Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

First published in 1929, Faulkner created his "heart's darling," the beautiful and tragic Caddy Compson, whose story Faulkner told through separate monologues by her three brothers--the idiot Benjy, the neurotic suicidal Quentin and the monstrous Jason.

Lolita

by Vladimir Nabokov

The hilarious and tragic story of Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged man who feels passion only for the young "nymphet" Dolores Haze, whom he renames Lolita.

On Writing

by Stephen King

"Long live the King" hailed Entertainment Weekly upon the publication of Stephen King's On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a... (more)

My Father Bleeds History

by Art Spiegelman

Combined for the first time here are Maus I: A Survivor's Tale and Maus II - the complete story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, living and surviving in Hitler's Europe. By addressing the horror of the Holocaust through cartoons, the author captures the everyday reality of fear and is able to explore the guilt, relief and extraordinary sensation of survival - and how the children of survivors are in their own... (more)

Godfather: Book 1

The Godfather

by Mario Puzo

More than thirty years ago, a classic was born. A searing novel of the Mafia underworld, The Godfather introduced readers to the first family of American crime fiction, the Corleones-and became the definitive novel of the virile, violent subculture that remains steeped in intrigue, in controversy, and in our collective consciousness.

The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition)

The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition)

by Thomas H. Kean, Lee Hamilton

Nearly three thousand people died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In Lower Manhattan, on a field in Pennsylvania, and along the banks of the Potomac, the United States suffered the single largest loss of life from an enemy attack on its soil. In November 2002 the United States Congress and President George W. Bush established by law the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the... (more)

Doomsday Book

by Connie Willis

For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received. But a crisis... (more)

The Crimson Petal and the White

by Michel Faber

The Long Goodbye (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

The Long Goodbye (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

by Raymond Chandler

Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, who he's divorced and re-married and who ends up dead. and now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.

Parliament Of Whores - A Lone Humorist Attempts To Explain The Entire U. S. Government

Parliament Of Whores - A Lone Humorist Attempts To Explain The Entire U. S. Government

by P.J. O'Rourke

Examines every aspect of government, attending a political convention, the presidential election and inauguration, Congress, the Supreme Court and a small town meeting in New Hampshire. He examines the budget, the bureaucracy and the US policies on drugs, poverty, agriculture, defence and foreign affairs. The author also wrote "Modern Manners", "The Bachelor Home Companion", "Republican Party Reptile" and... (more)

Harriet the Spy

by Louise Fitzhugh

Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down everything she knows about everyone, even her classmates and her best friends. Then Harriet loses track of her notebook, and it ends up in the wrong hands. Before she can stop them, her friends have read the always truthful, sometimes awful things she’s written about each of them. Will Harriet find a way to put her life and her friendships back together? (more)

Gidget

by Frederick Kohner

Surf's up! The classic novel of 1950's American youth-now back in print with rare photos and a new foreword by the "real" Gidget.

The Boyfriend School (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

The Boyfriend School (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by Sarah Bird

Gretchen Griner is an underpaid, underappreciated photographer for the Austin (that’s Texas) Grackle , part-time lover of Peter Overton Treadwell III (known as “Trout”), and major consumer of Cup O’ Soup. That is, until she meets Lizzie Potts—otherwise known as Viveca Lamoureaux, romance writer extraordinaire. Lizzie has a plan for Gretchen’s life—and it includes Lizzie’s brother Gus. But Gretchen has her own... (more)

The Crocodile Bird

by Ruth Rendell

The chilling tale of a mother and daughter living alone on an isolated estate is the story of a daughter totally protected from the outside world--but not from her mother's murderous obsessions. Reprint. NYT. K.

Marnie

by Winston Graham

The novel which became the famous Hitchcock film. Marnie seems a charming young woman, but is in fact a thief and a liar. This time she has walked into a trap but the man who has caught her has also trapped himself by falling in love with her. From the author of the Poldark novels and TREMOR.

Then We Came to the End

by Joshua Ferris

This wickedly funny, big-hearted novel about life in the office signals the arrival of a gloriously talented new writer. The characters in THEN WE CAME TO THE END cope with a business downturn in the time-honored way: through gossip, secret romance, elaborate pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks. By day they compete for the best office furniture left behind and try to make sense of the... (more)

Beware the Fish

by Gordon Korman

More hilarious misadventures of Boots and Bruno at Macdonald Hall.

Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

by Max Shulman

Not exactly a household word, Max Shulman is nonetheless one of the great stealth writers in American pop culture. He cowrote The Tender Trap , which became a big-screen vehicle for Frank Sinatra, and his hilarious, Elvis-intensive satire Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! also made it to Hollywood, pairing the young Paul Newman with the equally young Joanne Woodward. Shulman's best-known creation, however,... (more)

Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations, described by G. K. Chesterton as a “study in human weakness and the slow human surrender,” may be called Charles Dickens ’s finest moment in a remarkably illustrious literary career. In an overgrown churchyard, a grizzled convict springs upon an orphan named Pip. The convict terrifies the young boy and threatens to kill him unless Pip helps further his escape. Later, Pip finds himself in the... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: better than you think

The Sound and the Fury

by William Faulkner