A. J. Jacobs

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

California

One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z.

33,000 PAGES
44 MILLION WORDS
10 BILLION YEARS OF HISTORY
1 OBSESSED MAN

To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His wife, Julie, tells him it's a waste of time, his friends believe he is losing his mind, and his father, a brilliant attorney who had once attempted the same feat and quit somewhere around Borneo, is encouraging but unconvinced.

With self-deprecating wit and a disarming frankness, The Know-It-All recounts the unexpected and comically disruptive effects Operation Encyclopedia has on every part of Jacobs's life -- from his newly minted marriage to his complicated relationship with his father and the rest of his charmingly eccentric New York family to his day job as an editor at Esquire. Jacobs's project tests the outer limits of his stamina and forces him to explore the real meaning of intelligence as he endeavors to join Mensa, win a spot on Jeopardy!, and absorb 33,000 pages of learning. On his journey he stumbles upon some of the strangest, funniest, and most profound facts about every topic under the sun, all while battling fatigue, ridicule, and the paralyzing fear that attends his first real-life responsibility -- the impending birth of his first child.

The Know-It-All is an ingenious, mightily entertaining memoir of one man's intellect, neuroses, and obsessions, and a struggle between the all-consuming quest for factual knowledge and the undeniable gift of hard-won wisdom.

The Know-It-All

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Andreï Makine

Geoffrey Strachan

A boy growing up in the Soviet Union of the 1960s and 1970s visits his French grandmother each summer, accumulating new tales of a Russia he never knew

Dreams of My Russian Summers

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The Far Side of the Sky

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Charles Finch

In the small hours of the morning one fall day in 1866, a frantic widow visits detective Charles Lenox. Lady Annabelle’s problem is simple: her beloved son, George, has vanished from his room at Oxford. When Lenox visits his alma mater to investigate he discovers a series of bizarre clues, including a murdered cat and a card cryptically referring to “The September Society.” Then, just as Lenox realizes that the case may be deeper than it appears, a student dies, the victim of foul play. What could the September Society have to do with it? What specter, returned from the past, is haunting gentle Oxford? Lenox, with the support of his devoted friends in London’s upper crust, must race to discover the truth before it comes searching for him, and dangerously close to home.

The September Society

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Francine Prose

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A Novel

"Francine Prose is a powerhouse. The Vixen will fascinate and complicate the histories that haunt our present moments. Like Coney Island's Cyclone, this story tumbles and tangles a reader's grip of reality. It's told with the heart, humor and daring of a true artist. Prose's Vixen is a triumph and a trip though the solid magic that books make real."--Samantha Hunt "A rollicking trickster of a novel, wondrously funny and wickedly addictive."--Maria Semple Critically acclaimed, bestselling author Francine Prose returns with a dazzling new novel set in the glamorous world of 1950s New York publishing, the story of a young man tasked with editing a steamy bodice-ripper based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg--an assignment that will reveal the true cost of entering that seductive, dangerous new world. It's 1953, and Simon Putnam, a recent Harvard graduate newly hired by a distinguished New York publishing firm, has entered a glittering world of three-martini lunches, exclusive literary parties, and old-money aristocrats in exquisitely tailored suits, a far cry from his loving, middle-class Jewish family in Coney Island. But Simon's first assignment--editing The Vixen, the Patriot and the Fanatic, a lurid bodice-ripper improbably based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, a potboiler intended to shore up the firm's failing finances--makes him question the cost of admission. Because Simon has a secret that, at the height of the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings, he cannot reveal: his beloved mother was a childhood friend of Ethel Rosenberg's. His parents mourn Ethel's death. Simon's dilemma grows thornier when he meets The Vixen's author, the startlingly beautiful, reckless, seductive Anya Partridge, ensconced in her opium-scented boudoir in a luxury Hudson River mental asylum. As mysteries deepen, as the confluence of sex, money, politics and power spirals out of Simon's control, he must face what he's lost by exchanging the loving safety of his middle-class Jewish parents' Coney Island apartment for the witty, whiskey-soaked orbit of his charismatic boss, the legendary Warren Landry. Gradually Simon realizes that the people around him are not what they seem, that everyone is keeping secrets, that ordinary events may conceal a diabolical plot--and that these crises may steer him toward a brighter future. At once domestic and political, contemporary and historic, funny and heartbreaking, enlivened by surprising plot turns and passages from Anya's hilariously bad novel, The Vixen illuminates a period of history with eerily striking similarities to the current moment. Meanwhile it asks timeless questions: How do we balance ambition and conscience? What do social mobility and cultural assimilation require us to sacrifice? How do we develop an authentic self, discover a vocation, and learn to live with the mysteries of love, family, art, life and loss?

