"[A] marvelous book about the vital importance of librarians in the cyber age. . . . Move over, Google—make way for the . . . all-knowing lady behind the desk." —Christopher Buckley, New York Times– bestselling author of Losing Mum and PupIn a world of streaming media, digital archives, and Google Everything, some think librarians are as obsolete as print on a page. Marilyn Johnson, acclaimed au...

"What a wonderful surprise—a charming, lyrical book about the men and women who write obituaries . . . sly, droll, and completely winning." —David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize-winning authorWhere can readers celebrate the life of the pharmacist who moonlighted as a spy, the genius behind Sea Monkeys, the school lunch lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess? The obituary page, of course. Enthralled by these fascinating former lives, Marilyn Johnson tumbled in...

"Through a combination of perception and wit, Johnson discovers how archaeologists are invaluable witnesses 'to the loss of our cultural memories.'" — USA TodayThe author of The Dead Beat and This Book is Overdue! turns her piercing eye and charming wit to the real-life avatars of Indiana Jones—the archaeologists who sort through the muck and mire of swamps, ancient landfills, volcanic islands, and other dirty places to r...

A Year-Long Celebration of Faith Sometimes an encouraging word can turn your whole day around. Other times, all you need is a good laugh. Then there are times a personal insight lets you know that you are not alone. Or a bit of wisdom connects God's Word to your everyday life. You'll find them all in the Women of Faith Daily Devotional. This beautiful, warmly written book illuminates twelve aspects of faith that will help you start the year with hope and finish it in peace. With 366 brand ...

I like the aquariumAnd the planetarium.A day at the zooIs lots of fun, too.There's much to observeAt a nature preserve.The beach by the seaJust fascinates me.And it's nice at the dairyOr the birds' aviary.There's so much to seeAll around you and me...If we'll just take the time to look!A wonderful world of discovery is right before your eyes. Open up this book and let the Johnson kids be...

Pompeii, Machu Picchu, the Valley of the Kings, the Parthenon—the names of these legendary archaeological sites conjure up romance and mystery. The news is full of archaeology: treasures found and treasures lost. Archaeological research tantalizes us with possibilities (are modern humans really part Neanderthal?). Where are the archaeologists behind these stories? What kind of work do they actually do, and why does it matter?Marilyn Johnson's Lives in Ruins is an absorbing...

Marilyn Johnson was enthralled by the remarkable lives that were marching out of this world—so she sought out the best obits in the English language and the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. She surveyed the darkest corners of Internet chat rooms, and made a pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all. Now she leads us on a compelling journey into the cult and culture behind the obituary page and the unusual lives we don't quite appreciate un...

Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” wrote The New Yorker on the publication of her Pulitzer Prize–winning Olive Kitteridge. The San Francisco Chronicle praised Strout’s “magnificent gift for humanizing characters.” Now the acclaimed author returns with a stunning novel as powerful and moving as any work in contemporary literature.Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Bur...

William Stoner is born at the end of the nineteenth century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he instead falls in love with English literature and embraces a scholar’s life, far different from the hardscrabble existence he has known.Yet as the years pass, William Stoner encounters a succession of disappointments: marriage into a “proper” family estranges him from his parents; his career is stymied; his wife an...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An epic journey into the heart of North Korea and the world’s most mysterious dictatorship.“Imagine Charles Dickens paying a visit to Pyongyang, and you see the canvas on which [Adam] Johnson is painting here.”—The Washington PostONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEARPak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother—a singer “stolen”...

The follow-up to My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name continues the epic New York Times bestselling literary quartet that has inspired an HBO series, and returns us to the world of Lila and Elena, who grew up together in post-WWII Naples, Italy.In The Story of a New Name, Lila has recently married and made her entrée into the family business; Elena, meanwhile, continues her studies and her exploration of the world beyond the neighborhood ...

• Pride and Prejudice was only half the story •If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she’d most likely be a sight more careful with them.In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. Bu...