Literature

Powells.com Staff Pick
Innovative and educational, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a captivating novel about a family marked by fuku (curse) and circumstance. Díaz's story is reminiscent of Steinbeck's East of Eden — except that it's set in modern-day... (read more)

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"I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied." Shocking and controversial when it was first published in 1939, Steinbeck's Pulitzer prize-winning epic, The Grapes of Wrath, remains his undisputed masterpiece... (read more)

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From the award-winning author of "The Girl Who Played Go" comes a ravishing historical novel of one of China's most controversial historical figures: its only female emperor, Empress Wu, who emerged in the Tang Dynasty and ushered in a golden age.... (read more)

Powells.com Staff Pick
This intense novel, a literary thriller with a heart, deals with issues of race, passion, and betrayal, and presents them in a manner that is fresh, challenging, and riveting. Scott Spenser knows his way around a good tale, and he has never told a better... (read more)

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Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is... (read more)

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I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current. So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright... (read more)

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When John met Savannah, he knew he was ready to turn over a new leaf. Always the angry rebel, he had dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life. Then he meets Savannah. The attraction is mutual and quickly... (read more)

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Three women arrive at the local airport, observed by Josh, a Nantucket native home from college for the summer. Burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues, the women-- two sisters and one friend--make their way... (read more)

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One of Vonnegut's major works, this is an apocalyptic tale of the planet's ultimate fate, featuring a cast of unlikely heroes.... (read more)

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Acclaimed novelist Jonathan Ames writes his first comics work with the original graphic novel THE ALCOHOLIC, illustrated by THE QUITTER artist Dean Haspiel. This touching, compassionate, ultimately humorous story explores the heart of a failing writer... (read more)

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Eighth edition, completely revised and re-set, with additional information and an Introduction by Nicolas Barker. Shaken, Unsophisticated, Harleian Style, Fingerprint, E-book, Dentelle. Can you define these terms? If not, this is the book for you... (read more)