The Making of Americans is not really a novel, as Gertrude Stein's narrator says-"not just an ordinary kind of novel with a plot and conversations to amuse you"-but an attempt at a thorough and exacting distillation of the essential properties of peoples' behavior. Through sentences that seem to repeat themselves, we are presented, on the surface, with a portrait of the "simple middle class monotonous tradition" as enacted by generations of the Dehning and Hersland families and their acquaintances. Underneath this is a slow, sieved attempt at something like total knowledge, an excavation of an overwhelming impulse "to understand the complete being in each one and all the details of their coming to have in them their kind of feeling...anything in them that gives to them inside them the feeling of being distinguished to themselves inside them."

Text: English, French (translation)

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Andy's not your average resident of exclusive Foxmeadow -- whenever he sits down to draw something, it turns out to be a dragon. And he wants to be a detective when he grows up -- not just an ordinary, everyday police detective, but a tough, cool, famous detective like the ones he reads about in mystery novels. Everyone knows a famous detective needs a sidekick, but Mrs. Edie Yakots, a lonely new bride who's just moved into Foxmeadow, isn't exactly what Andy had in mind -- he sometimes has a hard time just figuring out what's she's talking about. But she's the only volunteer for the job, and before he knows it, she's led him right into the middle of his first real crime -- in an inner-city neighborhood a short drive, and light years away, from Foxmeadow.

A dazzling triumph from the bestselling author of 'The War of the Roses' - a sweeping and ambitious novel spanning across two eras and the city at the center of it all. A mother's deathbed confession. A son's life spins out of control. And now Osiris has one mission; to find his long lost sister, Isis. Osiris embarks upon a journey to his ancestral home in Egypt. The winding streets of the City of the Dead conceal many dangers. His mother's enemies are everywhere and will not hesitate to kill to keep their secrets hidden. Cryptic clues left by his mother slowly begin to unravel, and with it, a trail of cold bodies in Osiris' wake. But he is not the only one searching for Isis. And this predator is not looking for a happy reunion but something much more sinister. This bitter and incredibly deadly enemy is hot on Osiris' scent; he's hunter that triggers a heart-stopping chase with utterly fatal consequences. Follow Osiris in this edge-of-your-seat roller-coaster ride of daring maneuvers and nerve-wracking action as they try to find Isis before they both end up in just another Egyptian tomb. Readers thrilled about this edge of your seat novel: "Mother Nile is an utterly engrossing story." - Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Mr. Adler’s writing is remarkable; his use of language erudite and energized." - Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Mr. Adler is a masterful storyteller..." - Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "This story is so skillfully drawn to pull us in from the start and keep us captive till the very end." - Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "What a lovely gift inside a nitty-gritty novel that cannot be easily classified.. It is as tender as as it is cruel." - Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "The story line itself makes the book worthwhile, but the detailed look at life in the recent past makes the book exceptional." - Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Elisa - orphaned as a child, raised by a 'fallen woman', fed by fairy tales - has lived in an outlandish imaginary world for years. When her guardian dies, she feels compelled to confront her family's tortured and dramatic past, weaving the tale of her mother and grandmother through a history of intrigue, treachery, deception and desire. But as her saga of three generations of Sicilian women proceeds, it becomes something else entirely, taking in a whole legacy of oppression and injustice. By turns flamboyant and intense, raging and funny, Lies and Sorcery is a celebration of the female imagination, and the power of storytelling itself. First published in 1948, Elsa Morante's debut novel won the Viareggio Prize and earned her the lasting admiration of generations of writers from Italo Calvino and Natalia Ginzburg to Elena Ferrante. Translated by Jenny McPhee

Odin's Library Classics is dedicated to bringing the world the best of humankind's literature from throughout the ages. Carefully selected, each work is unabridged from classic works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama.

When the daughter of prominent human rights activist, Sarah Raab, is kidnapped by what may be a terrorist organization, her life is put into turmoil. Told not to seek out the police, she turns to a former high-level CIA operative, Carl Helman: an anti-terrorist expert she has only recently met. She must battle with her conscience and her strongly held beliefs while working with a man who embodies everything she despises. When she discovers that a member of her own inner circle could be involved, Sarah must make the horrific choice of allowing Helman to use his "advanced interrogation techniques" on them or risk losing her daughter. How could this happen? Why would a terrorist group target her family? And how far against her own values is Sarah willing to go when the threat of loss becomes devastatingly personal?

