Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories (The Lottery / The Haunting of Hill House / We Have Always Lived in the Castle)

Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories (The Lottery / The Haunting of Hill House / We Have Always Lived in the Castle)

In one volume: The Haunting of Hill House, The Lottery, and much more, including We Have Always Lived in the Castle, now a major motion picture starring Taissa Farmiga and Sebastian Stan"The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable," writes A. M. Homes. "It is a place where things are not what they seem; even on a morning that is sunny and clear there is always the threat of darkness looming, of things taking a turn for the worse." In this Library of America volume Joyce Carol Oates, our leading practitioner of the contemporary Gothic, presents the essential works of Shirley Jackson, the novels and stories that, from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s, wittily remade the genre of psychological horror for an alienated, postwar America. She opens with The Lottery (1949), Jackson's only collection of short fiction, whose disquieting title story-one of the most widely anthologized tales of the 20th century-has entered American folklore. Also among these early works are "The Daemon Lover," a story Oates praises as "deeper, more mysterious, and more disturbing than 'The Lottery,' " and "Charles," the hilarious sketch that launched Jackson's secondary career as a domestic humorist. Here too are Jackson's masterly short novels: The Haunting of Hill House (1959), the tale of an achingly empathetic young woman chosen by a haunted house to be its new tenant, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962), the unrepentant confessions of Miss Merricat Blackwood, a cunning adolescent who has gone to quite unusual lengths to preserve her ideal of family happiness. Rounding out the volume are 21 other stories and sketches that showcase Jackson in all her many modes, and the essay "Biography of a Story," Jackson's acidly funny account of the public reception of "The Lottery," which provoked more mail from readers of The New Yorker than any contribution before or since.LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our... [Read More]

  • ASIN: 1598530720
  • ISBN: 1598530720
  • Brand: Library of America
  • Manufacturer: Library of America

1984 (Signet Classics)

1984 (Signet Classics)

Written 70 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever...• Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read •“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”Winston Smith toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thoughtcrimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can’t escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching...A startling and haunting vision of the world, 1984 is so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the influence of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions—a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.

  • ASIN: 0451524934
  • ISBN: 9780451524935
  • Brand: Signet Classic
  • Manufacturer: Signet Classic

The Book Thief

The Book Thief

DON’T MISS BRIDGE OF CLAY, MARKUS ZUSAK’S FIRST NOVEL SINCE THE BOOK THIEF.  The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller that is now a major motion picture, Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul.  Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.  In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.   “The kind of book that can be life-changing.” —The New York Times   “Deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.” —USA Today

  • ASIN: 0375842209
  • ISBN: 9780375842207
  • Brand: Alfred A. Knopf
  • Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

#1 New York Times bestseller • Includes an introduction by Margaret Atwood.   An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” (New York Times). Now an award-winning Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss.   Look for The Testaments, the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, coming September 2019.   In Margaret Atwood’s dystopian future, environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War. The result is the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women. Offred is one of these, a Handmaid bound to produce children for one of Gilead’s commanders. Deprived of her husband, her child, her freedom, and even her own name, Offred clings to her memories and her will to survive. At once a scathing satire, an ominous warning, and a tour de force of narrative suspense, The Handmaid’s Tale is a modern classic.

  • ASIN: 038549081X
  • ISBN: 038549081X
  • Brand: Atwood, Margaret Eleanor
  • Manufacturer: Anchor

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice

New York Times bestseller THE BOOK THAT EXPLAINS WHY RUSSIANS WANTED TO MEET WITH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN “Part John Grisham-like thriller, part business and political memoir.” —The New York Times “[Red Notice] does for investing in Russia and the former Soviet Union what Liar’s Poker did for our understanding of Salomon Brothers, Wall Street, and the mortgage-backed securities business in the 1980s. Browder’s business saga meshes well with the story of corruption and murder in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, making Red Notice an early candidate for any list of the year’s best books” (Fortune).This is a story about an accidental activist. Bill Browder started out his adult life as the Wall Street maverick whose instincts led him to Russia just after the breakup of the Soviet Union, where he made his fortune. Along the way he exposed corruption, and when he did, he barely escaped with his life. His Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky wasn’t so lucky: he ended up in jail, where he was tortured to death. That changed Browder forever. He saw the murderous heart of the Putin regime and has spent the last half decade on a campaign to expose it. Because of that, he became Putin’s number one enemy, especially after Browder succeeded in having a law passed in the United States—The Magnitsky Act—that punishes a list of Russians implicated in the lawyer’s murder. Putin famously retaliated with a law that bans Americans from adopting Russian orphans. A financial caper, a crime thriller, and a political crusade, Red Notice is the story of one man taking on overpowering odds to change the world, and also the story of how, without intending to, he found meaning in his life.

