George Saunders

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Virginia

In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE • “[A] worship song to writers and readers.”—Oprah Daily For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. In his introduction, Saunders writes, “We’re going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art—namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?” He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

507ca3c8-2f37-4828-bcb0-0a75933a549e-1

Ridley Pearson

Dave Barry

Reinforced binding. Disney book. Clean, tight. No apparent sign of usage.

Fearing that the sinister Lord Ombra was not destroyed, Peter and Molly travel to the land of Rundoon, which is ruled by the evil King Zarboff, and once again find themselves in a struggle to save themselves as well as the planet. 200,000 first printing.

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

70afa2dc-def2-4ce4-a891-8979e9741326-1

Walter Isaacson

First Simon and Schuster hard cover edition, no apparent sign of  usage.

Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

"A gripping account of how the pioneering scientist Jennifer Doudna, along with her colleagues and rivals, launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and enhance our children"--

The Code Breaker

3a134021-f1e7-4918-985a-ef152f4c0c3e

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Inscribed on first page by   owner.  Book and dust jacket are complete, free or any sign of usage.

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A Novel

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom. “This potent book about America’s most disgraceful sin establishes [Ta-Nehisi Coates] as a first-rate novelist.”—San Francisco Chronicle IN DEVELOPMENT AS A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Adapted by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Kamilah Forbes, produced by MGM, Plan B, and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • Vanity Fair • Esquire • Good Housekeeping • Paste • Town & Country • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known. So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures. This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen. Praise for The Water Dancer “Ta-Nehisi Coates is the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race with his 2015 memoir, Between the World and Me. So naturally his debut novel comes with slightly unrealistic expectations—and then proceeds to exceed them. The Water Dancer . . . is a work of both staggering imagination and rich historical significance. . . . What’s most powerful is the way Coates enlists his notions of the fantastic, as well as his fluid prose, to probe a wound that never seems to heal. . . . Timeless and instantly canon-worthy.”—Rolling Stone

The Water Dancer

d3d903ba-9476-4c00-b8a6-51208e99f8e1-1

Ann Leary

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good House, the story of two friends, raised in the same orphanage, whose loyalty is put to the ultimate test when they meet years later at a controversial institution--one as an employee; the other, an inmate.

It's 1927 and eighteen-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as a secretary at a remote but scenic institution for mentally disabled women called the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. She's immediately in awe of her employer--brilliant, genteel Dr. Agnes Vogel.

Dr. Vogel had been the only woman in her class in medical school. As a young psychiatrist she was an outspoken crusader for women's suffrage. Now, at age forty, Dr. Vogel runs one of the largest and most self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary deeply admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women under her care.

Soon after she's hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood orphanage is one of the inmates. Mary remembers Lillian as a beautiful free spirit with a sometimes-tempestuous side. Could she be mentally disabled? When Lillian begs Mary to help her escape, alleging the asylum is not what it seems, Mary is faced with a terrible choice. Should she trust her troubled friend with whom she shares a dark childhood secret? Mary's decision triggers a hair-raising sequence of events with life-altering consequences for all.

Inspired by a true story about the author's grandmother, The Foundling offers a rare look at a shocking chapter of American history. This gripping page-turner will have readers on the edge of their seats right up to the stunning last page...asking themselves, "Did this really happen here?"

The Foundling

3b5fa9b7-0522-4b24-8dce-25fe08f67077-1

Veronica Roth

Book is clean qnd tight-ready to be read!

Fans of Star Wars and Divergent will revel in internationally bestselling author Veronica Roth’s stunning new science-fiction fantasy series. On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favored by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not—their gifts make them vulnerable to others’ control. Can they reclaim their gifts, their fates, and their lives, and reset the balance of power in this world? Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power—something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows. Akos is from the peace-loving nation of Thuvhe, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Though protected by his unusual currentgift, once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost. When Akos is thrust into Cyra’s world, the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. They must decide to help each other to survive—or to destroy one another.

Carve the Mark

aed70e40-6973-4b2b-8ce9-46d40dbdf728-1

Sara Nisha Adams

Clean, tight. My book club read this book-thought it was very good! 





A BEST OF SUMMER READ ACCORDING TO NEWSWEEK, PARADE MAGAZINE, NBC NEWS, LITHUB, AND POPSUGAR!

"The most heartfelt read of the summer...a surprising delight of a novel."--Shondaland

An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.

Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries.

Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It's a list of novels that she's never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she's facing at home.

When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list...hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again. 

