Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Haroun is the son of Rashid, the greatest of all storytellers who conjures up magical worlds and brings laughter to the city of Alifbay. Then one terrible day, everything goes wrong. Haroun's father runs out of stories to tell. Haroun is determined to return the storyteller's gift to his father.

24 Girls in 7 Days

by Alex Bradley, Maurice S. Friedman

There are few things sadder than Jack Grammar’s love life. So when his friends take it upon themselves to get him a date to the prom by placing an intensely humiliating ad in the school paper, they think they are doing him a favor. Jack doesn’t agree. But then the most amazing thing happens: responses to the ad are overwhelming. So overwhelming, in fact, that Jack must narrow the list down. A lot. Not an... (more)

On the Road

Dubliners

by James Joyce

Griffin and Sabine Trilogy: Book 3

The Golden Mean

In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin and Sabine Concludes

by Nick Bantock

Lovers Griffin and Sabine find their passion tested by new obstacles, including a mysterious intruder, in the conclusion of the best-selling trilogy that began with Griffin & Sabine. and Sabine's Notebook. 300,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo.

Sentimental Education (Penguin Classics)

Sentimental Education (Penguin Classics)

by Gustave Flaubert

Based on Flaubert’s own youthful passion for an older woman, Sentimental Education was described by its author as "the moral history of the men of my generation." It follows the amorous adventures of Frederic Moreau, a law student who, returning home to Normandy from Paris, notices Mme Arnoux, a slender, dark woman several years older than himself. It is the beginning of an infatuation that will last a... (more)

The Venetian's Wife: A Strangely Sensual Tale of a Renaissance Explorer, a Computer, and a Metamorphosis

The Venetian's Wife: A Strangely Sensual Tale of a Renaissance Explorer, a Computer, and a Metamorphosis

by Nick Bantock

The newest novel by the acclaimed author/illustrator of the Griffin & Sabine trilogy is part love story, part mystery, and part ghostly tale--an altogether bewitching brew of sensualtiy and lost treasures. A young woman's obsession with a drawing of Shiva, the Hindu god, leads to a curious job offer: to find the few remaining pieces of a 15-th century adventurer's renowed collection of Indian sculptures. 90+... (more)

Contemplative Prayer

by Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton

A guide to modern prayer draws on such influences as John of the Cross and Eastern desert monasticism and serves as an argument against drug-induced inner peace. Reissue. NYT.

The Old Forest and Other Stories

by Peter Taylor, Peter Hillsman Taylor

From the grand master of the American short story, these fourteen tales of domestic life in the South during the thirties and forties explore that extraordinary world of manners, expectations and unspoken understanding. The reader is drawn as if by magnetic force into a world rendered in breathtaking, painterly detail. These stories are marvelous entertainments, rich with amusement, yet Taylor renders his... (more)

Losing Battles (Vintage International)

by Eudora Welty

Three generations of Granny Vaughn's descendants gather at her Mississippi home to celebrate her 90th birthday. Possessed of the true storyteller's gift, the members of this clan cannot resist the temptation to swap tales.

Bread and WineIgnazio Silone

Bread and Wine

by Ignazio Silone

One of the 20th century's essential novels depicting Fascism's rise in Italy. Set and written in Fascist Italy, this book exposes that regime's use of brute force for the body and lies for the mind. Through the story of the once-exiled Pietro Spina, Italy comes alive with priests and peasants, students and revolutionaries, all on the brink of war.

Common Ground

A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families

by J. Anthony Lukas

Winner of 3 different awards, this is a story of the busing crisis in Boston.

Crime and Punishment

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is the penetrating study of a man who commits murder, convinced of the murder's justice, but suffering mentally nonetheless. It was first published in 1866 in twelve monthly installments of The Russian Messenger, a prestigous publication and an outlet for Tolstoy and Turgenev.

The Story of Ferdinand

by Munro Leaf

Lavishly illustrated version of the classic story, with black and white drawings by Robert Lawson.

Ulysses

by Danis Rose, Hans Walter Gabler, Claus Melchior, Wolfhard Steppe, James Joyce, Jeri Johnson

This revised volume follows the complete unabridged text as corrected in 1961. Contains the original foreword by the author and the historic court ruling to remove the federal ban. It also contains page references to the first American edition of 1934.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

by James Joyce

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man portrays Stephen Dedalus's Dublin childhood and youth, providing an oblique self-portrait of the young James Joyce. At its center are questions of origin and source, authority and authorship, and the relationship of an artist to his family, culture, and race. Exuberantly inventive, this coming-of-age story is a tour de force of style and technique.

Treasure Island

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson's cherished, unforgettable adventure magically captures the thrill of a sea voyage and a treasure hunt through the eyes of its teenage protagonist, Jim Hawkins. Crossing the Atlantic in search of the buried cache, Jim and the ship's crew must brave the elements and a mutinous charge led by the quintessentially ruthless pirate Long John Silver. Brilliantly conceived and splendidly executed,... (more)

Look Homeward, Angel

by Thomas Wolfe

The stunning, classic coming-of-age novel written by one of America's foremost Southern writers A legendary author on par with William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Wolfe published Look Homeward, Angel , his first novel, about a young man's burning desire to leave his small town and tumultuous family in search of a better life, in 1929. It gave the world proof of his genius and launched a powerful... (more)

Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories (Vintage Contemporaries)

Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories (Vintage Contemporaries)

by Raymond Carver

A major collection of Carver's short stories, including seven new stories written shortly before the author's death in 1988.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize–winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind.... (more)

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Tags: best books ive read

by Salman Rushdie

by Alex Bradley, Maurice S. Friedman

by James Joyce

In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin and Sabine Concludes

by Nick Bantock

by Gustave Flaubert

by Nick Bantock

by Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton

by Peter Taylor, Peter Hillsman Taylor

by Eudora Welty

by Ignazio Silone

A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families

by J. Anthony Lukas

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

by Munro Leaf

by Danis Rose, Hans Walter Gabler, Claus Melchior, Wolfhard Steppe, James Joyce, Jeri Johnson

by James Joyce

by Robert Louis Stevenson

by Thomas Wolfe

by Raymond Carver

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez