Displaying the top 100 results that match your query. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/rssapi.jsp?Re=3295&N=3+5205+7104&No=30 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1668118 One of Americas leading humorists and author of the bestseller Closing Time examines his own obsession with books. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1681741 A collection of 250 or more epigraphs arranged thematically and chosen from a broad range of books and genres, approximately half of which will be annotated with original commentary by the author - - http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1671207 Provides test-taking strategies, subject review, review of important literary movements, glossary of key terms, and two full-length practice tests. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1668671 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1713948 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1608937 A memoir on the art of living with books analyzes how personal libraries reflect individual natures and innermost feelings, sharing the authors musings on the habits of book collectors from the earliest known libraries while offering potentially valuable advice on cataloging. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1646003 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1668277 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1674750 Mary Anne Schwalbe is waiting for her chemotherapy treatments when Will casually asks her what shes reading. The conversation they have grows into tradition, soon they are reading the same books so they can have something to talk about in the hospital waiting room. The ones they choose range from classic to popular, from fantastic to spiritual, and we hear their passion for reading and their love for each other in their intimate and searching discussions. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1667609 Want to impress the hot stranger at the bar who asks for your take on Infinite Jest? Dying to shut up the blowhard in front of you whos pontificating on Cormac McCarthys recurring road narratives? Having difficulty keeping Francine Prose and Annie Proulx straight? For all those overwhelmed readers who need to get a firm grip on the relentless onslaught of must-read books to stay on top of the inevitable conversations that swirl around them, Lauren Letos Judging a Book by Its Lover is manna from literary heaven! A hilarious send-up of--and inspired homage to--the passionate and peculiar world of book culture, this guide to literary debate leaves no reader or author unscathed, at once adoring and skewering everyone from Jonathan Franzen to Ayn Rand to Dostoyevsky and the people who read them. -- Cover, p. [4] http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1623794 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1657550 Collects the reading suggestions from twenty-five independent booksellers, including Milwaukees Boswell Book Company, Tampas Inkwood Books, and Los Angeles Skylight Books. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1375748 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1474471 Pat Nixon remains one of our most mysterious and intriguing public figures, the only modern first lady who never wrote a memoir. Beattie, like many of her generation, dismissed Richard Nixons wife as interchangeable with a Martian. But decades later, she wonders what it must have been like to be married to such a spectacularly ambitious and catastrophically self-destructive man. Drawing on a wealth of sources from Life magazine to accounts by Nixons daughter, and his doctor, to The Haldeman Diaries and Jonathan Schells The Time of Illusion, Beattie reconstructs dozens of scenes in an attempt to see the world from Mrs. Nixons point of view. Like Stephen Kings On Writing, this fascination and intimate account offers readers an unprecedented glimpse into the imagination of a writer. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1454667 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1228975 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1368817 A tour of Bon Temps, Louisiana, provides a definitive guide to the family, friends, enemies, adventures, and lovers of clairvoyant waitress Sookie Stackhouse, heroine of the bestselling novels and HBO series True Blood. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1373720 The authors reveal their picks for the best American and English novels published since 1950, including works by such writers as Jane Smiley, Patrick White, Anne Tyler, Anthony Powell, Cormac McCarthy, and Don DeLillo. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1393742 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1645774 For over sixty years readers have chosen this book above all others to discover the thrilling, enchanting, and fascinating world of Western mythology. From Odysseuss adventure-filled journey to the Norse god Odins effort to postpone the final day of doom, Edith Hamiltons classic collection not only retells these stories with brilliant clarity but shows us how the ancients saw their own place in the world and how their themes echo in our consciousness today. An essential part of every home library, Mythology is the definitive volume for anyone who wants to know the key dramas, the primary characters, the triumphs, failures, fears, and hopes first narrated thousands of years ago-and still spellbinding to this day. Monsters, mortals, gods, and warriors. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1388973 When Alice Ozma was in fourth grade, she and her single father - a beloved elementary school librarian - made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. Upon reaching their goal they celebrated over pancakes, but it was clear that neither wanted to stop. They decided to continue The Streak for as long as they could - until the day, a remarkable eight years later, Alice entered college. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1470465 This writers guide provides a helpful framework for creating poetry and navigates contemporary concerns and practices. The author, also author of the classic book on the beauty of poetry, Best Words, Best Order, moves into new terrain in this book. Bringing years of experience to bear on issues such as subject matter, the mechanics of poetry, and the revision process, he explores the complex relationship between writers and their work. From Philip Larkin to Pablo Neruda to William Butler Yeats, every chapter reveals lessons in these renowned poets work. This work demystifies a subtle art form and shows writers how to overcome obstacles in the creative process. -- Provided by publisher. