2016
    A book of haikus celebrating the wonderful, magical, confusing and funny world of libraries, literature, and love.

Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey


Frances Wilson - 2016
    Modeling his character on Coleridge and his sensibility on Wordsworth, De Quincey took over the latter's cottage in Grasmere and turned it into an opium den. Here, increasingly detached from the world, he nurtured his growing hatred of his former idols and his obsession with murder as one of the fine arts.Though De Quincey may never have felt the equal of the giants of Romantic literature, the writing style he pioneered--scripted and sculptured emotional memoir--would inspire generations of writers, including Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Virginia Woolf. James Joyce knew whole pages of his work by heart.As Frances Wilson writes, "Life for De Quincey was either angels ascending on vaults of cloud or vagrants shivering on the city streets." In this spectacular biography, Wilson's meticulous scholarship and supple prose tells the riches-to-rags story of a figure of dazzling complexity and originality, whose life was lived on the run yet who came to influence some of the world's greatest literature. Guilty Thing brings De Quincey and his martyred but wild soul triumphantly to life, and firmly establishes Wilson as one of our foremost contemporary biographers.

Book Simulator: The Reader's Guide to Not Reading


Chris Yee - 2016
    Utilize techniques like page turning, eye movement, and note taking. Book Simulator includes interactive exercises that allow you to practice. Impress your friends and master the art of book simulation. Looking for humor, comedy, laughs, jokes, and all other forms of funny? Book Simulator is a humorous take on the conventions of a traditional book. While it pokes fun at various aspects of reading, it also celebrates the spirit of storytelling and encourages the exploration of future stories to come. For extensive coaching in the very serious field of pretend reading, download Book Simulator today.

The House That Made Me: Writers Reflect on the Places and People That Defined Them


Grant Jarrett - 2016
    The very notion evokes powerful feelings, feelings as individual as our fingerprints, as enduring as the universe and as inescapable as gravity.In this candid, evocative collection of essays, a diverse group of acclaimed authors reflects on the diverse homes, neighborhoods, and experiences that helped shape them—using Google Earth software to revisit the location in the process. Moving and life-affirming, this poignant anthology gives fresh insight into the concept of Home.This anthology includes 19 essays by an array of diverse award-winning authors.

Book Wyrms & Other Strange Bibliological Creatures: A Field Guide


Jessica Cathryn Feinberg - 2016
    Includes Dragons, Goblins, Paper & Ink Elementals, Faerie Libraries and more!

The Book Lover's Treasury of Quotations: An Inspired Collection on Reading, Writing and Literature


Jo Brielyn - 2016
    Whether it's their ability to transport us to exciting new worlds, or the way they open our eyes to new ways of seeing our own, The Book Lover's Treasury of Quotations speaks to the lifelong reader in each of us.Simple and accessible for all ages, this delightful title welcomes readers to share in the many wonderful experiences that reading can offer. An affordable and simple gesture, this enjoyable title adds a little meaning to any gift or occasion...and is impossible to resist. Beautifully assembled in an easy-to-follow format, The Book Lover's Treasury of Quotations is the perfect gift for the book lover in your life.Turning to the first page in a new book and beginning a brand new journey is the sort of excitement that you can't find anywhere else. Whether it's a gripping mystery, a timeless romance or a thrilling adventure, reading is one of the most important and personally fulfilling things a person can do. The Book Lover's Treasury of Quotations collects the wisdom on offer from reading and puts them all in one place--in an attractive volume that fits in your pocket! The Book Lover's Treasury of Quotations collects over 200 quotes of the literary laughs and lessons that only books can provide!

Children's Fantasy Literature


Michael M. Levy - 2016
    Children's Fantasy Literature traces the development of the tradition of the children's fantastic - fictions specifically written for children and fictions appropriated by them - from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century, examining the work of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, C. S. Lewis, Roald Dahl, J. K. Rowling and others from across the English-speaking world. The volume considers changing views on both the nature of the child and on the appropriateness of fantasy for the child reader, the role of children's fantasy literature in helping to develop the imagination, and its complex interactions with issues of class, politics and gender. The text analyses hundreds of works of fiction, placing each in its appropriate context within the tradition of fantasy literature."Sadly Michael Levy died in April 2017, almost exactly a year after this book was published. The project was his idea, and it is a reflection of the passion for children's literature which he passed on to so many." Farah Mendlesohn

The Joy of Jane: Thoughts on the First 200 Years of Austen's Legacy


Tim BullamoreKim Wilson - 2016
    The Joy of Jane brings together some of today’s leading writers and authorities on Jane Austen to offer their thoughts on her endearing appeal.

