"Sixty-five of the world's leading writers open up about the books and authors that have meant the most to them. These wide-ranging interviews are conducted by Pamela Paul, the editor of the The New York Times Book Review, featuring personalities as varied as David Sedaris, Hilary Mantel, Michael Chabon, Khaled Hosseini, Anne Lamott, and James Patterson. These questions and answers admit us into the private worlds of these authors, as they reflect on their work habits, reading preferences, inspirations, pet peeves, and recommendations.By the Book contains the full uncut interviews, reflecting a range of experiences and observations that deepens readers' understanding of the literary sensibility and the writing process"-- Provided by publisher

In The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes, master anthologist John Gross brings together a delectable smorgasbord of literary tales, offering striking new insight into some of the most important writers in history. Many of the anecdotes here are funny, others are touching, outrageous, sinister, inspiring, or downright weird. They show writers from Chaucer to Bob Dylan acting both unpredictably and deeply in character. The range is wide--this is a book which finds room for Milton and Shakespeare, Mark Twain and Walt Whitman, Kurt Vonnegut and P. G. Wodehouse, Chinua Achebe and Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin and Tom Wolfe. It is also a book in which you can find out which great historian's face was once mistaken for a baby's bottom, which film star experienced a haunting encounter with Virginia Woolf not long before her death, and what Agatha Christie really thought of her popular character Hercule Poirot. It is in short an unrivalled collection of literary gossip offering intimate glimpses into the lives of authors ranging from Shakespeare to Philip Roth--a book not just for lovers of literature, but for anyone with a taste for the curiosities of human nature.

In this characteristically graceful and provocative book, Jerome Bruner, one of the principal architects of the cognitive revolution, sets forth nothing less than a new agenda for the study of mind. According to Professor Bruner, cognitive science has set its sights too narrowly on the logical, systematic aspects of mental life--those thought processes we use to solve puzzles, test hypotheses, and advance explanations. There is obviously another side to the mind--a side devoted to the irrepressibly human acts of imagination that allow us to make experience meaningful. This is the side of the mind that leads to good stories, gripping drama, primitive myths and rituals, and plausible historical accounts. Bruner calls it the "narrative mode," and his book makes important advances in the effort to unravel its nature. Drawing on recent work in literary theory, linguistics, and symbolic anthropology, as well as cognitive and developmental psychology Professor Bruner examines the mental acts that enter into the imaginative creation of possible worlds, and he shows how the activity of imaginary world making undergirds human science, literature, and philosophy, as well as everyday thinking, and even our sense of self. Over twenty years ago, Jerome Bruner first sketched his ideas about the mind's other side in his justly admired book On Knowing: Essays for the Left Hand. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds can be read as a sequel to this earlier work, but it is a sequel that goes well beyond its predecessor by providing rich examples of just how the mind's narrative mode can be successfully studied. The collective force of these examples points the way toward a more humane and subtle approach to the investigation of how the mind works.

""How To Play Better Chess"" by Fred Reinfeld is a comprehensive guide to improving one's chess game. The book is designed for both beginners and intermediate players who want to enhance their skills and take their game to the next level. The book covers a wide range of topics, including basic principles, tactics, strategy, openings, endgames, and more. It provides clear explanations and examples, making it easy for readers to understand and apply the concepts. The author also includes numerous exercises and puzzles throughout the book to help readers practice and reinforce what they have learned. Additionally, there are annotated games from famous players that demonstrate the principles discussed in the book. Overall, ""How To Play Better Chess"" is an excellent resource for anyone looking to improve their chess skills, whether for casual play or competitive tournaments.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

The Collected Novels of Franz Kafka: (The Trial; The Castle; America)638 pp. Epilogue by Max Brod. "In his novels Kafka evokes a nightmare world of enigmatic realities and intangible truths. The hero, or anti-hero, of both The Trial and The Castle is a man named K.--a lonely, perplexed individual, riddled with inexplicable guilt. In The Trial K. is arrested. He doesn't know why. Yet he is pulled, slowly and desperately, into the wayward processes of the law. The same (or a different?) K. in The Castle is a land surveyor, uncannily attracted to yet repelled by a strange, forbidding castle-like structure. America lies within a more traditional novelistic framework; however, a similar atmosphere pervades this work, and reality assumes a certain menace, both alient yet terrifyingly recognizable."Keyword: FRANZ KAFKA NOVELS LITERATURE TRIAL CASTLE AMERICA