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1208773 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1298732 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1364561 Austen scholar Deresiewicz turns to the authors novels to reveal the remarkable life lessons hidden within. With humor and candor, Deresiewicz employs his own experiences to demonstrate the enduring power of Austens teachings. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1297684 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1454682 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1307186 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1274970 Umberto Eco, author of The Name of the Rose, looks back on his long career as a theorist and his more recent work as a novelist, and explores their fruitful conjunction. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1369126 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1306893 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1304045 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1304284 Nava Atlas presents twelve celebrated women authors and draws on their diaries, letters, memoirs, and interviews to show how they expressed their views on the subjects of importance to every writer, from carving out time to write, to conquering their inner demons, to developing a voice, to balancing the demands of family life with needs to write. Atlas provides her own illuminating commentary as well and reveals how the lessons of classic women writers of the past still resonate with women writing today. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1267627 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1442683 As we near the 2012 bi-centenary of Dickenss birth, this lovingly abridged and lavishly illustrated edition of Fosters influential three-volume biography is the perfect way for fans to celebrate. Long out of print, it is now finally accessible to a new generation of Dickens enthusiasts, who will delight in the host of supplemental texts and images, including extracts from the authors own work and from recent criticism. The rich selection of images ranges from original artwork to rare photographs and portraits of Dickens and his circle, along with specially commissioned pictures from the Charles Dickens Museum http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1454671 A journey through two-and-a-half millennia of books as powerful, thrilling, erotic, politically astute, and awe-inspiring as any modern bestseller. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1283904 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1299213 Jane Austens stock in the popular marketplace has never been higher, while academic studies continue to uncover new aspects of her engagement with her world. This fully updated edition of the acclaimed Cambridge Companion offers clear, accessible coverage of the intricacies of Austens works in their historical context, with biographical information and suggestions for further reading. Major scholars address Austens six novels, the letters and other works, in terms accessible to students and the many general readers, as well as to academics. With seven new essays, the Companion now covers topics that have become central to recent Austen studies, for example, gender, sociability, economics, and the increasing number of screen adaptations of the novels-- http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1432580 A collection of the eloquent, insightful, and beautifully written prose works that Updike was compiling when he died in January 2009, this book opens with a self-portrait of the writer in winter--a Prospero who, though he fears his most dazzling performances are behind him, reveals himself in every sentence to be in deep conversation with the sources of his magic. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1583655 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1264207 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1222821 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1262657 In this funny and thoughtful guide to a romanticized version of the American expansion west, childrens book editor and memoirist McClure (Im Not the New Me) attempts to recapture her childhood vision of Laura World (i.e., the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Little House books about an 1880s pioneer family). http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1310294 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1300568 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1522704 For readers daunted by the formal structures and rhetorical sophistication of eighteenth-century English poetry, this introduction by John Sitter brings the techniques and the major poets of the period 1700-1785 triumphantly to life. Sitter begins by offering a guide to poetic forms ranging from heroic couplets to blank verse, then demonstrates how skilfully male and female poets of the period used them as vehicles for imaginative experience, feelings and ideas. He then provides detailed analyses of individual works by poets from Finch, Swift and Pope, to Gray, Cowper and Barbauld. An approachable introduction to English poetry and major poets of the eighteenth century, this book provides a grounding in poetic analysis useful to students and general readers of literature-- http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1249209 In the summer of 1858, in a garden behind Christ Church in Oxford, Charles Dodgson--better known by his pseudonym Lewis Carroll--dressed the six-year-old Alice Liddell in ragamuffins clothes, and then snapped the cameras shutter. In The Alice Behind Wonderland, Simon Winchester uses the famous photograph of Alice as the launching pad for an appreciative energetic and penetrating look at the inspiration behind, and the making of, one of the greatest classics of childrens literature. Indeed, Winchester shows that Dodgsons love of photography deeply influenced his view of the world, helping to transform this shy and half-deaf mathematician into one of the worlds best-loved observers of childhood. Much like the fictional Alices world, as the photograph is subject to closer examination, Alice Liddell as The Beggar Maid becomes curiouser and curiouser, capturing a moment during a golden afternoon that would endure forever. Alice Liddell as The Beggar Maid was, in short, the muse that would inspire the creation of Alices Adventures in Wonderland. Deftly engaging with Dogsons published writings, private diaries, and photography, Winchester