The Vixen

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Scott Adams

Everyone's favorite comic strip office worker returns in this dry, sarcastic, and utterly hilarious new Dilbert collection. No one is more accomplished at making the drudgery of office work into comedy than Dilbert creator Scott Adams, whose landmark comic strip starring the downtrodden engineer have entertained millions of readers for the past three decades. This collection includes hundreds of the most recent Dilbert comics starring Dilbert, his pointy-haired boss, lazy colleague Wally, temperamental Alice, maniacal Catbert, and misguided intern Asok, among many others.

The Office Is a Beautiful Place When Everyone Else Works from Home

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Human Voices 

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Amanda Quick

In 1930s California, where glamour and seduction spawn a multitude of sins, a body is found at the bottom of a swimming pool.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much

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Eric Nylund

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

In the tradition of Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury, million-copy bestselling Halo author and game developer Eric Nylund brings action-packed science fiction to a young audience with this riveting children's debut. Twelve-year-old Ethan Blackwood has always known exactly what he wanted--to win the state soccer championship, get into the best high school, and become an astronaut. Then he meets Madison and Felix, who tell him something . . . insane. They claim that 50 years ago, aliens took over the earth, and everyone past puberty is under their mind control. Ethan doesn't believe it. But then he sees for himself the aliens' monster bug robots and the incredible way that Madison and Felix have learned to fight them. So Ethan Blackwood has a choice: he can go back to his normal, suburban, protected lie of a life--or he can become a Resister. This is science fiction on the lines of Scott Westerfield and Cory Doctorow for middle graders.

The Resisters #1: the Resisters

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Daniel Mason

A sweeping, unforgettable love story of a young doctor and nurse at a remote field hospital in the First World War Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War I explodes across Europe. Enraptured by romantic tales of battlefield surgery, he enlists, expecting a position at a well-organized field hospital. But when he arrives--at a commandeered church tucked away high in a remote valley of the Carpathian Mountains--he discovers a freezing outpost ravaged by typhus. The other doctors have fled, and only a single mysterious nurse named Sister Margarete remains. But Lucius has never lifted a surgeon's scalpel. And as the war rages across the winter landscape, he finds himself falling in love with the woman from whom he must learn a brutal makeshift medicine. Then one day, an unconscious soldier is brought in from the snow, his uniform stuffed with strange drawings. He seems beyond rescue, until Lucius makes a fateful decision that will change the lives of doctor, patient, and nurse forever. From the gilded ballrooms of Imperial Vienna to the frozen forests of the Eastern Front; from hardscrabble operating rooms to battlefields thundering with Cossack cavalry, The Winter Soldier is a story of war and medicine, of family, of finding love in the sweeping tides of history, and finally, of the mistakes we make and the precious opportunities to atone.

The Winter Soldier

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Donna Leon

Fifteen years ago, a teenage girl fell into a canal late at night. Unable to swim, she went under and started to drown, only surviving thanks to a nearby man, an alcoholic, who heard her splashes and pulled her out, though not before she suffered irreparable brain damage that left her in a state of permanent childhood. The drunk man claimed he saw her thrown into the canal by another man, but the following day he couldn't remember a thing. Now, at a fundraising dinner for a Venetian charity, a wealthy and aristocratic patroness -- the girl's grandmother -- asks Brunetti if he will investigate. Brunetti's not sure what to do. If a crime was committed, it would surely have passed the statute of limitations. But out of a mixture of curiosity, pity, and a willingness to fulfill the wishes of a guilt-wracked older woman, who happens to be his mother-in-law's best friend, he agrees. Awash in the rhythms and concerns of contemporary Venetian life, from historical preservation, to housing, to new waves of African migrants, and the haunting story of a woman trapped in a damaged perpetual childhood, Brunetti soon finds himself unable to let the case rest, if indeed there is a case.

The Waters of Eternal Youth

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Christine Wells

A Novel of Catherine Dior's Paris Spy Network

Set in the thick of the Paris Resistance movement during WWII, this exciting novel tells of the deep involvement of Catherine Dior and two young women who risked their lives to support her efforts--perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Jennifer Chiaverini. France, 1944: The Nazis still occupy Paris, and twenty-five-year-old Gabby Foucher hates these enemies, though, as the concierge of ten rue Royale, she makes it a point to avoid trouble, unlike her sister Yvette. Until she, like her sister, is recruited into the Resistance by Catherine Dior--sister of the fashion designer, Christian Dior. Gabby and Yvette are both swept into the world of spies, fugitives, and Resistance workers, and it doesn't take long for the sisters to realize that their lives are in danger. Gabby discovers an elderly tenant is hiding a wounded British fugitive, and Yvette becomes a messenger for the Resistance. But as Gabby begins to fall in love with her patient and Yvette's impulsiveness lead her into intrigue at an ever-higher level, both women will discover that their hearts and even their souls hang in the balance as well. This page-turning novel is perfect for any reader fascinated by the role of women during World War II, whose stories are often untold, and introduces us to Catherine Dior, the fearless real-life Resistance hero.

