Bestselling novelist Sheldon's memoir is reminiscent of his colorful novels, a rags-to-riches yarn replete with struggle, an indomitable hero and eventual glamour. It opens with a 17-year-old Sheldon preparing to commit suicide in Chicago in 1934. "[L]onely and trapped," he wanted to attend college but couldn't afford it. Thankfully, his father intervened, and the young man got a new lease on life. He went from being an RKO theater usher to a struggling songwriter, then a top-flight Hollywood screenwriter in a few short years. For the next 30-odd years, Sheldon wrote and directed films, meeting studio honchos and stars like Kirk Douglas, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. The author's impressive achievements include a WWII flying stint, a screenwriting Oscar for 1947's The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, a Tony for writing the 1959 Broadway hit Redhead, the creation of four classic TV series (including I Dream of Jeannie) and several bestsellers (Bloodline; The Sands of Time; etc.). Yet these accomplishments came

Originally subtitled "An Adventurous Education, 1935-1946",this book is a key volume in Kerouac's lifework, the series ofautobiographical novels he referred to as The Legend of Duluoz. Awonderfully unassuming look back at the origins of his career--aprehistory of the Beat era, written from the perspective of thepsychedelic '60s.

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by G. H.McWilliam

#1 "New York Times" bestselling author Tami Hoag mixes mysteryand romance in this moving classic novel of a missing woman and thesearch that brings together the unlikeliest of lovers.... She was ablond goddess, a box office megastar. Every woman wanted to be her;every man wanted to bed her. But over a year ago Devon Staffordvanished without a trace. As a biographer, Jake Gannon had taughthimself to follow the clues of a person's life story like adetective. As an ex-Marine, he was accustomed to being firmly incontrol. But when his car died in a little town called Mare's Neston the Carolina coast, he had to admit he'd come to a dead end.There he met a .38-toting tow-truck driver named Dixie La Fontaine.She was no celebrity, but Dixie had an irresistible sex appeal allher own. What did this down-to-earth woman know about a missingmovie star? Surprisingly, quite a lot. And Jake was going touncover it all...if Dixie didn't end up shooting him first.

Deadeye Dick is Vonnegut's funny, chillingly satirical look atthe death of innocence. Amid a true Vonnegutian host of horrors-adouble murder, a fatal dose of radioactivity, a decapitation, anannihilation of a city by a neutron bomb-Rudy Waltz, a.k.a. DeadeyeDick, takes us along on a zany search for absolution and happiness.Here is a tale of crime and punishment that makes us rethink whatwe believe...and who we say we are.

She was a vision. She was a siren. She was a nightmare. Shewas dead. Now he needed her to disappear. And he knew just how tomake it happen. The Palm Beach elite go to great lengths to protecttheir own—and their own no longer includes Elena Estes. Once upon atime a child of wealth and privilege, Elena turned her back on thatlife. Betrayed and disillusioned by those closest to her, she chosethe life of an undercover cop, the hunt for justice her ownpersonal passion. Then a tragic, haunting mistake ended her career.Now Elena exists on the fringes of her old life, training horsesfor a living. But a shocking event is about to draw her back intothe painful vortex she’s fought so hard to leave behind. First she finds the body—a young woman used, murdered, and dumpedin a canal. Not just a victim, but a friend. As Elena delves intoher dead friend’s secret life, she discovers ties not only to theRussian mob but also to a group of powerful and wealthy Palm Beachbad boys known for giving each other a

Whilst awaiting trial for war crimes in an Israeli prison, Howard W. Campbell Jr sets down his memoirs on an old German typewriter. He has used such a typewriter before, when he worked as a Nazi propagandist under Goebbels. Though that was before he agreed to become a spy for US military. Is Howard guilty? Can a black or white verdict ever be reached in a world that's a gazillion shades of grey?

A rousing history of the world's first dominant navy andthe towering empire it built The Athenian Navy was one of the finest fighting forces in thehistory of the world. It engineered a civilization, empowered theworld's first democracy, and led a band of ordinary citizens on avoyage of discovery that altered the course of history. With Lords of the Sea , renowned archaeologist John R. Halepresents, for the first time, the definitive history of the epicbattles, the fearsome ships, and the men-from extraordinary leadersto seductive rogues-that established Athens's supremacy. With ascholar's insight and a storyteller's flair, Hale takes us on anunforgettable voyage with these heroes, their turbulent careers,and far-flung expeditions, bringing back to light a forgottenmaritime empire and its majestic legacy.

A new trade paperback edition of McCullers' second novel,REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE, immortalized by the 1967 film starringElizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, and John Houston. Set on aSouthern army base in the 1930s, REFLECTIONS tells the story ofCaptain Penderton, a bisexual whose life is upset by the arrival ofMajor Langdon, a charming womanizer who has an affair withPenderton's tempestuous and flirtatious wife, Leonora. Upon thenovel's publication in 1941, reviewers were unsure of what to makeof its relatively scandalous subject matter. But a critic for TimeMagazine wrote, "In almost any hands, such material would yield arank fruitcake of mere arty melodrama. But Carson McCullers tellsher tale with simplicity, insight, and a rare gift of phrase."Written during a time when McCullers's own marriage to Reeves wason the brink of collapse, her second novel deals with her trademarkthemes of alienation and unfulfilled loves.

