Fifteen of the most respected authors of our time contribute their perspectives to this masterfully crafted anthology. From fear to desire, joy and hope, the mixed emotions that accompany each journey--physical and metaphysical--are conveyed in a manner that both stimulates the mind and satisfies the heart. Everyone eventually goes on a journey. "I remember packing a suitcase and carrying it out to the kitchen, standing very still for a few minutes, looking carefully at the familiar objects all around me. The old chrome toaster, the telephone, the pink and white Formica on the kitchen counters. The room was full of bright sunshine. Everything sparkled. My house, I thought. My life. I'm not sure how long I stood there, but later I scribbled out a short note to my parents." What I said, exactly, I don't recall now. Something vague. Taking off, will call, love Tim." --from On the Rainy River by Tim O'Brien You leave home and undergo trails and rites."The minute I walked in and the Big Bozo introduced us, I got sick to my stomach. It was one thing to be taken out of your own bed early in the morning--it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl form a whole other race." -- from "Recitatif" by Toni MorrisonYou come back form the journey transformed."I felt growing light, I rose up into the air and flew out the window. Higher and higher, above the alley, over the tops of tiles roofs, where I was gathered up by the wind and pushed up toward the night sky until everything below me disappeared and I was alone."-- from Rules of the Game by Amy Tan We leave home to find home.Here is an unusual collection of short stories, from a variety of distinguished writers from different cultures and different viewpoints, that explores the turning point in every adolescent’s life when he or she is forced to take that first step away from home, family, and the known. From personal tales of unwed mothers, arranged marriages, and divorcing parents, to stories about refugees and war resistance, Leaving Home paints a canvas of universal experience for teen-age readers, and includes stories by Tim Wynne-Jones, Sandra Cisneros, Gary Soto, and many others.

    In it, Reed, one of our preeminent African-American authors, mixes portraits of historical figures and fictional characters with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Cited by literary critic Harold Bloom as one of the five hundred most significant books in the Western canon, Mumbo Jumbo is a trenchant and often biting look at black-white relations throughout history, from a keen observer of our culture.

    

    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

    D. Salinger, originally published in the January 31, 1948 issue of The New Yorker. It was anthologized in 1949's 55 Short Stories from The New Yorker, as well as in Salinger's 1953 collection, Nine Stories.

    

    Four prized selections by one of America's greatest writers: "The Open Boat," based on a harrowing incident in the author's life: the 1897 sinking of a ship on which he was a passenger; "The Blue Hotel" and "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," reflecting Crane's early travels in Mexico and the American Southwest; and the novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, a galvanizing portrait of life in the slums of New York City.

    But her ex-husbands linger in the background while her four children spin away to their own separate futures, each carrying the baggage of a complex family history. Matt serves as caretaker to the ailing father who abandoned him as a child, while his wild teenage sister, Karen, hides herself in marriage to a born-again salesman. Joe, a perpetual outsider, struggles with a private sibling rivalry that nearly derails him. And then there’s the youngest, Frankie, an endearing, eccentric sci-fi freak who’s been searching since childhood for intelligent life in the universe–and finds it.Written with wry affection, and with compassion for every character in its pages, Send Me is a wholly original, haunting evocation of family love, loss, and, ultimately, forgiveness.From the Hardcover edition.

    The system worked this way: When a man committed a crime important enough to interest the king, notice was given that the fate of the accused person would be decided, on a given date, in the arena of the amphitheater. When the date arrived and everyone had assembled in the galleries, the king gave a signal, a door beneath him opened, and the accused stepped out into the arena. Two doors, exactly alike and side by side, faced the accused, and it was his duty to open one of them. He could open either door he pleased. If he opened the one, a hungry tiger would spring upon him and tear him to pieces. But, if he opened the other door, a beautiful lady came out and the accused was immediately married to her, as a reward for his innocence.The king had a beautiful daughter, with whom a young man of common blood fell in love. The king's daughter was also in love with the young man. The love affair went on for some time before the king discovered its existence. Immediately, the king had the youth placed into prison and set a day for the trial in the arena. The appointed day arrived, and the galleries of the arena were filled. The signal was given, a door beneath the royal party opened, and the lover of the princess walked into the arena. The princess, through the use of her position and money, had learned behind which door stood the lady and behind which waited the tiger. The youth expected her to have learned this information, and he looked toward her for a signal. Her signal was toward the right, and the youth went to the door on the right and opened it. The story leaves it up to the reader to decide which came out of the door--the lady or the tiger. Which did the princess decide? Was it to let her lover to live and love another woman, or did she decide that if she couldn't have him no one would?

    His literary terrain is the world of science, with its charged boundary between the rational mind and the restless heart. In Iagnemma's stories, mathematicians and theoreticians, foresters and doctors, yearn to sustain bonds as steadfast as the equations and principles that anchor their lives. A frustrated academic tries to diagram his troubled relationship with his girlfriend but fails to create a formula for romance. A nineteenth-century phrenologist must reexamine the connection between knowledge and passion when a young con-woman beats him at his own game. A jaded professor dreams endlessly of his two obsessions: a beautiful former colleague and the theorem that made her famous. Inventive, wise, funny, and disquieting, Karl Iagnemma's first collection attests to his spirited imagination and his prodigious literary gifts.

    It is the tale of Hazard Lepage, last of the studhorse men, and owner of a superb blue stallion named Poseidon...the sole survivor of its breed. Hazard's maniacal search to find the perfect mare for this magnificent horse is opposed by his fiancée of thirteen years, Martha Proudfoot, so much so she refuses him both herself and her Arab mares. This is a compelling saga that will move all readers.

    "An absorbing, heart-rending story told with sensitivity and wisdom.this book deserves a wide readership not only for its artistry but also for its subject matter" -Beaumont Enterprise.

    He is an extremely wealthy man, although no one knows where he or his money have come from. But Gatsby has a purpose: he is following a dream of love. Will his dream come true?

    Joyce was also acclaimed for his poetry, journalism, and novels like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.This edition of Joyce’s Araby includes a Table of Contents.

    trip to the Smithsonian's National Zoo. But when Lassie and Murdock tag along, everything goes haywire....3:39 a.m. "The Bachelor Party" (The Lassie Files Book 4)Just a few weeks before his wedding, Henry is shocked when he wakes up at the MGM National Harbor for a surprise bachelor party. And if Henry's father, Lassie, and Murdock have anything to say about it, it will be an "hour" that Henry will never forget...even if he wants to...Praise for The Lassie Files:Cat + dog = Henry's crazy night! -Cire6407Man, this is hilarious! It's short and easy to read in one sitting (or laying in my case), but you will find yourself, literally LOL! Gee, I think everyone would love this book! Can hardly wait for the next one in the series! -Louise PledgeI was already a big Nick Pirog fan before reading 3:06 am the Lassie Files so I was fully prepared to like the book. Was NOT prepared to just fall head over heels in love with it, but I did! I love the cat, the dog, the main character, his dad....every single thing about the book! It's funny, heartwarming (as are all Nick's books) and unforgettable. -Amazon CustomerGreat read! Really funny! Lassie is the best! Its a short book but I could not put it down till I was finished. As always Nick Pirog's sense of humor keeps you laughing. The 2 new friends of Lassie are great. I think we have all been there with a dog...you'll see. Can't want to the next Lassie story. -Kristina Masi