Since the late 1980s, queer studies and theory have become vital to the intellectual life of the U.S. This has been, to no small degree, due to the popularity of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's critically acclaimed Epistemology of the Closet. Working from classic texts of European and American writers--including Herman Melville, Henry James, Marcel Proust, and Oscar Wilde--Sedgwick delineates a historical moment in which sexual identity became as important a demarcation of personhood as gender had been for centuries. Sedgwick's literary analysis, while provocative and often startling (you will never read Billy Budd or The Picture of Dorian Gray the same way again), is simply the basis for a larger project of examining and analyzing how the categories of "homosexual" and "heterosexual" continue to shape almost all aspects of contemporary thought. Epistemology of the Closet is a sometimes-dense work, but one filled with wit and empathy. Sedgwick writes with great intelligence and an eye for irony, but always makes clear that her theories and critical acumen are in the service of a politic that seeks to make the world a better and more humane place for everyone. An extraordinary book that reshapes how we think about literature, sexuality, and everyday life. --Michael Bronski

Experience the elegance and intrigue of classical Japanese literature with "The Tale of Genji" by Murasaki. This historical fiction masterpiece transports you to the opulent world of the Japanese aristocracy and court life. Delve into the lives and loves of princes and nobles, exploring themes of power, beauty, and the complexities of human relationships within a rich cultural heritage. "The Tale of Genji" offers a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era, revealing the intricate social customs and artistic sensibilities of historical Japan. A cornerstone of world literature, this enduring story provides a unique window into a captivating culture, offering timeless insights into the human condition. This meticulously prepared print edition allows you to immerse yourself in the beauty and artistry of this classic work. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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In the Newmarket Shooting Script Series format, the facsimile screenplay of the film based on Isak Dinesen's work and life; winner of 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Director; starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. Written exclusively for this edition, Pollack's introduction and notes reveal fascinating insights into the development of the film, characters, and story, and cite the nearly 70 instances in the script where scenes were eliminated, shortened, or otherwise restructured during the shooting and editing. Also included are photographs and production notes describing the meticulous preparations -- sets, locations, costumes -- that helped make the movie such a vivid experience. "The emotion the movie invokes is true Dinesen: when the audience weeps, it is only for the loss of her idol but for her separation from Africa, which Pollack and company have brought so meticulously and beautifully to life". -- David Ansen, Newsweek

"After Rusty Sabich's heated acquittal in the trial for his life, he's restlessly tried to accept his retirement and get his name out of the spotlight. Now, years later, he's found himself living a quiet life in the town of Mirror with a house on the idyllic lake and a new love, Bea. But the peace that's taken him so long to find comes crashing down when Bea's adoptive son, Aaron, who's under Rusty and Bea's supervision while on probation for a possession conviction, goes missing. The court has ordered that Aaron stay in contact with Rusty and Bea, and if he doesn't return soon, he might get sent back to jail. The trouble doesn't end when Aaron eventually turns up. It turns out that he'd been camping with Mae, his childhood sweetheart who has been an endless source of trouble for Aaron. Except Mae didn't return with Aaron. Mae's prosecuting attorney father, Hardy, brings in all of his resources from local police to the FBI to find his daughter. And when Mae is discovered dead, Hardy immediately points the finger at Aaron and the state jumps to trial. Rusty finds himself coming out of retirement to defend his step-son-to-be from a murder charge where the evidence doesn't seem to add up. But regardless of where the truth is pointing, it seems that the odds are stacked against Aaron. It's going to take all of Rusty's knowledge as a lawyer and judge to show the jury that Aaron isn't a murderer and that if they have any reasonable doubt, they must cast "Not guilty." Aaron's life is on the line and so is the one that Rusty has worked so hard for and all that stands between freedom for both of them is the rage-fueled prejudice against Aaron"--

