Vladimir Nabokov) brings to shimmering life one of the greatest literary love stories of our time. Vladimir Nabokov--the émigré author of Lolita; Pale Fire; and Speak, Memory--wrote his books first for himself, second for his wife, Véra, and third for no one at all."Without my wife," he once noted, "I wouldn't have written a single novel." Set in prewar Europe and postwar America, spanning much of the century, the story of the Nabokovs' fifty-two-year marriage reads as vividly as a novel. Véra, both beautiful and brilliant, is its outsized heroine--a woman who loves as deeply and intelligently as did the great romantic heroines of Austen and Tolstoy. Stacy Schiff's Véra is a triumph of the biographical form.

    . . everything in America. The rapacious observer of Tupperware ladies and leisure concept salesmen sounds off on:Football--Football is more than just a game. It is a potential opportunity to see a live person lying on the ground with a bone sticking out of his leg, while the fans, to show their appreciation, perform "the wave."Sailing--There's nothing quite like getting out on the open sea, where you can forget about the hassles and worries of life on land, and concentrate on the hassles and worries of life on the sea, such as death by squid.Gambling--Off-Track Betting parlors are the kinds of places where you never see signs that say, "Thank You for Not Smoking." The best you can hope for is, "Thank You for Not Spitting Pieces of Your Cigar on My Neck.""The good news: he's funny as ever. The bad news: the book is only 304 pages."--Los Angeles Daily News

    The Mitchell family lived in a sprawling, two-story Victorian home with a deep, cool porch where Margaret liked to sit and read. When she was 12, Margaret's family moved to a Colonial Revival-style mansion situated on a fashionable stretch of Peachtree Street. The budding writer made fast friends with a tight-knit group of boys and girls in her new neighbourhood and school, and many of her writings were about the exploits of her gang. Later, at the Washington Seminary, school for girls, Mitchell was president of the literary society, literary editor of the yearbook, and acted in several drama club productions. 'It's really amazing, the way Margaret could write without making corrections, even at such a young age.' says Eskridge. 'She was just a wonderful storyteller, and this collection fleshes in parts of her life that nobody has ever had access to before.I think it will inspire many people to go back and read 'G one With the Wind', and learn more about Mitchell as a person. I especially hope young adults enjoy the book, too and draw inspiration from Margaret's early frustrations vis-a-vis the ultimate success she enjoyed. Hopefully, this collection will inspire the next Margaret Mitchell.'

    During the following ten years they were lovers, worked closely together and she became mother to two of his children, Claude and Paloma. Life with Picasso, her account of those extraordinary years, is filled with intimate and astonishing revelations about the man, his work, his thoughts and his friends - Matisse, Braque, Gertrude Stein and Giacometti, among others. Francois Gilot paints a compelling portrait of her turbulent life with the temperamental (and even abusive) genius that was Picasso. As one of the few intimate witnesses to Picasso as a human being and as an artist, her account of him is invaluable for assessing him on both counts.