Essays, Criticism, Memoirs
MONSTERS: A FAN'S DILEMMA
Written by Dederer, Claire
A passionate, provocative, blisteringly smart interrogation of how we make and experience art in the age of #MeToo, and of the link between genius and monstrosity.
STORY OF A LIFE
Written by Paustovsky, Konstantin
One of the most famous works of Russian literature, a memoir about a writer's coming of age during World War I, the Russian Civil War, and the rise of the Soviet era.
LETTERS TO A YOUNG CONTRARIAN
Written by Hitchens, Christopher
From bestselling author and provocateur Christopher Hitchens, the classic guide to the art of principled dissent and disagreement In Letters to a Young Contrarian, bestselling author and world-class provocateur Christopher Hitchens inspires the radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, and angry young (wo)men of tomorrow.
THIS IS NOT MIAMI
Written by Melchor, Fernanda
Set in and around the Mexican city of Veracruz, This Is Not Miami delivers a series of devastating stories--spiraling from real events--that bleed together reportage and the author's rich and rigorous imagination.
REAL WORK: ON THE MYSTERY OF MASTERY
Written by Gopnik, Adam
For decades now, Adam Gopnik has been one of our most beloved writers, a brilliantly perceptive critic of art, food, France, and more. But recently, he became obsessed by a more fundamental matter, one he had often meditated on in The New Yorker: How do masters learn their miraculous skill, whether it was drawing a museum-ready nude or baking a perfect sourdough loaf?
PATRICIA HIGHSMITH'S DIARIES AND NOTEBOOKS: THE NEW YORK YEARS, 1941-1950
Written by Highsmith, Patricia
Before Alfred Hitchcock adapted her debut novel, Strangers on a Train, for the big screen; before her suave and sociopathic Thomas Ripley snaked his way into the canon of psychological suspense; and before The Price of Salt became a cult classic of romantic obsession, who was Patricia Highsmith?
ALEXANDRA PETRI'S US HISTORY: IMPORTANT AMERICAN DOCUMENTS (I MADE UP)
Written by Petri, Alexandra
As a columnist for the Washington Post, Alexandra Petri has watched in real time as those who didn't learn from history have been forced to repeat it. And repeat it. And repeat it. If we repeat history one more time, we're going to fail! Maybe it's time for a new textbook.
ANIMAL JOY: A BOOK OF LAUGHTER AND RESUSCITATION
Written by Alsadir, Nuar
An invigorating, continuously surprising book about the serious nature of laughter. Laughter shakes us out of our deadness. An outburst of spontaneous laughter is an eruption from the unconscious that, like political resistance, poetry, or self-revelation, expresses a provocative, impish drive to burst free from external constraints.
WORLD ACCORDING TO PROUST
Written by Landy, Joshua
100 years after Proust's death, In Search of Lost Time remains one of the greatest works in World Literature. At 3,000 pages, it can be intimidating to some. This short volume invites first-time readers and veterans alike to view the novel in a new way. Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was arguably France's best-known literary writer.
I WANT TO KEEP SMASHING MYSELF UNTIL I AM WHOLE: AN ELIAS CANETTI READER
Written by Canetti, Elias
A brilliant selection . . . Canetti's range astonishes. --Claire Messud, Harper's
New Arrivals