Flight without End (German: Die Flucht ohne Ende) is a 1927 novel by the Austrian writer Joseph Roth. The novel is set in the period between August 1916 and 27 August 1926. It starts in the city of Irkutsk and ends in Paris. During his journey the protagonist lives in Ukraine, Baku, Vienna and an unspecified German university town on the Rhine. The novel starts with protagonist Franz Tunda, born 1894, escaping confinement in Russia and finding a home with Baranowicz from Poland, who lives in Werchne-Udisnk. In the spring of 1919 the lieutenant hears of the end of the war and decides to go to Vienna to meet his fiancee, Miss Irene Hartmann. By September Tunda has made it to Ukraine. Caught up in the Russian Civil War, he first falls into the hands of the White Army, but later he ends up with the Red Army. Tunda falls in love with his supervisor, a Russian woman named Natascha Alexandrowna, becomes a revolutionary himself and gives passionate speeches in support of Communism. Later, in Moscow, Tunda has to manage his postwar life. He is asked to join the Communist Party, but leaves to Georgia and falls in love with a woman called Alja. They get married in Baku. Tunda takes care of a French delegation from Paris, shows them around and sleeps with Mrs. G., the only woman in the delegation. Later he is regarded as a spy by the French. When saying goodbye, Mrs G. tells Tunda her address in France. Tunda leaves his wife, gets Austrian identity papers and later lives in Vienna on unemployment benefit. He misses his home in Siberia just as much as he misses to Irene. On his way to Paris, he visits his brother, a well-off bandmaster who lives in the Rhineland, but they don't have anything to talk about. Tunda publishes a book about his experiences and sends his wife in Baku a bit of money. In Paris, he meets Mrs G. again, but everyone in France seems to know that he is broke. Tunda and Irene pass each other once, but neither recognizes the other. Baranowicz writes a letter from Siberia: Alja has just arrived at his place and they are both waiting for Tunda. Tunda can now go back to the region of Irkutsk but he doesn't know what to do. The novel was adapted into a 1985 film directed by Michael Kehlmann. A stage adaptation by Steve Waters was performed at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in May 2006. (wikipedia.org)

It is arbitrary to say where the development of the moving pictures began and it is impossible to foresee where it will lead. What invention marked the beginning? Was it the first device to introduce movement into the pictures on a screen? Or did the development begin with the first photographing of various phases of moving objects? Or did it start with the first presentation of successive pictures at such a speed that the impression of movement resulted?

Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber After the glamour had worn off, and the glass slippers were worn out, did the Prince never find Cinderella's manner redolent of the kitchen hearth; and was it never necessary that he remind her to be more careful of her finger-nails and grammar? After Puss in Boots had won wealth and a wife for his young master did not that gentleman often fume with chagrin because the neighbors, perhaps, refused to call on the lady of the former poor miller's son? It is a great risk to take with one's book-children. These stories make no such promises. They stop just short of the phrase of the old story writers, and end truthfully, thus: And so they lived. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Lobsterman tells the story of a day in the life of a lobsterman's son, working alongside his father. In acclaimed artist Dahlov Ipcar's signature style, it portrays a major lifeway of the Maine coast and is a classic staple of Maine children's literature.

A dark, moving, and beautifully written novel about family, honor, and justice - exploring the world of young Russian immigrant Slava Gelman who stumbles from one tragicomic incident to another.

There was once an old woman who had a potato farm and two hardworking, loving sons. But one day one son ran away to the army of the east; the other son joined the army of the west. Caldecott Honor artist Anita Lobel tells a powerful story of two brothers who become enemies at war, and their wise mother whose cleverness turns fighting into peace. A new, full-color edition of the timely and timeless tale Potatoes, Potatoes.

Tender Buttons - Objects--Food--Rooms Matisse Picasso and Gertrude Stein with Two Shorter Stories Three Lives - Stories of The Good Anna, Melanctha and The Gentle Lena

Collection of stories Bio Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 - April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), Cimarron (1930; adapted into the 1931 film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), Giant (1952; made into the 1956 film of the same name) and Ice Palace (1958), which also received a film adaptation in 1960. Ferber's novels generally featured strong female protagonists, along with a rich and diverse collection of supporting characters. She usually highlighted at least one strong secondary character who faced discrimination, ethnic or otherwise. Ferber's works often concerned small subsets of American culture, and sometimes took place in exotic locations she had visited but was not intimately familiar with, such as Texas or Alaska. She thus helped to highlight the diversity of American culture to those who did not have the opportunity to experience it. Some novels are set in places she had not visited. (wikipedia.org)

This collection of 37 stories by a master of the form features tales that are sometimes funny, sometimes violent, and sometimes weird and nightmarish: in short, it is quintessential Gerald Kersh. Kersh (1911-1968) published more than thirty books, including the noir classic Night and the City (1938) and Fowlers End (1957), which Anthony Burgess called "one of the great comic novels of the century," as well as hundreds of short stories which were once ubiquitous in British and American magazines. But though he has been championed by Angela Carter, Harlan Ellison, Ian Fleming, Michael Moorcock and others, Kersh has undeservedly fallen into neglect since his death. This is the first-ever reprint of Neither Man Nor Dog (1946), one of the author's scarcest volumes. Kersh's novels Fowlers End and The Great Wash and the short story collections Nightshade and Damnations , On an Odd Note , and Clock Without Hands are also available from Valancourt. "[B]rutal but highly talented ... at least one [story] is ... a little masterpiece, and all of them possess the virtue of being highly readable." - J.D. Beresford, The Guardian "[E]xplosive with violence . . . The best of them are very good. The unfailing fertility of his imagination is indeed to be wondered at . . . For entertainment of a strong kind, Mr. Kersh would be hard to beat." - Times Literary Supplement "Kersh tells a story, as such, rather better than anybody else." - Pamela Hansford Johnson, Daily Telegraph