Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . ." A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Maria's despairing view of... (more)

Veronika Decides to Die

A Novel of Redemption

by Paulo Coelho

Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything -- youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life. So, one cold November morning, she takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. But she does -- at a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live. Inspired by events in Coelho's own life, Veronika Decides to Die... (more)

So B. It

by Sarah Weeks

You couldn't really tell about Mama's brain just from looking at her, but it was obvious as soon as she spoke. She had a high voice, like a little girl's, and she only knew 23 words. I know this for a fact, because we kept a list of the things Mama said tacked to the inside of the kitchen cabinet. Most of the words were common ones, like good and more and hot, but there was one word only my mother said: soof. ... (more)

Brida

by Paulo Coelho

This is the story of Brida, a young Irish girl, and her quest for knowledge. She has long been interested in various aspects of magic but is searching for something more. Her search leads her to people of great wisdom, who begin to teach Brida about the spiritual world. She meets a wise man who dwells in a forest, who teaches her about overcoming her fears and trusting in the goodness of the world; and a woman who... (more)

Atomised

by Frank Wynne, Michel Houellebecq

Half-brothers Michel and Bruno have a mother in common but little else. Michel is a molecular biologist, a thinker and idealist, a man with no erotic life to speak of and little in the way of human society. Bruno, by contrast, is a libertine, though more in theory than in practice, his endless lust is all too rarely reciprocated. Both are symptomatic members of our atomised society, where religion has given way to... (more)

The Brothers Karamazov

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William J. Leatherbarrow

The award-winning translation of Dostoevsky's last and greatest novel.

The Devil and Miss Prym

A Novel of Temptation

by Paulo Coelho

A community devoured by greed, cowardice, and fear. A man persecuted by the ghosts of his painful past. A young woman searching for happiness. In one eventful week, each will face questions of life, death, and power, and each will choose a path. Will they choose good or evil? In the remote village of Viscos -- a village too small to be on any map, a place where time seems to stand still -- a stranger arrives,... (more)

The Humbling

by Philip Roth

Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Philip Roth’s startling new book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his sixties, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. His Falstaff and Peer Gynt and Vanya, all his great roles, "are melted into air, into thin air." When he goes onstage he feels like a lunatic and looks like an idiot. His confidence in his... (more)

The Human Zoo : A Zoologist's Classic Study of the Urban Animal (Kodansha Globe)

The Human Zoo : A Zoologist's Classic Study of the Urban Animal (Kodansha Globe)

by Desmond Morris

How does city life change the way we act? What accounts for the increasing prevalence of violence and anxiety in our world? In this new edition of his controversial 1969 bestseller, THE HUMAN ZOO, renowned zoologist Desmond Morris argues that many of the social instabilities we face are largely a product of the artificial, impersonal confines of our urban surroundings. Indeed, our behavior often startlingly... (more)

Onze Minutos

by Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho aborda o lado sagrado do sexo baseado na história real de Maria, prostituta brasileira que trabalha na Suíça. Entre os enigmas do amor e o poder da sexualidade, ela amadurece precocemente e vê seus sonhos tornarem-se cada vez mais distantes. Apesar de tudo, ela ousa sair à procura do poder arrebatador da paixão.

PEOPLEWATCHING

by DESMOND MORRIS

All of the Above

by Shelley Pearsall

Based on a true story, All of the Above is the delightful and suspenseful story of four inner city students and their quest to build the world's largest tetrahedron. Weaving together the different personal stories of the kids, their teacher, and the community that surrounds them, award-winning author Shelley Pearsall has written a vividly engaging story about the math, life and good-tasting barbecue. Filled with... (more)

The Death of Vishnu: A Novel

by Manil Suri

Vishnu, the odd-job man in a Bombay apartment block, lies dying on the staircase landing: Around him the lives of the apartment dwellers unfold: the warring housewives on the first floor, lovesick teenagers on the second, and the widower, alone and quietly grieving on the top floor of the building. In a fevered state Vishnu looks back on his love affair with the seductive Padmim and wonders if he might actually be... (more)

The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

Text: english

Book of Longing

by Leonard Cohen

Internationally celebrated for his writing and his music, Leonard Cohen is one of the legendary writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. Book of Longing is his dazzling new collection of poetry -- twenty years in the making -- written on southern California's Mount Baldy and in Los Angeles, Montreal, and Mumbai. Following his highly acclaimed 1984 publication, Book of Mercy , and... (more)

The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal

The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal

by Desmond Morris

"A startling view of man, stripped of the facade we try so hard to hide behind." In view of man's awesome creativity and resourcefulness, we may be inclined to regard him as descended from the angels, yet, in his brilliant study, Desmond Morris reminds us that man is relative to the apes--is in fact, the greatest primate of all. With knowledge gleaned from primate ethnology, zoologist Morris examines sex,... (more)

The Naked Eye

by Desmond Morris

Desmond Morris, author of the groundbreaking bestseller The Naked Ape , offers an engaging account of 30 years of travel ³in search of the human species.² Featuring 70 color photos.

The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom

The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom

by Paulo Coelho

A Spiritual Journey Toward Self-Discovery The Pilgrimage recounts the spectacular trials of Paulo Coelho as he journeys across Spain to discover personal power, wisdom, and a miraculous sword that seals his initiation into the secret society of the Tradition. With his enigmatic mentor, Petrus, he follows a legendary road traveled by pilgrims of San Tiago since the Middle Ages, encountering a Chaucerian variety... (more)

The Fifth Mountain

by Paulo Coelho

A Struggle of the Spirit and a Search for the Truth Written with the same masterful prose and clarity of vision that made The Alchemist an international phenomenon, The Fifth Mountain is Paulo Coelho's inspiring story of the Biblical prophet Elijah. In the ninth century B.C., the Phoenician princess Jezebel orders the execution of all the prophets who refuse to seek safety in the land of Zarephath, where... (more)

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on... (more)

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Top Books

A Novel

by Paulo Coelho

A Novel of Redemption

by Paulo Coelho

by Sarah Weeks

by Paulo Coelho

by Frank Wynne, Michel Houellebecq

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William J. Leatherbarrow

A Novel of Temptation

by Paulo Coelho

by Philip Roth

by Desmond Morris

by Paulo Coelho

by DESMOND MORRIS

by Shelley Pearsall

by Manil Suri

by Paulo Coelho

by Leonard Cohen

by Desmond Morris

by Desmond Morris

by Paulo Coelho

by Paulo Coelho

by Khaled Hosseini