Sisters of the Resistance

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Maiya Williams

Rowan, Nina, Xanthe, and Xavier have returned to Owatannauk. This time they're travelling on official business, retrieving documents from the famous library at Alexandria, Egypt, before the collection is burnt by Julius Caesar. Xanthe hopes to get a glimpse of Cleopatra.

The Hour of the Cobra

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Ted Bell

A thrilling sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Nick of Time, in which the young time traveler Nick McIver must prove his courage once more, on two fronts: in World War Two–era England, where Nazis have invaded his homeland, and in America during the Revolution, where Nick stands shoulder to shoulder with General George Washington It’s 1940 and the Nazis are invading Nick’s beloved home, the British Channel Islands. So Nick takes to the skies: He has discovered an old World War One fighter plane in an abandoned barn. Determined to learn to fly, he is soon risking life and limb to photograph armed German minelayers and patrol boats, and executing incredibly perilous bombing raids over Nazi airfields by night. Meanwhile, the evil pirate, Captain Billy Blood, still desperate to acquire Nick’s time machine, returns to Greybeard Island. He kidnaps Nick’s sister, Kate, and transports her back to Port Royal, Jamaica, in the year 1781, leaving Nick a message that if he wants to see her alive again, he must come to Jamaica and make an even swap: Kate’s life in exchange for Nick’s wondrous time machine—that’s Blood’s bargain. Having traveled back in time, Nick discovers a plot that might change the outcome of the American Revolution. Disguised as an eighteenth-century cabin boy, he travels to the Caribbean and confronts his old enemy, who has assembled the world’s largest pirate armada. From the battlefields of the New World to the brutal German occupation of English soil in World War Two, The Time Pirate has Nick McIver fighting once again to defend his country, the outcome of two wars resting on his young shoulders.

The Time Pirate

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Dan Gutman

It's the last day of school before Christmas vacation and Alex, Chase, and the rest of Mrs. Walter's fifth-grade class couldn't wish more for that final bell to ring. But the day takes a crazy turn when a mysterious meteorite crashes through their classroom window and a genie pops out. He will grant just one wish for the whole class to share. Be careful what you wish for!

The Christmas Genie

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Malcolm Gladwell

How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

The Tipping Point is the biography of an idea, and the idea is quite simple: that many of the problems we face - from murder to teenage delinquency to traffic jams - behave like epidemics. They aren't linear phenomena in the sense that they steadily and predictably change according to the level of effort brought to bear against them. They are capable of sudden and dramatic changes in direction. Years of well-intentioned intervention may have no impact at all, yet the right intervention - at just the right time - can start a cascade of change.

The Tipping Point

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Jenny Nimmo

NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author Jenny Nimmo is back with a brand-new series chronicling the origin and the adventures of Charlie Bone's magical ancestor, the Red King!

Timoken is a prince born in a secret kingdom. At his birth, a forest jinni bestows magical gifts upon him: a cloak made by the last moon spider and a potion called Alixir. When the peaceful land is attacked, Timoken and his sister, Zobayda, must find a new kingdom to call home. Together, with only the magical gifts and a talking camel, the siblings set off.

In this brand-new series, bestselling author Jenny Nimmo takes readers on an extraordinary quest with one of her most powerful and mysterious characters, the one who started it all for Charlie Bone and the children of the Red King.

The Secret Kingdom

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Tracy Trivas

Griffin Penshine is always making wishes. But when an eccentric old woman named Mariah gives Griffin a box of shiny pennies, it sets in motion a desperate quest. The old woman was a wish stealer, who stole each penny from a wishing fountain decades earlier. Somehow, Griffin has to redeem the lost wishes, or the opposite of her own wishes will come true--and it could literally be a matter of life or death. Griffin's mission to right Mariah's awful wrongs allows her to meet some extraordinary people, and to do good beyond her wildest imagination. But can she do enough to reverse the curse in time to save the people she loves the most?

The Wish Stealers

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Rick Riordan

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Percy is confused. When he awoke after his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain-fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight. Somehow Percy managed to make it to the camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he had to continually kill monsters that, annoyingly, would not stay dead. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him. Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. When the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for an evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now, because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Frank is a klutz. His grandmother claims he is descended from ancient heroes, but he doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery. His big and bulky physique makes him feel like a clumsy ox, especially in front of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely-enough, even, to share the secret he holds close to his heart. Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far north as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment in the Heroes of Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all of whom are destined to play a part in the most important quest of all: the Prophecy of Seven.

