Best of
Collections

1962

The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde


Oscar Wilde - 1962
    In this collection, replete with newly discovered letters, the full extent of that genius is unveiled.Charting his life from his Irish upbringing to fame in his fin de siècle London to infamy and exile in Paris, the letters--written between 1875 and 1900 to publishers and fans, friends and lovers, enemies and adversaries--resound with Wilde's wit, brilliance, and humanity. Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland, and Rupert Hart-Davis have produced a provocative and revealing self-portrait. Wilde's reputation as a serious thinker, humorous writer, and gay icon continues to flourish. The Complete Letters is an intimate exploration of his life and thoughts--Wilde in his own words.

East of Eden/The Wayward Bus


John Steinbeck - 1962
    The towering figure of Adam Trask dominates the story--a good man whose satanic wife revealed to him the shuddering ecstasies of lustful evilKate came into Adam's life unannounced, and left amidst the ringing echo of gunfire. Behind her were a shattered man and a shattered world, and two infant boys doomed to play out, once again, the tragic roles of another Adam's offspring. Ahead of her was a frenzied life of depravity and perversion, wealth..and terror.THE WAYWARD BUS traveled the back roads through lush California countryside. Its driver was a man of the land--lusty, hot-blooded, uninhibited. On the bus were a magnificent creature cursed with a heart of gold an an irresistible allure for men, a traveling salesman out strictly for laughs, a boy with the sweet sap of manhood urgent in him, a college girl pursuing a secret, passionate quest...In one climactic day--and night--the lives of these and all the other passengers on the wayward bus were changed. And the electricity that John Steinbeck creates in their relation ships provides both power and shock.--jacket description

The Small Assassin


Ray Bradbury - 1962
    A baby born with the urge to kill... the couple who leave for a honeymoon - in a cemetery... a husband and wife who have an unpleasant experience with some mummified Mexican corpses... the tombstone in the bedroom... a little boy who examines the macabre entrails of the man upstairs...A chilling collection that will linger long after you have finished reading it.The Small AssassinThe Next in LineThe LakeThe CrowdJack-in-the-BoxThe Man UpstairsThe CisternThe TombstoneThe Smiling PeopleThe HandlerLet's Play 'Poison'The NightThe Dead Man