Paris in the twenties: Pernod, parties and expatriateAmericans, loose-living on money from home. Jake is wildly in lovewith Brett Ashley, aristocratic and irresistibly beautiful, butwith an abandoned, sensuous nature that she cannot change. When thecouple drifts to Spain to the dazzle of the fiesta and the headyatmosphere of the bullfight, their affair is strained by newpassions, new jealousies, and Jake must finally learn that he willnever possess the woman he loves.

'At 28 years old, I found myself living at home, with my 73-year-old father. As a child, my father never minced words, and when I screwed up, he had a way of cutting right through the bullshit and pointing out exactly why I was being an idiot. When I moved back in I was still, for the most part, an idiot. But this time, I was smart enough to write down all the things he said to me'. Meet Justin Halpern and his dad. Almost one million people follow Mr Halpern's philosophical musings every day on Twitter, and in this book, his son weaves a brilliantly funny, touching coming-of-age memoir around the best of his sayings. What emerges is a chaotic, hilarious, true portrait of a father and son relationship from a major new comic voice. As Justin says at one point, his dad is 'like Socrates, but angrier, and with worse hair'; and this is the sort of shit he says...'You know, sometimes it's nice having you around. But now ain't one of those times. Now gimme the remote, we're not watching this bullshit'. 'Happy Birthd

As a novelist, Graham Swift delights in the possibilities ofthe human voice, imagining his way into the minds and hearts of anextraordinary range of characters. In "Making an Elephant", hisfirst ever work of non-fiction, the voice is his own. Swift bringstogether a richly varied selection of essays, portraits, poetry,and reflections on his life in writing, full of insights into hispassions and motivations, and wise about the friends, family, andother writers who have mattered to him over the years. KazuoIshiguro advises on how to choose a guitar, Salman Rushdie arrivesfor Christmas under guard, and Ted Hughes shares the secrets of aDevon river. There are private moments, too, with long-deadwriters, as well as musings on history and memory that readers ofSwift's novels will recognize and love. 'A rewarding collection,with the same humanity and flair for detail that distinguishesSwift's fiction.

The story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home, seems to depict, like a dream from the deepest recesses of consciousness, an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence. In his introduction, Idris Parry shows that duality-to Kafka a perpetual human condition-lies at the heart of this essentially imaginative magnum opus: dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, reason and nonsense, harmony and disintegration. Thus, The Castle is an unfinished novel that feels strangely complete, in which a labyrinthine world, described in simple language and absurd fantasy, reveals a profound truth. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From one of the 20th century's great writers comes one of thefinest autobiographies of our time. Speak, Memory was firstpublished by Vladimir Nabokov in 1951 as Conclusive Evidence andthen assiduously revised and republished in 1966. The Everyman'sLibrary edition includes, for the first time, the previouslyunpublished "Chapter 16"--the most significant unpublished piece ofwriting by the master, newly released by the Nabokov estate--whichprovided an extraordinary insight into Speak, Memory. Nabokov's memoir is a moving account of a loving, civilizedfamily, of adolescent awakenings, flight from Bolshevik terror,education in England, and émigré life in Paris and Berlin. TheNabokovs were eccentric, liberal aristocrats, who lived a lifeimmersed in politics and literature on splendid country estatesuntil their world was swept away by the Russian revolution when theauthor was eighteen years old. Speak, Memory vividly evokes avanished past in the inimitable prose of Nabokov at his best.

Just after sunset, as darkness grips the imagination, is the time when you feel the unexpected creep into the every day. As familiar journeys take a different turn, ordinary objects assume extraordinary powers. A blind intruder visits a dying man -- and saves his life, with a kiss A woman receives a phone call from her husband. Her late husband. In the emotional aftermath of her baby's sudden death, Emily starts running. And running. Her curiosity leads her right into the hands of a murderer...and soon her legs are her only hope for survival. Enter a world of masterful suspense, dark comedy and thrilling twists which will keep you riveted from the first page. Enter the world of No. 1 bestseller Stephen King.