Heroes of Olympus, the, Book Two the Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, the, Book Two)

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Richard Osman

A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment “Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining.” —Wall Street Journal “Don’t trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman’s own laugh-out-loud whodunit.” —Parade Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop with her first big case A brutal murder Welcome to... THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?

The Thursday Murder Club

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'Smart, compassionate, warm, moving and so VERY funny' Marian Keyes
'So smart and funny. Deplorably good' Ian Rankin
'Thrilling, moving, laugh-out-loud funny' Mark Billingham
'A gripping read' Sunday Times

THE FIRST BOOK IN THE #1 BESTSELLING, MULTI MILLION COPY SELLING SERIES BY TV PRESENTER RICHARD OSMAN

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In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

The Times Crime Book of the Month
Guardian Best Crime and Thrillers

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'A great read, I really enjoyed it' Graham Norton, Home Stretch

'As the bodies pile up, and more is revealed of the lives and loves of Joyce, Ibrahim, Ron and Elizabeth, you can't help cheering them on - and hoping to meet them again soon' The Times, Crime Book of the Month

'Mystery fans are going to be enthralled' Harlan Coban, Win

'Pure escapism' Guardian, Best Crime and Thrillers

'One of the most enjoyable books of the year' Daily Express

'A beacon of pleasure' Kate Atkinson, Behind The Scenes At The Museum

'As gripping as it is funny' Evening Standard

'Funny, clever and achingly British' Adam Kay, This Is Going to Hurt

'An exciting new talent in crime fiction' Daily Mail

'A warm, wise and witty warning never to underestimate the elderly' Val McDermid, 1979

'Delight after delight from first page to last' Red Magazine

'I completely fell in love with it' Shari Lapena, Not a Happy Family

'This is properly brilliant. The pages fly and I can't stop smiling' Steve Cavanagh, The Devil's Advocate

'Charming, clever debut' Stylist

'I laughed my arse off' Belinda Bauer, Exit

'A witty and poignant tale' Daily Telegraph

'Clever, clever plot' Fiona Barton, Local Gone Missing

'An absolutely delightful read' Prima Magazine

'Utterly charming' Sarah Pinborough, Insomnia

'Funny and original' Sun

'Properly funny and totally charming... steeped in Agatha Christie joy' Araminta Hall, Hidden Depths

'This is one of the most delightful novels of the year' Daily Mirror

'A bundle of joy' Jane Fallon, Worst Idea Ever

Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

Carter Kane and his sister must prevent the chaos snake Apophis from breaking free in a few days' time or the world will come to an end. To have any chance of battling these Forces of Chaos, the Kanes must revive the sun god Ra.

Kane Chronicles, the, Book Two the Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles, the, Book Two)

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Brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane accidentally unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes the doctor to oblivion and forces his two children to embark on a dangerous journey, bringing them closer to the truth about their family and its links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharoahs.

Kane Chronicles, the, Book One the Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles, the, Book One)

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Chris Wooding

From the amazing imagination of Chris Wooding, a heartstopping mix of thriller and graphic novel - the sequel to MALICE.



Getting into the sinister comic-book world of MALICE is just the beginning. Getting out of it is much, much harder -- as it surviving while you make your attempt.

Part novel, part comic book, all thrill -- welcome to MALICE.

Browse by categories

A. J. Jacobs

The Know-It-All

Andreï Makine; Geoffrey Strachan

Dreams of My Russian Summers

Daniel Kalla

The Far Side of the Sky

Charles Finch

The September Society

Francine Prose

The Vixen

Scott Adams

The Office Is a Beautiful Place When Everyone Else Works from Home

Penelope Fitzgerald

Human Voices

Amanda Quick

The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Eric Nylund

The Resisters #1: the Resisters

Daniel Mason

The Winter Soldier

Donna Leon

The Waters of Eternal Youth

Christine Wells

Sisters of the Resistance

Maiya Williams

The Hour of the Cobra

Ted Bell

The Time Pirate

Dan Gutman

The Christmas Genie

Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point

Jenny Nimmo

The Secret Kingdom

Tracy Trivas

The Wish Stealers

Rick Riordan

Heroes of Olympus, the, Book Two the Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, the, Book Two)

Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club

Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club

Rick Riordan

Kane Chronicles, the, Book Two the Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles, the, Book Two)

Rick Riordan

Kane Chronicles, the, Book One the Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles, the, Book One)

Chris Wooding

Havoc

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