Now in paperback! Winner of the 2025 IPPY Award for literary fiction. Longlisted for the National Book Award. Named a top debut novel of 2024 by Kirkus , and a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year finalist. In between the space of time when Ezra lights themself on fire and when Ezra dies the world of this book flashes before their eyes. Everyone Ezra's ever loved, every place they've felt queer and at home, or queer and out of place, reveals itself in an instant. Unfolding in fragments of memory, Ezra dissolves into the family, religion, desire, losses, pains and joys that made them into the person that's decided on this final act of protest. Told in lyric fragments that span both lifetimes and geography, Yr Dead is a queer, Jewish, diasporic coming of age story that questions how our historical memory shapes our political and emotional present. Visceral, propulsive, and at turns fluorescently beautiful and fluorescently tragic, Yr Dead is the electric debut novel from award-winning writer Sam Sax , one of our most dynamic and imaginative writers.

"Chinatown," generally regarded as the Great American Screenplay, follows a seedy private investigator, Jake Gittes, as he becomes involved in a case far more complicated than he ever imagined. Instead of adultery and divorce, he uncovers a conspiracy reaching to the economic foundations of Los Angeles. Set in the 1930s, the film was directed by Roman Polanski and stars Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston.

Recreates the legend of the demi-god Sumerian king Gilgamesh, slayer of monsters and master of unsurpassed treasures, who searches for the key to immortality.

What should Carly Beth be for Halloween this year? Terrified! Late at night, and ugly green mask is mysteriously calling out to her. If Carly Beth survives the night, even a scary theme park might sound like a vacation. Or maybe not! At Horrorland, every night is Halloween. And those monster masks? They aren't masks at all.

"It's the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlour maid in England."-- Back cover.

Essays of Michel de Montaigne, Volumes 2 and 3 Translated by Charles Cotton and edited by William Carew Hazlitt, these volumes of Michel de Montaigne's Essays delve into the human condition through a variety of thought-provoking topics. Volume 2 includes essays on subjects such as sorrow, idleness, and the nature of our affections. Volume 3 explores themes including the force of imagination, the punishment of cowardice, and the philosophical inquiry into death. Each essay offers a unique perspective on human nature, often drawing from Montaigne's personal reflections and classical sources.

Griffin Mill, a ruthless, ambitious senior vice president at a major Hollywood studio, has a mind devoid of principle and a luxury-filled life, but his world is shaken when a writer he has ignored threatens his life. Book available. Movie tie-in.

A stellar group of contemporary fiction masters offer their original takes on the tried-and-true genres of adventure, science fiction, crime story, romance, horror and more. Contributors include Michael Chabon, Roddy Doyle, Heidi Julavitz, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Amy Tan, Peter Straub, and Jonathan Safran Foer.

"The Plainswalker: A Mind-Bending Journey Beyond Imagination" Prepare for an electrifying adventure penned by a USA Today bestselling author, hailed by none other than James M. Ward, author of "Deities and Demigods," as one of his top five fantasy novels. Meet Peabo Smith, a former Special Forces soldier who embarks on a journey that defies the boundaries of science and reality. Volunteering for a daring experiment that rivals the audacity of the moon landing, Peabo believes it's a chance to get back into the action. But as the clandestine government operation known as STAG, the Special Technologies Analysis Group, unfolds its enigmatic mission fifty feet beneath Marine Base Quantico, Peabo realizes that the experiment holds secrets beyond his wildest imagination. "The Plainswalker" is a tale of a soldier thrust into a science experiment that challenges the very fabric of existence. When the unexpected occurs, Peabo's life takes a turn he never saw coming. Join him on a mind-bending journey where the boundaries of reality blur, and the line between science and fantasy vanishes. Will Peabo emerge unscathed from this extraordinary odyssey, or will it change him forever? Buckle up for a thrill ride beyond the cosmos and into the unknown.