The growing interest in Afro American literature that began in the 1960s led to the rediscovery of earlier Afro-American writers, one of whom was Jean Toomer, author of Cane. Originally pubhshed in 1923, Cane is generally considered a principle literary masterpiece of the Harlem Renaissance. It is an innovative work-part drama, part poetry, part fiction. "Backgrounds" contains gcnerous excerpts from Jean Toomer's correspondence with fellow writers Sherwood Anderson, Waldo Frank, and Allen Tate, and with his publisher, Horace Liveright. Darwin T. Turner's "Introduction" (to the 1975 Liveright edition of Cana), reprinted here, presents the historical and literary backgrounds to the work, as well as additional biographical information on Toomer. Critical commentary, both contemporary and more recent, on Cane and More Recent, on Cane and Toomer is wide-ranging, Included are essays by W. E. B. Du Bois, Gorham B. Munson, Robert Bone, Patricia Watkins, Lucinda H. MacKethan, Nellie Y. McKay, and Darwin T.

The fifteen essays in this captivating volume treat the innerrather than the outer，life of Japan For this reason，they have beengrouped under the title Kokoro, which can be translatedas“heart”。“spirit.”or“inner meaning”Indeed，Lafcadio Hearnpenetrates to the heart of things Japanese in“Kimiko，”a portrait ofa beautiful geisha；in“By Force of Karma.”the story of a Buddhistmonk；and in H Conservative.”a detail-ed de*ion of a samuraiLonger essays like "The Genius of. Japanese Civilization”and‘.AGlimpse of Tendencies”Shin up the author’s feelings about hisadopted country Hearn aptly called the pieces in this volume“hintsand echoes of Japanese inner life” Although much has changed sincethe days when Hearn fell in love with Japan. These“hints andechoes” still have a remarkable truth about them，for the Japanesespirit，or kokor0,has changed much less than the material conditionsof Japanese life It is Hearn's genius to have perceived what wasquintes sentially Japanese

Swann's Way, by Marcel Proust, is part of the Barnes Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordableprices to the student and the general reader, including newscholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully craftedextras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers andscholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, andcultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books,plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by thework Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints andexpectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices Glossaries, when appropriate All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superiorspecifications; some include illustrations of historical interest.Barnes Noble

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed) Introduction by JohnBayley

"The Metamorphosis and Other Stories," by Franz Kafka, is partof the ""Barnes and Noble Classics" "series, which offers qualityeditions at affordable prices to the student and the generalreader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages ofcarefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable featuresof "Barnes and Noble Classics": New introductions commissioned fromtoday's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authorsChronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and culturalevents Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations,parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, andfilms inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Studyquestions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectationsBibliographies for further reading Indices and Glossaries, whenappropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed tosuperior specifications; some include illustrations of historicalinterest. "Barnes and Noble Classics "pulls together

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is Lo Kuan-chung'sretelling of the events attending the fall of the Han Dynasty in220 A.D., one of the most tumultuous and fascinating periods inChinese history. It is an epic saga of brotherhood and rivalry, ofloyalty and treachery, of victory and death. As important forChinese culture as the Homeric epics have been for the West, thisfourteenth-century masterpiece continues to be loved and readthroughout China as well as in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is part of the Barnes Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordableprices to the student and the general reader, including newscholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully craftedextras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers andscholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, andcultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books,plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by thework Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints andexpectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices Glossaries, when appropriate All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superiorspecifications; some include illustrations of historical interest.Barnes Noble

In a beleaguered city where rats and roving gangs terrorizethe streets, where government has broken down and meaninglessviolence holds sway, a woman -- middle-aged and middle-class -- isbrought a twelve-year-old girl and told that it is herresponsibility to raise the child. This book, which the author hascalled "an attempt at autobiography," is that woman's journal -- aglimpse of a future only slightly more horrendous than our present,and of the forces that alone can save us from totaldestruction.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) A famous legend surrounding thecreation of "Anna Karenina" tells us that Tolstoy began writing acautionary tale about adultery and ended up falling in love withhis magnificent heroine. It is rare to find a reader of the bookwho doesn't experience the same kind of emotional upheaval. AnnaKarenina is filled with major and minor characters who exist intheir own right and fully embody their mid-nineteenth-centuryRussian milieu, but it still belongs entirely to the woman whosename it bears, whose portrait is one of the truest ever made by awriter. Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