Stories of famously eccentric Princetonians abound--such as that of chemist Hubert Alyea, the model for The Absent-Minded Professor, or Ralph Nader, said to have had his own key to the library as an undergraduate. Or the "Phantom of Fine Hall," a figure many students had seen shuffling around the corridors of the math and physics building wearing purple sneakers and writing numerology treatises on the blackboards. The Phantom was John Nash, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who had spiraled into schizophrenia in the 1950s. His most important work had been in game theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large part of economics. When the Nobel Prize committee began debating a prize for game theory, Nash's name inevitably came up--only to be dismissed, since the prize clearly could not go to a madman. But in 1994 Nash, in remission from schizophrenia, shared the Nobel Prize in economics for work done some 45 years previously. Economist and journalist Sylvia Nasar has written

The best-known and most autobiographical of George Eliot’s novels is now available as a Norton Critical Edition. The text of The Mill on the Floss, that of the 1862 third edition for which Eliot made her last revisions, has been annotated in order to assist the reader with obscure references and allusions Backgrounds includes fifteen letters from the 1859-69 period centering on the novel’s content and composition; "Brother and Sister" (1869), a little-known sonnet sequence; and eight Victorian reviews and responses, both published and unpublished, on the novel, including those by Henry James, Algernon Charles Swinurne, and John Ruskin. Judiciously chosen from the wealth of essays on The Mill on the Floss published in this century, Criticism includes ten of the best studies of the novel, providing the reader with historical and critical perspective. The contributors are Leslie Stephen, Virginia Woolf, F. R. Leavis, George Levine, Ulrich Knoepflmacher, Philip Fisher, Mary Jacobus, John Kuci

It took Lucinda an eternity to find her beloved angel, Daniel.But he waited for her. Now they are forced apart again, to protectLuce from the Outcasts - immortals who want her dead. During theirseparation, Luce learns about her mysterious past lives. But themore she discovers, the more she suspects that Daniel is hidingsomething. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't true? Is itreally their destiny to be together? Or is Luce actually meant tobe with someone else? The thrilling sequel to the internationalbestseller, FALLEN。

Lawyer Atticus Finch defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic, Puliter Prize-winning novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white woman. Through the eyes of Atticus's children, Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unanswering honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930's.

The book begins at midnight, 5-6 June 1944, when the first British and American airborne troops penetrated France and launched the invasion. What happens in between is covered from every perspective: the high command, the enlisted ranks, the French civilians the German defenders, and Allied attackers by land, sea and air. Drawing on more than 500 interviews and oral histories, the book looks at the individuals involved and their experiences rather than units. Moving from Ike's level to that of a French child, from Bradley to an American paratrooper, from Montgomery to a British private, from Rommel to a German sergeant at the point of the attack, the book tells stories from the people who were there.

Now a classic of the travel genre, The Great Railway Bazaarchronicles Paul Theroux's adventures by rail from Victoria Stationin London to Tokyo Central, told with his signature wryobservations.

"America's favorite writer" ( The New Yorker )unveils a world where nothing is as it seems. The daughter of a world-renowned magician, RoxyNouvelle has inherited her father's talents-and his penchant forjewel thievery. Into this colorful world comes Luke Callahan, anescape artist who captures her heart-and keeps secrets that couldshatter all her illusions...

Rand al' Thor, the Dragon Reborn, strives to bind the nationsof the world to his will, to forge the alliances that will fightthe advance of the Shadow and to ready the forces of Light for theLast Battle. But there are other powers that seek to command thewar against the Dark One. In the White Tower the Amyrlin Elaidasets a snare to trap the Dragon, whilst the rebel Aes Sedai schemeto bring her down. And as the realms of men fall into chaos theimmortal Forsaken and the servants of the Dark plan their assaulton the Dragon Reborn ...Find out more about this title and othersat www.orbitbooks.co.uk

In Dark Star Safari the wittily observant and endearinglyirascible Paul Theroux takes readers the length of Africa byrattletrap bus, dugout canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry,and train. In the course of his epic and enlightening journey, heendures danger, delay, and dismaying circumstances. Gauging the state of affairs, he talks to Africans, aid workers,missionaries, and tourists. What results is an insightfulmeditation on the history, politics, and beauty of Africa and itspeople, and "a vivid portrayal of the secret sweetness, the hiddenvitality, and the long-patient hope that lies just beneath thesurface" (Rocky Mountain News). In a new post*, Therouxrecounts the dramatic events of a return to Africa to visitZimbabwe.

Dreams are realized in the eagerly-awaited fourthnovel in Nora Roberts's Bride Quartet. As thepublic face of Vows wedding planning company, Parker Brown has anuncanny knack for fulfilling every bride's vision. She just can'tsee where her own life is headed. Mechanic Malcomb Kavanaugh lovesfiguring out how things work, and Parker is no exception. Both knowthat moving from minor flirtation to major hook-up is a seriousstep. Parker's business risks have always paid off, but now she'llhave to take the chance of a lifetime with her heart...

Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job,loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina.In full pursuit of the good life-- boating, swimming, and regularbarbecues with his good-natured buddies--he holds the vagueconviction that a serious relationship with a woman would onlycramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door.Despite his attempts to be neighborly, the appealing redhead seemsto have a chip on her shoulder about him . . . and the presence ofher longtime boyfriend doesn't help. Despite himself, Travis can'tstop trying to ingratiate himself with his new neighbor, and hispersistent efforts lead them both to the doorstep of a journey thatneither could have foreseen. Spanning the eventful years of younglove, marriage and family, THE CHOICE ultimately confronts us withthe most heartwrenching question of all: how far would you go tokeep the hope of love alive?

Prefaced by the famous "Atlantic Monthly" essay of the samename, in which he argues the virtues of the hard-boiled detectivenovel, this collection mostly drawn from stories he wrote for thepulps demonstrates Chandler's imaginative, entertaining facilitywith the form.