Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

From the acclaimed author of The Rossetti Letter comes a dazzling novel of intrigue, passion, and royal secrets that shifts tantalizingly between Restoration-era London and present-day Cambridge. London, 1672. The past twelve years have brought momentous changes: the restoration of the monarchy, a devastating plague and fire. Yet the city remains a teeming, thriving metropolis, energized by the lusty... (more)

Mad Dash: A Novel

by Patricia Gaffney

The poor thing was cold and trembling, abandoned on their front doorstep. Dash, impulsive as always, decides on the spot that they should keep it. But her husband, Andrew, thinks it’s the craziest thing he’s ever heard. A fight over a scruffy little dog doesn’t seem like much of a reason to walk out on your husband of twenty years—but the spat over the puppy is just the last of many straws. Dash is so tired of... (more)

Moo

by Jane Smiley

"DELECTABLY ENTERTAINING. . . . An uproariously funny and at the same time hauntingly melancholy portrait of a college community in the Midwest." --The New York Times Nestled in the heart of the Midwest, amid cow pastures and waving fields of grain, lies Moo University, a distinguished institution devoted to the art and science of agriculture. Here, among an atmosphere rife with devious plots, mischievous... (more)

My Latest Grievance

by Elinor Lipman

My Latest Grievance stars the beguiling teenager Frederica Hatch, the "Eloise of Dewing College." Born and raised in the dormitory of this small women's college and chafing under the care of "the most annoyingly evenhanded parental team in the history of civilization," Frederica is starting to feel that her life is stiflingly snug. That all changes with the arrival on campus of a new dorm mother, the glamorous... (more)

The Crown of Columbus

by M Dorris

In their only fully collaborative literary work, Michael Dorris and Louise Erdrich have written a gripping novel of history, suspense, recovery, and new beginnings. The Crown of Columbus chronicles the adventures of a pair of mismatched lovers--Vivian Twostar, a divorced, pregnant anthropologist, and Roger Williams, a consummate academic, epic poet, and bewildered father of Vivian's baby--on their quest for the... (more)

St. Clare's series: Book 2

The O'Sullivan Twins (St Clare's)

by Enid Blyton

It's the start of the Easter Term and Pat and Isabel are looking forward to meeting all their friends at St Clare's once more. The new girls prove to be a source of much amusement, and there is all the fun of boarding-school life as well.

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy

by Elise Juska

For two quietly unhappy years, linguist Claire Gallagher has been living deep in the New Hampshire woods, enduring a polite but strained marriage to a highly respected scientist. Once a determined overachiever and academic star in her own right, she now spends her days avoiding her stalled dissertation and creating EZ crossword puzzles. But for all Claire's knowledge of words and their meanings, the meaning in her... (more)

The Malory Towers

by Enid Blyton

Includes the first three books in the "Malory Towers" series.

Harry Potter: Book 6

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

by J. K. Rowling

The war against Voldemort is not going well; even the Muggles have been affected. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses. And yet . . . As with all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Harry receives some extraordinary help in Potions from the mysterious Half-Blood... (more)

The Catcher in the Rye

by J. D. Salinger

Ever since it was first published in 1951, this novel has been the coming-of-age story against which all others are judged. Read and cherished by generations, the story of Holden Caulfield is truly one of America's literary treasures.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter: Book 5

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

by J. K. Rowling

Book five in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard, who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last year. Over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to ridicule and discount the teenager.... (more)

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Harry Potter: Book 3

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

by J. K. Rowling

During his third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter must confront the devious and dangerous wizard responsible for his parents' deaths.

Harry Potter: Book 2

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

by J. K. Rowling

In one of the most hotly anticipated sequels in memory, J.K. Rowling takes up where she left with Harry's second year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Old friends and new torments abound, including a ghost named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girl's bathroom, an outrageously conceited professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, a wacky house elf, and a mysterious force that turns Hogwarts students to ... (more)

Harry Potter: Book 4

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter is midway through his training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup. He wants to find out about the mysterious event that's supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal,... (more)

Harry Potter: Book 1

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by J. K. Rowling

Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand and jellybeans that come in every flavour, including strawberry, curry, grass and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to... (more)

Possession: A Romance (Vintage International)

Possession: A Romance (Vintage International)

by A. S. Byatt

Actual Book Cover May Vary -- There are two covers available and orders are filled at random. An exhilarating novel of wit and romance, an intellectual mystery, and a triumphant love story. This tale of a pair of young scholars researching the lives of two Victorian poets became a huge bookseller favorite, and then on to national bestellerdom.

On Beauty

by Zadie Smith

Winner of the 2006 Orange Prize for fiction and from the celebrated author of White Teeth comes another bestselling masterwork Having hit bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle , this wise, hilarious novel reminds us why Zadie Smith has rocketed to literary stardom. On Beauty is the story of an interracial family living in the university town of Wellington, ... (more)

Intuition

by Allegra Goodman

Hailed as “a writer of uncommon clarity” by the New Yorker , National Book Award finalist Allegra Goodman has dazzled readers with her acclaimed works of fiction, including such beloved bestsellers as The Family Markowitz and Kaaterskill Falls . Now she returns with a bracing new novel, at once an intricate mystery and a rich human drama set in the high-stakes atmosphere of a prestigious research institute in... (more)

Humboldt's Gift

by Saul Bellow

A chronicle of success and failure, this work is Bellow's tale of the writer's life in America. When Humboldt dies a failure in a seedy New York hotel, Charlie Citrine coping with the tribulations of his own success, begins to realize the significance of his own life.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Perennial Classics)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Perennial Classics)

by Muriel Spark

The elegantly styled classic story of a young, unorthodox teacher and her special--and ultimately dangerous--relationship with six of her students.

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: academic setting

by Christi Phillips

by Patricia Gaffney

by Jane Smiley

by Elinor Lipman

by M Dorris

by Enid Blyton

by Elise Juska

by Enid Blyton

by J. K. Rowling

by J. D. Salinger

by J. K. Rowling

by J. K. Rowling

by J. K. Rowling

by J. K. Rowling

by J. K. Rowling

by A. S. Byatt

by Zadie Smith

by Allegra Goodman

by Saul Bellow

by Muriel Spark