Maya and the Book of Everything


Laurie Graves - 2016
    She realizes the woman is being stalked by a grim-faced man, whom Maya dubs “the man who didn't smile.” He desperately wants that book-the Book of Everything. Maya and the book make it safely to Boston and then by bus to Maine, but the man who didn't smile is in close pursuit. The Book of Everything comes from a place called the Great Library. The book can do unusual things: its pages are seemingly endless, and it can zip people back and forth in time. Unfortunately, there is another book-the Book of Cinnial-sent to Earth by a group of adversarial librarians, whose purpose is to stop the Book of Everything. They do this by spreading lies and by trying to capture the book. Andy is a boy from the past, and Maya meets him when the Book of Everything whisks her back to Andy's time in the 1970s. Soon, he and Maya travel to another world-Ilyria-and become embroiled with another Book of Everything, a deposed duke, warring brothers, a magical forest, and a toad queen. Will Maya and Andy be able to save both Books of Everything? Will truth or lies prevail? And what, exactly, is the Great Library?

Invisible Libraries


Lawrence Liang - 2016
    The rules of Linearis mandate fidelity to a book till its completion, while Dermestis Lardarius houses books in a state of half-eaten incompleteness. Journey further into this world, and you will find libraries taxonomized by smell, composed of marginalia, etched in ice, and forged in nightmares.Invisible Libraries captures the sensuous, enigmatic and aesthetic world of books and libraries. Taking a cue from Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', the authors explore bibliophilia, especially in the way it manifests itself via our love affair with libraries.

The Ulysses Delusion: Rethinking Standards of Literary Merit


Cecilia Konchar Farr - 2016
    At coffee shops or out for drinks, after faculty meetings or classes, even at family reunions – they are persistently pressed to talk about bestselling novels. Questions immediately follow: What do I mean when I say a book is "good"? Why do contemporary novels like these, conversations like these, matter to professors of literature? Shouldn't they be spending their time re-reading The Great Gatsby? The Ulysses Delusion confronts these questions and answers their call for more engaged conversations about books. Through topics like the Oprah's Book Club, Harry Potter, and Chick Lit, Cecilia Konchar Farr explores the lively, democratic, and gendered history of novels in the US as a context for understanding how avid readers and literary professionals have come to assess them so differently.

Love Literary Style


Karin Gillespie - 2016
    He lives in a flea-infested rented alcove, and his girlfriend Emma, a combative bookstore owner, has just dumped him. He meets Laurie Lee at a writers’ colony and mistakenly believes her to be a renowned writer of important fiction. When he discovers she’s a self-published romance author, he’s already fallen in love with her.Aaron thinks genre fiction is an affront to the fiction-writing craft. He likes to quotes the essayist, Arthur Krystal who claims literary fiction “melts the frozen sea inside of us.” Ironically Aaron doesn’t seem to realize that, despite his lofty literary aspirations, he’s emotionally frozen, due, in part, to a childhood tragedy. The vivacious Laurie, lover of flamingo-patterned attire and all things hot pink, is the one person who might be capable of melting him.Their relationship is initially made in literary heaven but when Aaron loses his contract with a prestigious press, and Laurie’s novel is optioned by a major film studio, the differences in their literary sensibilities and temperaments drive them apart.In a clumsy attempt to win Laurie back, Aaron employs the tropes of romance novels. Too late. She’s already taken up with Ross, a prolific author of Nicholas Sparks-like love stories. Initially Laurie is more comfortable with the slick and superficial Ross, but circumstances force her to go deeper with her writing and confront a painful past. Maybe Aaron and Laurie have more in common than they imagined.In the tradition of the Rosie Project, Love Literary Style is a sparkling romantic comedy which pokes fun at the divide between so-called low and high brow fiction.

