In Desert and Wilderness


Henryk Sienkiewicz - 1911
    Everything for the pair seemed comfortable and safe in Egypt. But when the children are separated from their fathers during a vacation along the Nile, they become pawns in a treacherous plot and are abducted by the vengeful followers of the Mahdi. Joined in their trek by two African children, Kali and Mea, and together with the aid of a faithful dog, Saba, and a mighty elephant, King, the unlikely troop makes its way through deep Africa while facing perilous situations that would render helpless even grown men and women. Throughout this enthralling novel, author Sienkiewicz paints the vivid scenery of what was then known as "the dark continent," a land filled with unknown peoples, primordial landscapes, tall and deep jungles, uncharted rivers and mountains. Political instability, then as now, could make entire regions impassable. In the 1880s one such crisis, a rebellion led by "the Mahdi," threatened to turn a large part of the continent into a hell of destruction and carnage. It is in such a background that Henryk Sienkiewicz, the master storyteller and winner of the 1905 Nobel Prize for literature, placed two European children - the heroes of this engaging tale. For Henryk Sienkiewicz, In Desert and Wilderness represented a final triumph; this was the last novel he would complete. Sienkiewicz, who had visited Africa in 1891, successfully recreates in the book the beauty he encountered amid the continent's entrancing landscape. Written over eighty years ago for a younger audience, but appealing to all ages, In Desert and Wilderness remains a literary treasure in Poland. Now the fine Max

Christodora


Tim Murphy - 2016
    The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbor, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly and Jared’s lives in ways none of them can anticipate. Meanwhile, Milly and Jared’s adopted son Mateo grows to see the opportunity for both self-realization and oblivion that New York offers. As the junkies and protesters of the 1980's give way to the hipsters of the 2000's and they, in turn, to the wealthy residents of the crowded, glass-towered city of the 2020's, enormous changes rock the personal lives of Milly and Jared and the constellation of people around them. Moving kaleidoscopically from the Tompkins Square Riots and attempts by activists to galvanize a true response to the AIDS epidemic, to the New York City of the future, Christodora recounts the heartbreak wrought by AIDS, illustrates the allure and destructive power of hard drugs, and brings to life the ever-changing city itself.

The Call of the Wild / White Fang


Jack London - 1991
    

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Graphic Novel)


Bo Hampton - 1993
    If you're looking for the short story, go here.This is Bo Hampton's 1993 Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a faithful adaptation of Washington Irving's tale surrounding the ghostly inhabitants of Tarrytown, New York around the time of the American Revolution. The cast of characters is headed up by the Headless Horseman himself. This edition boasts new covers and 16 pages of new material, including numerous preliminary sketches of scenes and characters.

Other Voices, Other Rooms


Truman Capote - 1948
    In this semiautobiographical coming-of-age novel, thirteen-year-old Joel Knox, after losing his mother, is sent from New Orleans to live with the father who abandoned him at birth. But when Joel arrives at Skully’s Landing, the decaying mansion in rural Alabama, his father is nowhere to be found. Instead, Joel meets his morose stepmother, Amy, eccentric cousin Randolph, and a defiant little girl named Idabel, who soon offers Joel the love and approval he seeks.Fueled by a world-weariness that belied Capote’s tender age, this novel tempers its themes of waylaid hopes and lost innocence with an appreciation for small pleasures and the colorful language of its time and place.This new edition, featuring an enlightening Introduction by John Berendt, offers readers a fresh look at Capote’s emerging brilliance as a writer of protean power and effortless grace.From the Hardcover edition.

Name Me Nobody


Lois-Ann Yamanaka - 1999
    Yamanaka pens powerful novel of friendship, family, sexuality, and identity in which 13-year-old Emi-Lou struggles with coming of age and middle school in Hawaii.

Dancer from the Dance


Andrew Holleran - 1978
    It depicts the adventures of Malone, a beautiful young man searching for love amid New York's emerging gay scene. From Manhattan's Everard Baths and after-hours discos to Fire Island's deserted parks and lavish orgies, Malone looks high and low for meaningful companionship. The person he finds is Sutherland, a campy quintessential queen -- and one of the most memorable literary creations of contemporary fiction. Hilarious, witty, and ultimately heartbreaking, Dancer from the Dance is truthful, provocative, outrageous fiction told in a voice as close to laughter as to tears.