An entertaining series of 100 stories told in a country villa outside the city of Florence by ten young noble men and women seeking to escape the plague. Vivid portraits of people from all stations in life. An Oxford University Press World Classic.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Though James Joyce began thesestories of Dublin life in 1904 when he was twenty-two and completedthem in 1907, their unconventional themes and language led torepeated rejections by publishers and delayed publication until1914. In the century since, his story "The Dead" has come to beseen as one of the most powerful evocations of human loss andlonging that the English language possesses; all the other storiesin "Dubliners" are as beautifully turned and as greatly admired.They remind us once again that James Joyce was not only modernism'schief innovator but also one of its most intimate and poeticwriters. In this edition the text has been revised in keeping withJoyce's wishes, and the original versions of "The Sisters,""Eveline," and "After the Race" have been made available in anappendix, along with Joyce's suppressed preface to the 1914 editionof "Dubliners."

In this classic novel by John Updike, we return to a characteras compelling and timeless as Rabbit Angstrom: the inimitable HenryBech. Famous for his writer's block, Bech is a Jew adrift in aworld of Gentiles. As he roams from one adventure to the next, heviews life with a blend of wonder and cynicism that will make youlaugh with delight and wince in recognition.

From her humble beginnings as the daughter of a countrysideblacksmith, Emy Lyon went on to claim the undying love of navalhero Admiral Nelson, England’s most famous native son. She servedas model and muse to eighteenth-century Europe’s most renownedartists, and consorted with kings and queens at the royal court ofNaples. Yet she would end her life in disgraced exile, pennilessand alone. In this richly drawn portrait, Flora Fraser maps thespectacular rise and fall of legendary eighteenth-century beautyEmma, Lady Hamilton—as she came to be called—a woman of abundantaffection and overwhelming charm, whose eye for opportunity wasrivaled only by her propensity for overindulgence and scandal.Wonderfully intimate and lavishly detailed, Beloved Emma brings to life the incomparable Lady Hamilton and the politics,passions, and enchantments of her day.

Because of its frank treatment of human sexuality and itsunflinching fatalism, Jude the Obscure aroused such a stormof controversy upon its publication in 1895 that, partly inresponse, Thomas Hardy abandoned the art of novel-writingaltogether and devoted the rest of his life to poetry. Though wehave come a long way in our social attitudes in the ensuingcentury, nothing about Hardy's masterpiece has lost its power toshock us and disturb our dreams.

Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is JamesPatterson's best book ever Total For 36 years, James Patterson has writtenunputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book thatsurpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born towrite. World All over the world, brutal attacks are cripplingentire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches theescalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When hewitnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of theviolence to come becomes terrifyingly clear. Destruction With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Ozraces to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks aregrowing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will beno place left for humans to hide. With wildly inventive imaginationand white-knuckle suspense that rivals Stephen King at his verybest, James Patterson's ZOO is an epic, non-stop thrill-ride from"One of the best of the best." (TIME)

Poor, plain spinster Bette is compelled to survive on thecondescending patronage of her socially superior relatives inParis: her beautiful, saintly cousin Adeline, the philanderingBaron Hulot and their daughter Hortense. Already deeply resentfulof their wealth, when Bette learns that the man she is in love withplans to marry Hortense, she becomes consumed by the desire toexact her revenge and dedicates herself to the destruction of theHulot family, plotting their ruin with patient, silent malice."Cousin Bette" is a gripping tale of violent jealousy, sexualpassion and treachery, and a brilliant portrayal of the grasping,bourgeois society of 1840s Paris. The culmination of the Comediehumaine, Balzac's epic chronicle of his times, it is one of hisgreatest triumphs as a novelist.