The Reading List

27245abe-c7eb-4196-baf6-6b555106472d-1

Tristram Korten

Two Ships, a Deadly Hurricane, and an Epic Battle for Survival

Into the Storm

2ee89531-7b84-463b-adab-732cb359b6d5-1

Michael Cunningham

Signed by author. Book and dust jacket are as new.

Prophetic poet Walt Whitman presides over each interlinked episode in a visionary novel set in the city of New York, featuring the same group of characters--a young boy, an older man, and a young woman--that range from "In the Machine," which takes place at the height of the Industrial Revolution, through the twenty-first-century "Children's Crusade," to "Like Beauty," set in a city of the future. 500,000 first printing

Specimen Days

81018d15-540a-44cc-9bdd-c97642630434-1

Ian McEwan

Book and dust jacket are free of rips or tears, writing or highlighting.  Tight and straight .

A highly respected London judge hides behind her professional accomplishments her decision to separate from a husband who wants an open marriage, a loss that challenges her beliefs throughout a case involving parents whose faith forbids a life-saving transfusion for their son. 150,000 first printing.

The Children Act

6aef3859-c22a-467a-8ff4-ed55125e7e63-1

Norman Mailer

Some Thoughts on Writing

“Writing is spooky. There is no routine of an office to keep you going, only the blank page each morning, and you never know where your words are coming from, those divine words.” In The Spooky Art, Norman Mailer discusses with signature candor the rewards and trials of the writing life, and recommends the tools to navigate it. Addressing the reader in a conversational tone, he draws on the best of more than fifty years of his own criticism, advice, and detailed observations about the writer’s craft. Mailer explores, among other topics, the use of first person versus third person, the pressing need for discipline, the pitfalls of early success, and the dire matter of coping with bad reviews. While The Spooky Art offers a fascinating preview of what can lie in wait for the student and fledgling writer, the book also has a great deal to say to more advanced writers on the contrary demands of plot and character, the demon writer’s block, and the curious ins-and-outs of publishing. Throughout, Mailer ties in examples from his own career, and reflects on the works of his fellow writers, living and dead—Twain, Melville, Faulkner, Hemingway, Updike, Didion, Bellow, Styron, Beckett, and a host of others. In The Spooky Art, Mailer captures the unique untold suffering and exhilaration of the novelist’s daily life and, while plotting a clear path for other writers to follow, maintains reverence for the underlying mystery and power of the art.

The Spooky Art

bf837125-c261-4442-be79-622d35506823-1

Lydia Bird

Clean and tight.  Book and dust jacket are in excellent condition.

One Woman's Voyage from Maryland to Greece

Sonnet

5014ed7c-e325-4466-8b02-e2b485a69bda-0

Toni Morrison

Book and dust jacket are in excellent condition. Clean and tight.

Captures the dreams, memories, conflicts, and complex interior lives of the citizens of a small, all-Black town as four young women are brutally attacked in a convent near the town during the 1970s, in a novel that blends past, present, and future

Paradise

d98c631f-17b1-4aac-a900-00ec2117352b-1

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

"Rumors had been whispered for more than a year. Outrages that had been accumulating all along took shape as evidence. A mother was knocked down the stairs by her cold-eyed daughter. Four damaged infants were born in one family. Daughters refused to get out of bed. Brides disappeared on their honeymoons. Two brothers shot each other on New Year's Day. Trips to Demby for VD shots common. And what went on at the Oven these days was not to be believed . . . The proof they had been collecting since the terrible discovery in the spring could not be denied: the one thing that connected all these catastrophes was in the Convent. And in the Convent were those women."

In Paradise--her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature--Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain," assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void "Out There . . . where random and organized evil erupted when and where it chose." Richly imagined and elegantly composed, Paradise weaves a powerful mystery.

Sasha Su-Ling Welland

Spine of dust jacket is faded. Book is tight, straight, free of blemish from usage.

The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters

A Thousand Miles of Dreams recounts the evocative and intimate biography of two intensely rivalrous Chinese sisters, a writer and a doctor, whose eventful lives took very different paths in their quest to be independent women. They were Chinese modern girls who sought to forge their own way during a period of social revolution that unsettled relations between men and women, even among nations. Daughters of an imperial scholar-official and a concubine, the two sisters followed professional trajectories unimaginable to their parents' generation.

A Thousand Miles of Dreams

16543bc2-6827-402c-8886-ecf90cea421e-0

Stewart O'Nan

When a popular high-school student goes missing from her small Midwestern community, her loving parents, introverted sister, friends, and boyfriend devote themselves to finding her, an effort that gives way to pleading television appearances, private investigations, and intimate struggles to cling to hope. 60,000 first printing.