A Lillian Smith Reader


Margaret Rose Gladney - 2016
    From her home on Old Screamer Mountain overlooking Clayton, Georgia, Smith wrote and spoke openly against racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws long before the civil rights era.Bringing together short stories, lectures, essays, op-ed pieces, interviews, and excerpts from her longer fiction and nonfiction, A Lillian Smith Reader offers the first comprehensive collection of her work and a compelling introduction to one of the South's most important writers.A conservatory-trained music teacher who left the profession to assume charge of her family's girls' camp in Rabun County, Georgia, Smith began her literary careerwriting for a journal that she coedited with her lifelong companion, Paula Snelling, successively titled Pseudopodia (1936), the North Georgia Review (1937-41), and South Today (1942-45). Known today for her controversial, best-selling novel, Strange Fruit (1944); her collection of autobiographical essays, Killers of the Dream (1949); and her lyrical documentary, Now Is the Time (1955), Smith was acclaimed and derided in equal measures as a southern white liberal who critiqued her culture's economic, political, and religious institutions as dehumanizing for all: white and black, male and female, rich and poor. She was also a frequent and eloquent contributor to periodicals such as the Saturday Review, LIFE, the New Republic, the Nation, and the New York Times.The influence of Smith's oeuvre extends far beyond these publications. Her legacy rests on her sense of social justice, her articulation of racial and social inequities, and her challenges to the status quo. In their totality, her works propose a vision of justice and human understanding that we have yet to achieve.

As Wings Unfurl


Arthur M. Doweyko - 2016
    He stumbles through each day, looking forward to nothing and hoping it will arrive soon. When he attempts to thwart a crime, he is knocked unconscious and wakes up to discover that people are once again calling him a hero, though he feels undeserving of the praise.Apple returns to work and meets Angela, a mysterious woman who claims to be his guardian. Immediately, he feels a connection to her, which morphs into an attraction. But he soon discovers that Angela is much more than she seems.Apple and Angela are swept up in a conspiracy that stretches through time and space. Together, they must fight to save everything they hold dear from an alien race bent on destroying humanity.

Maya and the Book of Everything


Laurie L. Graves - 2016
    She realizes the woman is being stalked by a grim-faced man, whom Maya dubs "the man who didn't smile." He desperately wants that book―the Book of Everything. Maya and the book make it safely to Boston and then by bus to Maine, but the man who didn't smile is in close pursuit.The Book of Everything comes from a place called the Great Library. The book can do unusual things: its pages are seemingly endless, and it can zip people back and forth in time. Unfortunately, there is another book―the Book of Cinnial―sent to Earth by a group of adversarial librarians, whose purpose is to stop the Book of Everything. They do this by spreading lies and by trying to capture the book.Andy is a boy from the past, and Maya meets him when the Book of Everything whisks her back to Andy's time in the 1970s. Soon, he and Maya travel to another world―Ilyria―and become embroiled with another Book of Everything, a deposed duke, warring brothers, a magical forest, and a toad queen.Will Maya and Andy be able to save both Books of Everything? Will truth or lies prevail? And what, exactly, is the Great Library?

Ravens and Writing Desks


Chris Meekings - 2016
    As she travels through a strangely familiar storybook landscape she uncovers clues that lead her to question whether the worlds she travels are reality, a hallucination or the creation of an unknown author. To find the answer, Lucy must pass three trials – one of courage, one of compassion and one of logic. Only then she can finally choose what it is she believes.

Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book


Emma Smith - 2016
    It begins with the story of its first purchaser in London in December 1623, and goes on to explore the ways people have interacted with this iconic book over the four hundred years of its history. Throughout the stress is on what we can learn from individual copies now spread around the world about their eventful lives. From ink blots to pet paws, from annotations to wineglass rings, First Folios teem with evidence of their place in different contexts with different priorities. This study offers new ways to understand Shakespeare's reception and the history of the book. Unlike previous scholarly investigations of the First Folio, it is not concerned with the discussions of how the book came into being, the provenance of its texts, or the technicalities of its production. Instead, it reanimates, in narrative style, the histories of this book, paying close attention to the details of individual copies now located around the world - their bindings, marginalia, general condition, sales history, and location - to discuss five major themes: owning, reading, decoding, performing, and perfecting. This is a history of the book that consolidated Shakespeare's posthumous reputation: a reception history and a study of interactions between owners, readers, forgers, collectors, actors, scholars, booksellers, and the book through which we understand and recognize Shakespeare.

Write a Novel Outline from Scratch!


