Real people. Real stories.

    Following a literary itinerary from London to Venice, Tehran and points beyond, and via authors from Woolf and Dante to Nobel Prize-winners Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka, Mo Yan, and Olga Tokarczuk, he explores how these works have shaped our idea of the world, and the ways in which the world bleeds into literature.To chart the expansive landscape of world literature today, Damrosch explores how writers live in two very different worlds: the world of their personal experience and the world of books that have enabled great writers to give shape and meaning to their lives. In his literary cartography, Damrosch includes compelling contemporary works as well as perennial classics, hard-bitten crime fiction as well as haunting works of fantasy, and the formative tales that introduce us as children to the world we’re entering. Taken together, these eighty titles offer us fresh perspective on enduring problems, from the social consequences of epidemics to the rising inequality that Thomas More designed Utopia to combat, as well as the patriarchal structures within and against which many of these books’ heroines have to struggle--from the work of Murasaki Shikibu a millennium ago to Margaret Atwood today.Around the World in 80 Books is a global invitation to look beyond ourselves and our surroundings, and to see our world and its literature in new ways.

    From Solzhenitsyn to Laura Zigman, Catherine M. to Captain Underpants, the result is a personal chronicle of insight, wit, and enough infectious enthusiasm to make a passionate reader out of anybody.

    It's real, relatable, and totally raw.

    Winner of first place, Reader's Favorite award for children's literature. When twelve-year-old Peter Constantine wakes up in the Crown Hotel with a new identity, life is over as he knows it. But perhaps that’s not such a bad thing… A dangerous man Peter only knows as “The Evil Treasure Hunter” is after his family, so they’ve relocated to New York City. With help from unlikely friends living at the glamorous hotel, including the ghost on the tenth floor, life begins again. However, Peter soon learns of a plot to destroy his new home, a plot only the Phantom can foil. Peter and the Crown is the first book in the Phantom of New York series, an adventure for readers aged ten and up. If you like smart, funny characters and “can’t put it down” escapades, then you’ll love A. L. Janney’s Phantom of New York series. Grab a copy of book one today!

    A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.What do we see when we read? Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever really tell us what, exactly, Ishmael looked like? The collection of fragmented images on a page - a graceful ear there, a stray curl, a hat positioned just so - and other clues and signifiers helps us to create an image of a character. But in fact our sense that we know a character intimately has little to do with our ability to concretely picture our beloved - or reviled - literary figures.In this remarkable work of nonfiction, Knopf's Associate Art Director Peter Mendelsund combines his profession, as an award-winning designer; his first career, as a classically trained pianist; and his first love, literature - he thinks of himself first, and foremost, as a reader - into what is sure to be one of the most provocative and unusual investigations into how we understand the act of reading.

     Written with incredible honesty and self-knowledge, Between the Lines is a stunning collection of poems from Céline Zabad. Ranging in length from a single line to full pages, her poems mimic at once the brevity and vastness of feeling. Her verse is at times as free as a cloud, other times as solid as stone. Her words are philosophies and feelings in their own rights, on love, loss, loyalty, betrayal, hope, and disappointment—on life. Zabad encapsulates the thrill of love’s first blush and the freezing burn of heartbreak. Her feelings flow freely throughout the collection, lending her poetry uncommon authenticity and power. Nature thrives between the lines of her verse, reminding the reader that tears are as natural as raindrops. Whether you’re looking for new ways to think about your own feelings or are simply passionate about poetry, you’ll find plenty to love in this collection. To better understand the complexities of emotion in yourself and others, you must read Between the Lines.

    In the title poem, Bly addresses the "donkey"—possibly poetry itself—that has carried him through a writing life of more than six decades.from "Talking into the Ear of a Donkey"      "What has happened to the spring,"      I cry, "and our legs that were so joyful      In the bobblings of April?" "Oh, never mind      About all that," the donkey      Says. "Just take hold of my mane, so you      Can lift your lips closer to my hairy ears."

    A journey of two strangers, the writer and the reader, filled with words of love, pain, anger and passion.

    You never mourned loudly, in the streets. You never stopped (couldn’t stop) to wonder if drowning parts ofyourself was a mistake. You never kissed them goodbye.Why didn’t you kiss them goodbye?Was it too hard?Were you ashamed?Of them, or of you?Don’t tell me to be quiet.You need to hear this. Christina Hart, bestselling author of Empty Hotel Rooms Meant for Us, Letting Go Is an Acquired Taste, and There Is Beauty In the Bleeding releases her new poetry chapbook, written in second person POV, which focuses on love, loss, and hope.

    She was a teacher, and it was morning on the first day of school. In this haunting new collection of poems, Taylor Mali, once a teacher himself, explores her life and their love as well as the shape and texture of his own guilt and resilience.

    for Aditya is the boy from Pataliputra, the boy who was once a reckless and carefree aristocrat, but who has now been forced to become a man with a purpose to fight for honour and love.With a sweeping narrative and interesting everyday characters like the smelly old dhaba owner Tanku, Philotas the unlucky Greek soldier, the no-nonsense medical student Radha, Pandi the hard drinking mercenary and the lovely Devika, the Boy from Pataliputra is the mesmerizing story of a young man’s growth to maturity, but also, equally, a story about the rise of a nation.