Songs for the Missing

7a1409f1-7e66-43a1-abbd-9a85fed40293-1

Marley Brant

The Illustrated History of the James-Younger Gang

Sifts through the myths surrounding Jesse James and his cohorts-in-crime to document their real-life adventures.

Outlaws

88d0ac8c-18fb-4979-beb8-40b3f9c7275c-0

Benjamin Hall

No tears folds creases
Does have writing as shown 

A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home

Dispatches from the Edge meets In an Instant in this dramatic memoir of war, family, resilience, and recovery from Benjamin Hall, the Fox News journalist who was gravely injured by a Russian drone attack in the early days of the invasion of Ukraine. Over the course of his career, seasoned war correspondent Benjamin Hall covered some of the deadliest armed conflicts of our time, including violence in Syria, Libya, and Somalia. But with a young family at home, Hall chose to trade life on the edge for a safer beat covering the US Department of State. Then Russia viciously attacked Ukraine in February 2022. Though he knew the dangers of war and was no longer traveling to war zones, Hall quickly accepted the assignment. He had to tell this story--Americans needed to understand the gravity of this stunning, world-altering conflict. Though he had witnessed and survived years of violence, on March 14, a month into the invasion of Ukraine, Hall and his crew were hit by a Russian drone strike, killing his cameraman and a fellow journalist and gravely injuring him. Stuck inside the warzone, it was feared Hall might not make it out alive. This is the story of how he survived--including his dramatic rescue and his arduous and ongoing recovery. For the first time, Hall shares his experiences in full--of his time in Ukraine and on the frontlines of the world's most perilous conflicts, of the terrible attack that nearly killed him, of the love of his family, of the strength and perseverance it has taken to endure multiple surgeries and learn how to walk again. Going inside the events that have permanently transformed him, Hall speaks honestly about the struggle to step away from the peril and how his years of experience kept him safe--until they failed him. And he pays tribute to American service members who not only helped save him, but decades earlier rescued his father, who, during World War II at age twelve, escaped a Japanese camp in the Philippines and eventually reached American GIs. Most remarkably, Hall's spirit has remained undaunted throughout his ordeal--a spirit of hope and positivity which infuses this exceptional story. Evocative, harrowing, and deeply moving, Untitled is a powerful memoir of family and perseverance, of life and healing, and of what to do when you are tested in ways you never thought possible. Benjamin Hall's memoir includes a 16-page color photo insert.

Saved

75dd6698-b8c9-4f49-a772-2c52a1d65c6f-1

Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling

44babc83-47b4-473c-8c10-642693b56c6f-1

Neil Strauss

Journeys into Fame and Madness

You can tell a lot about somebody in a minute. If you choose the right minute. Here are 228 of them. Join Neil Strauss, "The Mike Tyson of interviewers," (Dave Pirner, Soul Asylum), as he Makes Lady Gaga cry, tries to keep MÖtley CrÜe out of jail & gets kidnapped by Courtney Love Shoots guns with Ludacris, takes a ride with Neil Young & goes to church with Tom Cruise and his mother Spends the night with Trent Reznor, reads the mind of Britney Spears & finds religion with Stephen Colbert Gets picked on by Led Zeppelin, threatened by the mafia & serenaded by Leonard Cohen Picks up psychic clues with the CIA, diapers with Snoop Dog & prison survival tips from Rick James Goes drinking with Bruce Springsteen, dining with Gwen Stefani & hot tubbing with Marilyn Manson Talks glam with David Bowie, drugs with Madonna, death with Johnny Cash & sex with Chuck Berry Gets molested by the Strokes, in trouble with Prince & in bed with… you’ll find out who inside And many, many more awkward moments and accidental adventures with the world’s number one stars in Everyone Love You When You’re Dead.

Everyone Loves You When You're Dead

7b5d3e9b-1291-4d52-8109-927e9b8c02f7-1

Omarosa Manigault Newman

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

An Insider's Account of the Trump White House

In the #1 New York Times bestseller, the former Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump White House provides an eye-opening and "explosive" (The Boston Globe) look into the corruption and controversy of the current administration.

Few were a member of Donald Trump's inner orbit longer than Omarosa Manigault Newman. Their relationship spanned fifteen years--through four television shows, a presidential campaign, and a year by his side in the most chaotic, outrageous White House in history. But that relationship came to a decisive and definitive end, and Omarosa finally shares her side of the story in this "deftly executed" (The Guardian), jaw-dropping account.

A stunning tell-all and takedown from a strong, intelligent woman who took every name and number, Unhinged is a must-read for any concerned citizen.