weaves together the poignant, turbulent, and entirely fascinating story behind Lewis Carroll and the making of his Alice. Acclaim for Simon Winchester An exceptionally engaging guide at home everywhere, ready for anything, full of gusto and seemingly omnivorous curiosity. --Pico Iyer, The New York Times Book Review A master at telling a complex story compellingly and lucidly. --USA Today Extraordinarily graceful. --Time Winchester is an exquisite writer and a deft anecdoteur. --Christopher Buckley A lyrical writer and an indefatigable researcher. --Newsweek-- http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1443402 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1427460 For many, many years readers have wondered: why is the number 42 the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything? What was Douglas Adams thinking when wrote The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? After 10 years of research amateur numerological sleuth and Douglas Adams fan Peter Gill can finally he can reveal the truth. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1307015 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1480484 Stieg Larssons former publisher reveals the real man behind the mega-bestselling Millennium Trilogy--a man who fought heroically for human rights, and who brought that same political and moral passion to his writing. Until the trilogys posthumous publication, Larsson was best known for his devotion to left-wing causes and as a tireless anti-fascist activist. Horrified by the rise of far-right extremism in Sweden, he dedicated himself to exposing these often shadowy and violent groups--at great personal risk--gaining international respect for the depth of his commitment and knowledge. Jan-Erik Pettersson shows how Stiegs energetic championing of social justice and womens rights characterized his life as well as his work, finally animating the Millennium Trilogy and particularly the character of the unforgettable Lisbeth Salander. Throughout the book Pettersson explores the issues, people, and places who inspired Larssons portrayal of Salander and her champion, journalist Michael Blomkvist. -- http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1243851 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1257273 Documents the cultural importance of Margaret Mitchells famous novel, discussing the writing process, reception by the publishing industry, numerous authorized and unauthorized tranlations, and the iconic film adapatation. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1427366 As he was composing what was to become his most enduring book, E. B. White was obeying the maxim: Write what you know. Helpless pigs, silly geese, clever spiders, greedy rats--White knew all of these characters in the barns and stables where he spent his favorite hours. Painfully shy his entire life, this boy, White once wrote of himself, felt for animals a kinship he never felt for people. It is all the more impressive, therefore, how many people have felt a kinship with E. B. White. In this book the author shows how White solved what critic Clifton Fadiman once called the standing problem of the juvenile fantasy writer: how to find, not another Alice, but another rabbit hole by mining the raw ore of his childhood friendship with animals, translating his own passions and contradictions, delights and fears, into an all time classic.--From publisher description. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1548443 A volume of nonfiction writings and essays by the National Book Critics Circle finalist draws on twenty-five years of work and includes pieces that reflect on subjects ranging from jazz and the British-dole queue to haute couture and hotel sex. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1369111 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1443407 Bringing together the stories of many real-life criminals, agitators, and activists, this history shows how they were woven into fiction by some of Britains greatest writers, including Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1254461 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1235635 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1297775 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1304200 Profiles two Nobel Prize-winning Latin American novelists, Gabriel Garca Mrquez and Mario Vargas Llosa, who were friends and rivals, and examines the boom period in Latin American literature in which they played leading roles. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1327386 Barack Obama puzzles observers. Derided by the Right as dangerous and by the Left as spineless, Obama does not fit contemporary partisan categories. Instead, his writings and speeches reflect a principled aversion to absolutes that derives from sustained engagement with American democratic thought. Reading Obama traces the origins of his ideas and establishes him as the most penetrating political thinker elected to the presidency in the past century. James T. Kloppenberg demonstrates the influences that have shaped Obamas distinctive worldview, including Nietzsche and Niebuhr, Ellison and Rawls, and recent theorists engaged in debates about feminism, critical race theory, and cultural norms. Examining Obamas views on the Constitution, slavery and the Civil War, and the New Deal and civil rights, Kloppenberg shows Obamas sophisticated understanding of American history. Obamas interest in compromise, reasoned public debate, and the patient nurturing of civility is a sign of strength, not weakness, Kloppenberg argues. He locates its roots in Madison, Lincoln, and especially in the philosophical pragmatism of William James and John Dewey, which nourished generations of American progressives, black and white, female and male, through much of the twentieth century, albeit with mixed results. -- Book jacket. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1433313 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1522273 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1262249 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1272894 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1521350 Presents a passionate account of the influential European poet that sets his life against a background of the political turbulence of the 13th century, placing his work in a context of such contemporaries as Giotto, Aquinas, and Pope Boniface VIII. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1277503 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1304581 Named for two literary characters (Alice from Lewis Carroll and Ozma from L. Frank Baum), the author is the daughter of a Philadelphia-area elementary school librarian. Father and daughter embarked on a streak of reading-out-loud sessions every night before bed as Ozma was growing up--a streak that would continue for eight years straight. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1393353 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1619126 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1373117 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1300575 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1653824 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1307211 The author argues that reading is alive and well in America. Millions of devoted readers support hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Jacobss interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1393916 Shares expert guidelines on how to read and appreciate Herman Melvilles classic work, offering insight into its history, characters, and themes while explaining its literary relevance in the modern world. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1306325 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1482105 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1375989 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1302599 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1498024 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1426396 The first edition of Shakespeares collected works, the First Folio, published in 1623, is one of the most valuable books in the world and has historically proven to be an attractive target for thieves. Of the 160 First Folios listed in a census of 1902, 14 were subsequently stolen-and only two of these were ever recovered. In his efforts to catalog all these precious First Folios, renowned Shakespeare scholar Eric Rasmussen embarked on a riveting journey around the globe, involving run-ins with heavily tattooed criminal street gangs in Tokyo, bizarre visits with eccentric, reclusive billionaires, and intense battles of wills with secretive librarians. He explores the intrigue surrounding the Earl of Pembroke, arguably Shakespeares boyfriend, to whom the First Folio is dedicated and whose personal copy is still missing. He investigates the uncanny sequence of events in which a wealthy East Coast couple drowned in a boating accident and the next week their First Folio appeared for sale in Kansas. We hear about Folios that were censored, the pages ripped out of them, about a volume that was marked in red paint-or is it blood?-on every page; and of yet another that has a bullet lodged in its pages. Part literary detective story, part Shakespearean lore, The Shakespeare Thefts will charm the Bards many fans-- http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1281375 Through essays contributed by modern thriller writers such as David Baldacci, Lee Child, Sandra Brown, and many others, this book explores 100 works of suspense from the ancient world to modern times. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1090852 Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro explains when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote his plays. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1307141 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1228983 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1058179 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1110629 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1100810 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1136131 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1116117 An open call for new literary and other art forms to match the complexities of the twenty-first century. Author David Shields argues that our culture is obsessed with reality precisely because we experience hardly any. The questions Reality Hunger explores--the bending of form and genre, the lure and blur of the real--play out constantly all around us. Think of the controversy surrounding the provenance and authenticity of the real: A Million Little Pieces, the Obama Hope poster, the boy who wasnt in the balloon. Reality Hunger is a rigorous and radical attempt to reframe how we think about truthiness, literary license, quotation, appropriation. Shields has written this for a burgeoning group of interrelated but unconnected artists in a variety of forms and media who, living in an unbearably manufactured and artificial world, are striving to stay open to the possibility of randomness, accident, serendipity, spontaneity.--From publisher description. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1235798 Dan Burstein y Arne de Keijzer recogen fascinantes ideas planteadas por autoridades mundiales -- historiadores, expertos en cdigos, arte y smbolos, masones, creyentes en la notica, telogos, filsofos y cientficos --, en cuyas obras se bas Dan Brown para escribir su intrigante relato--P. [4] of cover. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1057048 Literally and metaphorically following the footsteps of her favorite authors, Batuman searches for the answers to the big questions in the details of lived experience, combining fresh readings of the great Russians, from Pushkin to Platonov, with the sad and funny stories of the lives they continue to influence--including her own. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1194194 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1110650 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1151954 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1215794 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1129813 This reference book describes literary pastiches in which fictional characters have reappeared in new works after the deaths of the authors. It includes series that have continued under a deceased writers real or pen name, undisguised offshoots issued under the new writers name and posthumous collaborations in which a deceased authors unfinished manuscript is completed by another writer--Provided by publisher. http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1212262 http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/record.jsp?R=1511906 A series of concise, engrossing, and enlightening books that explore every subject under the sun with unique insight. Rather than presenging a conventional chronology of Russian literature, this book considers the place and importance of all kinds of literature in Russian culture. Catriona Kelly focuses on Pushkin -- considered the Russian Shakespeare -- whose work influenced all Russian writers, whether poets or novelists, as well as artists in other fields.