     Includes "The Book Collector," advice and special tips from John Dunning on collecting rare books. BOOKED TO DIE Denver cop Cliff Janeway probably knows as much about books as he does about homicide. His living room resembles an adjunct to the public library. He's aware that some Stephen King first editions can bring more money than most Mark Twain firsts, and a copy of Raymond Chandler's Lady in the Lake is worth more than $1,000. And he realizes that, contrary to popular belief, "older" doesn't necessarily mean "more valuable." He also knows that valuable volumes can be hidden in plain view among otherwise ordinary book collections. It's not easy to find such books, but some people seem to have an extraordinary talent for honing in on the treasures. Such a man is bookscout Bobby Westfall. Bobby once earned $900 in a single weekend and has generally spotted enough valuable books to keep himself and his beloved cats fed and housed. Now Bobby is dead, murdered at the witching hour on Friday the thirteenth, his body dumped under a ladder in a dark alley. It's not a good end for a superstitious man. Janeway is sure he knows who did it. But can he catch him? And, in the process, will Janeway's own life change forever? THE BOOKMAN'S WAKE The story starts and ends, aptly, with a very special book: a 1969 edition of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, published by the tiny, prestigious Grayson Press of North Bend, Washington. The Grayson bibliography mentions no such edition. If, indeed, it exists, it could be worth a fortune to the right collector. It's the kind of book somebody might kill for. In fact, somebody probably already has. Ex-Denver cop Janeway is happily at work selling rare and used books when former police colleague Clydell Slater arrives with an offer. Slater runs a detective agency and he wants Janeway to go to Seattle to pick up a young female fugitive and deliver her to Taos, New Mexico. The woman is wanted for burglary and assault. More to the point, as far as Janeway's concerned, she may also have in her possession a stolen copy of the 1969 Grayson Press Raven, taken when she ransacked a Taos home. The rare-book angle gets to Janeway every time. He could turn down thousands of dollars in fees, but he can't say no to The Raven. Janeway signs on to the case because of a book, but he stays because of a vulnerable young woman. He will discover not only her painful story but the poignant tale of a once-great small press, where paper and ink became beautiful books in the hands of a master craftsman.

    They remove the books that patrons no longer check out. And they put back the books they treasure. Annie Spence, who has a decade of experience as a Midwestern librarian, does this not only at her Michigan library but also at home, for her neighbors, at cocktail parties—everywhere. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, she addresses those books directly. We read her love letters to The Goldfinch and Matilda, as well as her snarky break-ups with Fifty Shades of Grey and Dear John. Her notes to The Virgin Suicides and The Time Traveler’s Wife feel like classics, sure to strike a powerful chord with readers. Through the lens of the books in her life, Annie comments on everything from women’s psychology to gay culture to health to poverty to childhood aspirations. Hilarious, compassionate, and wise, Dear Fahrenheit 451 is the consummate book-lover's birthday present, stocking stuffer, holiday gift, and all-purpose humor book.

    It is a YA and above historically-based, action-adventure fiction book. Homeless and alone on the streets of London in 1800, twelve year-old Jonathan Moore survives a harsh and dangerous world using courage, intelligence and determination. His dismal fate changes dramatically one day after he is abducted by a gang and pressed into service aboard the warship HMS Poseidon, a forty-four gun fighting frigate of the British Royal Navy. However, there is more to the event than just a change of address. How is it that some members of the crew, including the Captain, already know his name? Why do the officers seem to favor him above the other new crewmembers? As Jonathan endeavors to solve these mysteries, he is thrust into a daring mission to recover a hidden treasure on a remote Caribbean isle. Unfortunately, the crew and officers of the Poseidon are not the only ones searching for the prize. In a desperate race across the Atlantic, Jonathan is pitted against sword-wielding spies, engages in terrifying ship- to-ship battles and in the end, must match his wits and courage against a ruthless and cunning French Captain and the infamous French battleship Danielle. Warship Poseidon is the winner of the 2012 Clive Cussler Collector's Society's Grand Master Award and the 2015 Independent Author Network's Outstanding Action Adventure Novel of the Year. Kirkus reviews: "A heartwarming tale of a boy essentially orphaned in search of his father, the novel never ceases to entertain as Jonathan learns the ropes of sea life. The reader learns the ship's nomenclature, discipline and command structure, food preparation, the proper loading and operation of cannon. One even learns the difference between how British and French ships operated back in the early 1800s. Characters are interesting and sympathetic, or unsympathetic, as the case may be. The reader will grow to admire the officers of the Poseidon and her crew-and despise French Capt. Champagne and his knife-wielding cohort, Marcel. Greene's swashbuckling tale of high-seas adventure is pure, uncomplicated fun." Clive Cussler: "A robust story of a young lad in the British navy during the Nelson years. A thorough insight and beautiful portrait of those days under wind-blown sails and the creak of wooden hulls. Peter Greene has created a story that shines from every page. An excellent book. He truly nails an insight of nineteenth century sailing ships and their crews." PREVIOUSLY RELEASED AS "SKULL EYE ISLAND