Unhinged

6a74ff99-615d-4369-b9b6-f4a15ef95a9a-1

Stacey Abrams

No writing or underlining. No sigñ of usage.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A gripping, complexly plotted thriller set within the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court, where a young law clerk finds herself embroiled in a shocking mystery crafted by one of the most preeminent judges in America--from celebrated national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams.

"Abrams follows in Dan Brown's footprint with this masterfully plotted thriller that unfolds like the ultimate chess match--bold move to bolder move with lives hanging in the balance."--Lisa Gardner, author of Before She Disappeared

"A first-class legal thriller, favorably compared to many of the best, starting with The Pelican Brief, which it brings to mind. It's fast-paced and full of surprises--a terrific read."--Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent

Avery Keene, a brilliant young law clerk for the legendary Justice Howard Wynn, is doing her best to hold her life together--excelling in an arduous job with the court while also dealing with a troubled family. When the shocking news breaks that Justice Wynn--the cantankerous swing vote on many current high-profile cases--has slipped into a coma, Avery's life turns upside down. She is immediately notified that Justice Wynn has left instructions for her to serve as his legal guardian and power of attorney. Plunged into an explosive role she never anticipated, Avery finds that Justice Wynn had been secretly researching one of the most controversial cases before the court--a proposed merger between an American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm, which promises to unleash breathtaking results in the medical field. She also discovers that Wynn suspected a dangerously related conspiracy that infiltrates the highest power corridors of Washington.

As political wrangling ensues in Washington to potentially replace the ailing judge whose life and survival Avery controls, she begins to unravel a carefully constructed, chesslike sequence of clues left behind by Wynn. She comes to see that Wynn had a much more personal stake in the controversial case and realizes his complex puzzle will lead her directly into harm's way in order to find the truth. While Justice Sleeps is a cunningly crafted, sophisticated novel, layered with myriad twists and a vibrant cast of characters. Drawing on her astute inside knowledge of the court and political landscape, Stacey Abrams shows herself to be not only a force for good in politics and voter fairness but also a major new talent in suspense fiction.

While Justice Sleeps

1cad3ee0-43b2-497c-ac13-8b7523db872d-1

Peter Ackroyd

Very good. Biography. No sign of usage. First edition in the United States.

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Ackroyd's Brief Lives

In the first in a new series of brief biographies, bestselling author Peter Ackroyd brilliantly evokes the medieval world of England and provides an incomparable introduction to the great poet’s works. Geoffrey Chaucer, who died in 1400, lived a surprisingly eventful life. He served with the Duke of Clarence and with Edward III, and in 1359 was taken prisoner in France and ransomed. Through his wife, Philippa, he gained the patronage of John of Gaunt, which helped him carve out a career at Court. His posts included Controller of Customs at the Port of London, Knight of the Shire for Kent, and King's Forester. He went on numerous adventurous diplomatic missions to France and Italy. Yet he was also indicted for rape, sued for debt, and captured in battle. He began to write in the 1360s, and is now known as the father of English poetry. His Troilus and Criseyde is the first example of modern English literature, and his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, the forerunner of the English novel, dominated the last part of his life. In his lively style, Peter Ackroyd, one of the most acclaimed biographers and novelists writing today, brings us an eye-opening portrait, rich in drama and colorful historical detail, of a prolific, multifaceted genius.

Chaucer

091e082f-fccc-4c2e-98c8-d9584ba777e3-0

Jill Orr

Signed by author.  No folds or creases.  Book has no sign of wear.

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

A Riley Ellison Mystery

Riley just wants to write obituaries, but when her first assignment is the death of a childhood friend, mystery ensues.

Browse by categories

George Saunders

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

Ridley Pearson; Dave Barry

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

Walter Isaacson

The Code Breaker

Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Water Dancer

Ann Leary

The Foundling

Veronica Roth

Carve the Mark

Sara Nisha Adams

The Reading List

Tristram Korten

Into the Storm

Michael Cunningham

Specimen Days

Ian McEwan

The Children Act

Norman Mailer

The Spooky Art

Lydia Bird

Sonnet

Toni Morrison

Paradise

Toni Morrison

Paradise

Sasha Su-Ling Welland

A Thousand Miles of Dreams

Stewart O'Nan

Songs for the Missing

Marley Brant

Outlaws

Benjamin Hall

Saved

Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling

Neil Strauss

Everyone Loves You When You're Dead

Omarosa Manigault Newman

Unhinged

Stacey Abrams

While Justice Sleeps

Peter Ackroyd

Chaucer

Jill Orr

The Good Byline

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