  • ASIN: 1476755744
  • ISBN: 1476755744
  • Brand: Bill Browder
  • Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster

Brave New World

Brave New World

Now more than ever: Aldous Huxley's enduring masterwork must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit "A masterpiece. ... One of the most prophetic dystopian works." —Wall Street Journal  Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.  "Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune

  • ASIN: 0060850523
  • ISBN: 0060850523
  • Brand: Huxley, Aldous
  • Manufacturer: Harper Perennial

The Fifth Risk

The Fifth Risk

New York Times Bestseller What are the consequences if the people given control over our government have no idea how it works?"The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. "And then there was radio silence." Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. Some even threw away the briefing books that had been prepared for them.Michael Lewis’s brilliant narrative takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. In Agriculture the funding of vital programs like food stamps and school lunches is being slashed. The Commerce Department may not have enough staff to conduct the 2020 Census properly. Over at Energy, where international nuclear risk is managed, it’s not clear there will be enough inspectors to track and locate black market uranium before terrorists do.Willful ignorance plays a role in these looming disasters. If your ambition is to maximize short-term gains without regard to the long-term cost, you are better off not knowing those costs. If you want to preserve your personal immunity to the hard problems, it’s better never to really understand those problems. There is upside to ignorance, and downside to knowledge. Knowledge makes life messier. It makes it a bit more difficult for a person who wishes to shrink the world to a worldview.If there are dangerous fools in this book, there are also heroes, unsung, of course. They are the linchpins of the system―those public servants whose knowledge, dedication, and proactivity keep the machinery running. Michael Lewis finds them, and he asks them what keeps them up at night.

  • ASIN: 1324002646
  • ISBN: 9781324002642
  • Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company

The Girl Who Lived: A Thrilling Suspense Novel

The Girl Who Lived: A Thrilling Suspense Novel

Ten years ago, four people were brutally murdered—one girl lived.No one believes her story. The police think she's crazy. Her therapist thinks she's suicidal. Everyone else thinks she's a dangerous drunk. They're all right—but did she see the killer?Best Mystery-Thriller eBook of the Year — Independent Publisher Book Awards 2018Winner Best Thriller — National Indie Excellence Awards 2018Winner Best Thriller — Silver Falchion Award 2018Finalist eBook Fiction — Indie Book Awards 2018Silver Medal Suspense — Reader’s Favorite Book Awards 2018Voted Most Loved Cover — NetGalley ReadersGrab your copy of this award-winning psychological thriller today!As the anniversary of the murders approaches, Faith Winters is released from the psychiatric hospital and yanked back to the last spot on earth she wants to be—her hometown where the slayings took place. Wracked by the lingering echoes of survivor's guilt, Faith spirals into a black hole of alcoholism and wanton self-destruction. Finding no solace at the bottom of a bottle, Faith decides to track down her sister's killer—only to discover that she's the one being hunted.How can one woman uncover the truth when everyone's a suspect—including herself?From the mind of Wall Street Journal bestselling author Christopher Greyson comes a story with twists and turns that take the reader to the edge of madness. The Girl Who Lived should come with a warning label: once you start reading, you won't be able to stop. Not since Girl on the Train and Gone Girl has a psychological thriller kept readers so addicted—and guessing right until the last page."Christopher Greyson has created a thriller on par with The Girl on the Train, only with more suspects, more danger, and more agony for the young heroine." — Killer Nashville"The plot turns come fast and furious... Sharp characters enmeshed in a mystery that, particularly in its final lap, is a gleefully dizzy ride." — Kirkus Reviews"Greyson is a master of wea... [Read More]

  • ASIN: B076FNQWTF
  • Manufacturer: Greyson Media

And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 PickOne of the most famous and beloved mysteries from The Queen of Suspense—Agatha Christie—now a Lifetime TV movie."Ten . . ."Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion off the Devon coast by a mysterious "U. N. Owen.""Nine . . ."At dinner a recorded message accuses each of them in turn of having a guilty secret, and by the end of the night one of the guests is dead."Eight . . ."Stranded by a violent storm, and haunted by a nursery rhyme counting down one by one . . . as one by one . . . they begin to die."Seven . . ."Which among them is the killer and will any of them survive?

  • ASIN: 0062073486
  • ISBN: 0062073486
  • Brand: Harper
  • Manufacturer: William Morrow

The Shining

The Shining

Before Doctor Sleep, there was The Shining, a classic of modern American horror from the undisputed master, Stephen King. Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

  • ASIN: 0307743659
  • ISBN: 9780307743657
  • Brand: Brand: Anchor
  • Manufacturer: Anchor