Andrew Butcher - 2016
    perhaps you don't even have a story idea yet, but you just love the thought of writing a novel. Write a Novel Outline from Scratch! is an indispensable tool for storytellers of all levels and backgrounds. In this step-by-step guide, author Andrew Butcher shows you how to come up with a story idea and create a complete novel outline, including detailed character bios, location sheets, and loads of bonus tips that will transform your writing process into one that works! It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or experienced writer. It only matters that you want to outline an intricate story that will wow your readers. On top of that, learning to effectively outline and structure your novel means that when it comes to actually writing it, you’ll write it faster, you’ll write it better, it will need less revision, and—best of all—you’ll get it published sooner! In this book, you'll learn how to: • Generate story ideas and expand them into a complete book outline from SCRATCH! • Weave plot lines together so intricately it will blow your readers’ minds • Create vivid story locations that will transport your readers into your story world • Create fully developed characters your readers will love (or love to hate!) • Implement BONUS outlining tips that will forever change your writing process • Gain confidence in your writing by effectively outlining your story first The book includes links to loads of downloadable files to supplement your learning, and plenty of real-life examples from Andrew’s first novel. There’s even a FREE Scrivener template for Windows available for download, so if you're a Scrivener user, you can follow the exact template Andrew uses for outlining his stories. But don't worry, if you're not a Scrivener user, you will still benefit from reading this book! By the end of it all, you'll feel ready to write your book. So what are you waiting for? Dive in and start outlining your novel today!

The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Medieval World


Scot McKendrick - 2016
    Within this history illuminated biblical manuscripts are among the best tools for understanding early Christian painting and artistic interpretations of the Bible.This extensively illustrated new book, compiled and written by two internationally renowned experts, transports readers, by way of forty-five featured manuscripts, across the globe and through 1,000 years of history. Passing chronologically through many of the major centers of the Christian world, from Constantinople and imperial Aachen to Canterbury, Mozarabic Spain, Crusader Jerusalem, northern Iraq, Paris, London, Bologna, and Rome, Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle shed light on some of the finest but least-known paintings from the Middle Ages, and on the development of art, literature, and civilization as we know it.

Slightly Foxed issue 51: A cheerful revolutionary


Gail Pirkis - 2016
    

An Anthology of Decorated Papers: A Sourcebook for Designers


P.J.M. Marks - 2016
    Yet despite the many contexts in which they can be found, they often go unnoticed. This remarkable new book not only showcasesseveral hundred of the best and most exquisite examples of decorated paper but also provides a fascinating introduction to its history, traditions, and techniques.Drawing on the Olga Hirsch collection at the British Library, one of the largest and most diverse collections of decorated papers in the world, this beautifully produced anthology will both delight and inspire designers, bibliophiles, and anyone with a love of pattern and decoration.

Bookburners: Season One Volume One (Bookburners #1.1-1.8)


Max Gladstone - 2016
    Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. Freshly awake to just what dangers are lurking, she joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad: Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum. Together they stand between humanity and magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label.Originally presented serially in 16 episodes, this omnibus collects installments 1 through 8 of Bookburners Season One into one edition.

Release the Bats: Writing Your Way Out Of It


D.B.C. Pierre - 2016
    Finding he had something to say, he made the journey solo to that place where dreams and demons live, to try and turn feelings into words.Part biography, part reflection and part practical guide, Release the Bats explores the mysteries of why and how we tell stories, and the craft of writing fiction. DBC Pierre reveals everything he learned the hard way.

How to Write Like Tolstoy: A Journey Into the Minds of Our Greatest Writers


Richard Cohen - 2016
    The best authors put painstaking--sometimes obsessive--effort into each element of their stories, from plot and character development to dialogue and point of view.What made Nabokov choose the name Lolita? Why did Fitzgerald use first-person narration in The Great Gatsby? How did Kerouac, who raged against revision, finally come to revise On the Road? Veteran editor and teacher Richard Cohen draws on his vast reservoir of a lifetime's reading and his insight into what makes good prose soar. Here are Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez's thoughts on how to start a novel ("In the first paragraph you solve most of the problems with your book"); Virginia Woolf offering her definition of style ("It is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can't use the wrong words"); and Vladimir Nabokov on the nature of fiction ("All great novels are great fairy tales").Cohen has researched the published works and private utterances of our greatest authors to discover the elements that made their prose memorable. The result is a unique exploration of the act and art of writing that enriches our experience of reading both the classics and the best modern fiction. Evoking the marvelous, the famous, and the irreverent, he reveals the challenges that even the greatest writers faced--and shows us how they surmounted them.Praise for How to Write Like Tolstoy"The highest compliment one can pay How to Write Like Tolstoy is that it provokes an overwhelming urge to read and write, to be in dialogue or even doomed competition with the greatest creative minds . . . . That Mr. Cohen is an editor, that his love of literature comes in large part from awe in the presence of better writers than he, is no small matter. His love is infectious, and regardless of how well he ends up teaching us to write, that is miracle enough."--Wall Street Journal"[A] perfect tasting menu . . . the homage of a passionate reader to the writers who have provided his 'main pastime.' "--The Sunday Times (U.K.)"This book is a wry, critical friend to both writer and reader. It is filled with cogent examples and provoking statements. You will agree or quarrel with each page, and be a sharper writer and reader by the end."--Hilary Mantel "These twelve essays are like twelve perfect university lectures on the craft of writing fiction. The professor--or, in this case, author--succeeds in being not only knowledgeable but also interesting, charming, and engaging."--Library Journal (starred review)"Insightful . . . [Cohen] escorts his readers to Iris Murdoch for sage counsel on launching a novel, to Salman Rushdie for shrewd guidance on developing an unreliable narrator, to Rudyard Kipling for a cagey hint on creating memorable minor characters, and to Leo Tolstoy for a master's help in transforming personal experience into fictional art."--Booklist

The Brontes: A Family Writes


Christine Nelson - 2016
    From the earliest manuscripts of Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne - written with a quill pen in a minuscule hand designed to mimic the printed page - to explosive novels, such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, written in adulthood by Emily and Charlotte, the family's writings continue to fascinate. This elegantly designed, fully illustrated publication provides an intimate portrait of a singular family of writers through the manuscripts, rare printed books, personal documents, and private letters preserved in the Bronte collection of the Morgan Library & Museum, one of the world's finest. It accompanies a major exhibition at the Morgan from 9 September 2016 to 2 January 2017.

Slightly Foxed No. 50: 'Wilder Shores'


Gail Pirkis - 2016
    G. Farrell • Laura Freeman remembers the romance Elizabeth David preferred to forget • Gary Mead seeks a cure for depression • Alexandra Harris watches the making of a Shropshire garden .

Book Cover Designs


Matthew Goodman - 2016
    Award-winning creative professionals from around the world have applied astonishingly clever cover concepts that play slyly on titles and themes of international bestsellers, both classic and modern, adding new dimensions to the books and breathing new life into bright ideas. Literature lovers and graphic illustrators of all types, as well as book design students and professionals, will relish this inspiring collection of covers of fiction and nonfiction, history and science books, novels and short stories, from old favorites to popular 21st-century titles. For future designers looking for inspiration, as well as hopeless cover lovers, Book Cover Designs is a must-have design reference for any collection. Feel free to judge these books by their covers.

How to Find Love in a Bookshop


Veronica Henry - 2016
    But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open after her beloved father's death, and the temptation to sell is getting stronger. The property developers are circling, yet Emilia's loyal customers have become like family, and she can't imagine breaking the promise she made to her father to keep the store alive.There's Sarah, owner of the stately Peasebrook Manor, who has used the bookshop as an escape in the past few years, but it now seems there's a very specific reason for all those frequent visits. Next is roguish Jackson, who, after making a complete mess of his marriage, now looks to Emilia for advice on books for the son he misses so much. And the forever shy Thomasina, who runs a pop-up restaurant for two in her tiny cottage--she has a crush on a man she met in the cookbook section, but can hardly dream of working up the courage to admit her true feelings.Enter the world of Nightingale Books for a serving of romance, long-held secrets, and unexpected hopes for the future--and not just within the pages on the shelves. How to Find Love in a Bookshop is the delightful story of Emilia, the unforgettable cast of customers whose lives she has touched, and the books they all cherish.

Copywrong to Copywriter


Tait Ischia - 2016
    Copywrong to copywriter is a handbook for anyone who feels like they can’t write to save themselves.If you think you’ve got the wrong tone of voice, don’t understand the ins-and-outs of grammar or just don’t feel confident writing about yourself without sounding like an idiot, read this book.