The Complete Tales and Poems


Edgar Allan Poe - 1960
    Some of the most notable are:Tales:"The Fall of the House of Usher""The Masque of the Red Death""The Pit and the Pendulum""The Premature Burial""The Purloined Letter""The Tell-Tale Heart"Poems:"Annabel Lee""The Bells""The City in the Sea""A Dream Within a Dream""To Helen""Lenore""The Raven""Ulalume"Other Works:The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket—Poe's only complete novelCollected EssaysAdditional Fan ResourcesAlso included are special features for any Poe enthusiast, including:A list of films and television series, both directly and indirectly inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe.A Reading Guide to fictional works that feature the historical Edgar Allan Poe as a character.Links to free, full-length audio recordings of the major poems and short stories in this collection.

Six Degrees of Separation


John Guare - 1990
    The tragicomedy of race, class, manners and naivete of liberalism.

On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966-1978


Adrienne Rich - 1979
    It traces the development of one individual consciousness, "playing over such issues as motherhood, racism, history, poetry, the uses of scholarship, the politics of language". A. Rich has written a headnote for each essay, briefly discussing the circumstances of its writing. "I find in myself both severe and tender thoughts toward the women I have been, whose thoughts I find here".

Roverandom


J.R.R. Tolkien - 1998
    His punishment was to be transformed into a toy, and now he is forced to track down the magician so he can be returned to normal. His adventures will take him to the moon and under the sea, introducing him to many fabulous - and dangerous - creatures.Inspired by the loss of his own child's favourite toy, this charming tale was written by J.R.R. Tolkien long before The Hobbit, yet remained unpublished for more than 70 years. This new paperback edition includes a full introduction and detailed notes about the story.This is an old-fashioned story, yet it still speaks freshly today... would leap to life when read aloud to a child. - INDEPENDENTLord of the Rings buffs will enjoy picking out bits of Nordic mythology and will relish Tolkien's fabulous sense of landscape - THE TIMESCover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien

Flesh and Blood


Michael Cunningham - 1995
     In 1950, Constantine Stassos, a Greek immigrant laborer, marries Mary Cuccio, an Italian-American girl, and together they produce three children: Susan, an ambitious beauty, Billy, a brilliant homosexual, and Zoe, a wild child. Over the years, a web of tangled longings, love, inadequacies and unfulfilled dreams unfolds as Mary and Constantine's marriage fails and Susan, Billy, and Zoe leave to make families of their own. Zoe raises a child with the help of a transvestite, Billy makes a life with another man, and Susan raises a son conceived in secret, each extending the meaning of family and love. With the power of a Greek tragedy, the story builds to a heartbreaking crescendo, allowing a glimpse into contemporary life which will echo in one's heart for years to come.

The Adolescent


Fyodor Dostoevsky - 1875
    The illegitimate son of a dissipated landowner, he is torn between his desire to expose his father’s wrongdoing and the desire to win his love. He travels to St. Petersburg to confront the father he barely knows, inspired by an inchoate dream of communion and armed with a mysterious document that he believes gives him power over others. This new English version by the most acclaimed of Dostoevsky’s translators is a masterpiece of pathos and high comedy.

Summer Will Show


Sylvia Townsend Warner - 1936
    He can have his tawdry mistress. She intends to devote herself to the serious business of raising her two children in proper Tory fashion. Then tragedy strikes: the children die, and Sophia, in despair, finds her way to Paris, arriving just in time for the revolution of 1848. Before long she has formed the unlikeliest of close relations with Minna, her husband’s sometime mistress, whose dramatic recitations, based on her hair-raising childhood in czarist Russia, electrify audiences in drawing rooms and on the street alike. Minna, “magnanimous and unscrupulous, fickle, ardent, and interfering,” leads Sophia on a wild adventure through bohemian and revolutionary Paris, in a story that reaches an unforgettable conclusion amidst the bullets, bloodshed, and hope of the barricades.Sylvia Townsend Warner was one of the most original and inventive of twentieth-century English novelists. At once an adventure story, a love story, and a novel of ideas, Summer Will Show is a brilliant reimagining of the possibilities of historical fiction.

Mutiny on the Bounty


John Boyne - 2008
    The boy who was expected to serve as the captain’s personal valet has been injured and a replacement must be found immediately. The deal is struck and Turnstile finds himself onboard, meeting the captain, just as the ship sets sail. The ship is the HMS Bounty, the captain is William Bligh, and their destination is Tahiti. Mutiny on the Bounty is the first novel to explore all the events relating to the Bounty’s voyage, from their long journey across the ocean to their adventures on the island of Tahiti and the subsequent forty-eight-day expedition towards Timor. A vivid recreation of the famous mutiny, the story is packed with humour, violence, and historical detail, presenting a very different portrait of Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian than has been shown before.