Alice in Space: The Sideways Victorian World of Lewis Carroll


Gillian Beer - 2016
    Few consider, however, that Carroll conceived his Alice books during the 1860s, a moment of intense intellectual upheaval, as new scientific, linguistic, educational, and mathematical ideas flourished around him and far beyond. Alice in Space reveals the contexts within which the Alice books first lived, bringing back the zest to jokes lost over time and poignancy to hidden references. Gillian Beer explores Carroll’s work through the speculative gaze of Alice, for whom no authority is unquestioned and everything can speak. Parody and Punch, evolutionary debates, philosophical dialogues, educational works for children, math and logic, manners and rituals, dream theory and childhood studies—all fueled the fireworks. While much has been written about Carroll’s biography and his influence on children’s literature, Beer convincingly shows him at play in the spaces of Victorian cultural and intellectual life, drawing on then-current controversies, reading prodigiously across many fields, and writing on multiple levels to please both children and adults in different ways. With a welcome combination of learning and lightness, Beer reminds us that Carroll’s books are essentially about curiosity, its risks and pleasures. Along the way, Alice in Space shares Alice’s exceptional ability to spark curiosity in us, too.

Storywalker


David Bridger - 2016
    A multiverse-hopping quest fantasy with big characters, worlds that leak people and creatures and mythologies back and forth, several flavours of diversity, warrior dragons, and abandoned people building families of friends.

The Digest Enthusiast #3


Richard Krauss - 2016
    1953, Children’s Digest Spring 1972, Fate #727. Includes nearly 100 cover images. Contains explicit language.Contributors: Tom Brinkmann, Steve Carper, Peter Enfantino, Ron Fortier, Brad Foster, Richard Krauss, Gary Lovisi, Michael Neno, Bob Vojtko, Joe Wehrle Jr. and D. Blake Werts.

Colour: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts


Stella Panayotova - 2016
    The focus therefore of this exciting and innovative exhibition is on COLOUR: it demonstrates and explains the acquisition and chemistry of pigments, the basic materials and constitution of the artist's colour palette, the technique and art of their application by the illuminator, and finally the understanding and aesthetic impact on the viewer.

The Digest Enthusiast #4


Richard KraussTom Brinkmann - 2016
    Articles • Suspense Magazine and Suspense Novels by Richard Krauss • Galaxy Novels by Steve Carper • Galaxy Magabooks by Gary Lovisi • Criswell Predicts: Fate & Spaceway by Tom Brinkmann • Shock Mystery Tales by Peter Enfantino • Pocket Pin-Ups trading cards by Richard Krauss Reviews by Joe Wehrle, Jr. and Richard Krauss • H.G. Wells Society Newsletter • Bulldog Drummond by Sapper • Mystery, Detective, and Espionage Magazines by Michael L. Cook Fiction • “The Hideout” by Ron Fortier, art by Rob Davis • “A Rat Must Chew” by Gary Lovisi, art by Sean Azzopardi • “Strangers in Need” story and art by Joe Wehrle, Jr. • “Wounded Wizard” by John Kuharki, art by Michael Neno Includes explicit language. Cartoons • Brad Foster • Bob Vojtko Also includes • Editor's Notes • Suspense Magazine contents and reprint sources • Social media round-up • Opening Lines Includes over 50 cover images.

Rue Morgue Magazine's Blood in Four Colours


Pedro Cabezuelo - 2016
    From EC Comics, Swamp Thing and Marvel Monsters, to manga, Black Hole and The Walking Dead, BLOOD IN FOUR COLOURS features interviews with artists, writers and publishers, movie adaptations, horror manga, indie and web comics, and much more! Plus! New and classic interviews with Alan Moore, Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson, Charles Burns, Robert Kirkman and more.

Sweet Theft: A Poet's Commonplace Book


J.D. McClatchy - 2016
    These anthologies came to be known as Commonplace Books, and modern writers as different as W. H. Auden and Alec Guinness have kept them as well, recording phrases or passages that struck them as wise or witty or quirky. The result is as much the self-portrait of a sensibility as it is a collection of miscellaneous delights. Renowned poet J. D. McClatchy has been keeping such a book for three decades now. This selection from it offers a unique look into what strange facts, what turns of mind or phrase, what glorious feats of language and nature can attract the attention of a poet. The great and the obscure are gathered around the same table, exchanging remarkable opinions. Henry James is speaking of Venice: “The deposed, the defeated, the disenchanted, the wounded, or even only the bored, have seemed to find there something that no other place could give.” At the other end of the table, Groucho Marx is playing drama critic: “I didn’t like the play, but then I saw it under adverse circumstances—the curtain was up.” Nietzsche and Flaubert, Dizzy Gillespie and Marianne Moore—dozens of unexpected and timeless aphorisms and anecdotes that pierce and provoke. Many of McClatchy’s own observations about the art and prowess of writing are included as well.This is a book meant to be sipped, not gulped; meant to be read at leisure and pondered on at length.

Venice: A Literary Guide for Travellers


Marie-Jose Gransard - 2016
    "Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it, or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little. Italo Calvino, Invisible CitiesVenice, 'La Serenissima, is one of the most breathtaking cities in the world. A floating labyrinth; the world s greatest museum, frozen in time; a cultural jewel, slowly sinking into the lagoon from which it rose; tourist-trap, irresistible muse.From its earliest beginings in the 7th century, Venice has been a magnetic centre of trade and culture, wealth and power and has acted as a crossroads for an array of religious pilgrims and refugees, diplomats, crusading armies and merchants. Later, its fabled beauty and reputation as a haven for freedom of expression seduced some of the most celebrated figures in history: artists such as Durer, Da Vinci, Bellini and Turner; writers Dickens, Byron, Kafka, Poe, Rousseau, Thomas Mann, Ruskin and Ezra Pound and composers Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Stravinsky.In this, the first literary guide to Venice, the author uncovers the city s myriad secrets, revealing how every floating palace, gilded church and bustling square is imbued with the lives and creations of those who were inspired by the city, which still echoes with their voices."

Who Needs Books?: Reading in the Digital Age


Lynn Coady - 2016
    More people watch porn than read books. More people watch sports and TV and movies than read books."What happens if we separate the idea of "the book" from the experience it has traditionally provided? Lynn Coady challenges booklovers addicted to the physical book to confront their darkest fears about the digital world and the future of reading. Is the all-pervasive Internet turning readers into web-surfing automatons and books themselves into museum pieces? The bogeyman of technological change has haunted humans ever since Plato warned about the dangers of the written word itself, and every generation is convinced its youth will bring about the end of civilization. In Who Needs Books?, Coady suggests that, even though digital advances have long been associated with the erosion of literacy, recent technologies have not debased our culture as much as they have simply changed the way we read.

The Prose Factory: Literary Life in England Since 1918


D.J. Taylor - 2016
    There is the exclusive taste of highbrow critics such as T.S. Eliot and F.R. Leavis. There is the taste of ordinary book lovers persuaded to buy the best-sellers of the day. And there is the taste of Virginia Woolf’s elusive ‘common reader’. A taste that in the days of the Victorian reading public was founded on shared standards but now, in the age of Twitter and the blogosphere, is fragmenting into chaos.Spanning a century of literary history, from the pitched battles fought between Eliot-era modernists and Georgian traditionalists to the political in-fighting of the Thirties, the arrival of the upwardly mobile post-war ‘New Man’ and the impact of creative writing degrees and the media don, The Prose Factory explores the myriad influences on English literary life in the past century and the way in which they have shaped our preferences.It is also a tale of personalities – ‘star reviewers’, sniping critics, caballing editors, crusading ideologues, megalomaniac professors, Arts Council functionaries – a tale of dazzling successes and embittered failures in which gossip and intrigue are as important as intellectual zeal. Above all, it is a study of change. We live in a world where is ever more difficult for professional writers to make a living, where the dangers of institutionalisation lurk on every corner and where critical authority is giving way to the whims of cyberspace. Wide-ranging and controversial, as interested in the newspaper essayist and the bookclub best-seller as the view from Mount Olympus, The Prose Factory is the book that D.J. Taylor was born to write.

Literary London


Eloise Millar - 2016
    The biggest and most beloved names in English literature have all been here, and you can still see or visit their stomping grounds and favorite places. Follow Oscar Wilde from the literary salons to Clapham Junction; roam with Julian McClaren Ross through Fitzrovia, dropping in for a pint or three with Dylan Thomas at the Bricklayers’ Arms; muse darkly over the Thames with Spencer, Eliot, and Conrad; and watch aghast as Lord Byron terrorizes his publisher on Albermarle Street. Moving through time and genre, from Spencer and Shakespeare to Amis and Barnes, from tragedy and romance to chick-lit and science fiction, Literary London is a snappy and informative guide, showing just why—as another famous local writer put it—he who is tired of London is tired of life.

Vanity Fair's Writers on Writers


Graydon Carter - 2016
    cummings change the young Susan Cheever? What does Martin Amis have to say about how Saul Bellow's love life influenced his writing? Vanity Fair has published many of the most interesting writers and thinkers of our time. Collected here for the first time are forty-one essays exploring how writers influence one another and our culture, from James Baldwin to Joan Didion to James Patterson.