David Foster Wallace is to contemporary literature what Kurt Cobain is to music. He died young enough for his promise and his achievements to solidify into a legend. For many, he became someone worth reading, revering, following.How had a teen tennis prodigy turned ace philosophy student turned novelist managed to become a generation-defining star? And how painful was that process for him? What was it that he stood for that chimed with so many? And how much did his, and his country...

Growing up in a small upper Midwestern town in the late 1930s, young Tommy MacAllister is scarcely aware of the Depression, much less the rumblings of war in Europe. For his parents and their set, life seems to revolve around dinners and dancing at the country club, tennis dates and rounds of golf, holiday parties, summers on the Island, and sparkling occasions full of people and drinks and food and laughter. But curious as he is and impatient to grow up, Tommy will soon come to glimpse th...

A new edition to celebrate the 30th anniversary of David Foster Wallace's iconic, bestselling novel Infinite Jest - with an introduction by Michelle Zauner, author of Crying in H Mart'We will likely not see another book like this in our lifetimes' Michelle Zauner, bestselling author of Crying in H Mart and frontwoman for Japanese BreakfastTennis prodigy Hal Incandenza and recovering addict Don Gately are consume...

**NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, STARRING JASON SEGAL AND JESSE EISENBERG, DIRECTED BY JAMES PONSOLDTAn indelible portrait of David Foster Wallace, by turns funny and inspiring, based on a five-day trip with award-winning writer David Lipsky during Wallace’s Infinite Jest tour**In David Lipsky’s view, David Foster Wallace was the best young writer in America. Wallace’s pieces for Harper’s magazine in the ’90s were, according to Lipsky, “like hearing for the f...

For young readers who grew up with the bestselling Fancy Nancy picture books, Nancy Clancy is now starring in her own chapter books!In this first in a series of delightful chapter books, Fancy Nancy takes on the role of detective. When one of Nancy's classmate's most treasured possessions disappear from school, it's up to detective Nancy to solve the mystery and save the day.With the help of her friend Bree, she follows the clues to an unexpected source. Fans of Nancy Drew'...

A collection of personal writing exercises and commentary from some of today's best novelists, short story writers, and writing teachers, including Jill McCorkle, Amy Bloom, Robert Olen Butler, Steve Almond, Jayne Anne Phillips, Virgil Suarez, Margot Livesay, and more.What's the secret behind the successful and prolific careers of critically acclaimed novelists and short story writers Amy Bloom, Steve Almond, Jayne Anne Phillips, Alison Lurie, and others? Divine assistance? Otherwo...

A group of professional detectives challenge Nancy to tackle a mystery that they have failed to solve: find an invaluable message hidden by a missionary centuries ago in a hollow oak tree in Illinois. While searching the woods for the ancient tree, Nancy and her friends live with a group of young archaeologists who are excavating prehistoric Indian burial mounds on a nearby farm. A shadowy enemy stalks Nancy and harasses everyone at the dig. The young investigator pursues her dangerous adv...

How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, and Life into LiteratureFrom drawing a map of a remembered neighborhood to signing a form releasing yourself to take risks in your work, Roorbach offers innovative techniques that will trigger ideas for all writers.Writing Life Stories is a classic text that appears on countless creative nonfiction and composition syllabi the world over. This updated 10th anniversary edition gives you the same f...

Deceptively simple and surprisingly addictive, Not Quite What I Was Planning is a thousand glimpses of humanity—six words at a time.One Life. Six Words. What's Yours?When Hemingway famously wrote, "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn," he proved that an entire story can be told using a half dozen words. When the online storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers to submit six-word memoirs, they proved a whole, real life can be told this way too. The results are fascinating, hila...

Betrayal, revenge and a family scandal that bore a 150yearold mysteryWhen Cooper McQueen wakes up from a night with a beautiful stranger, it's to discover he's been robbed. The only item stolen-a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. The thief, a mysterious woman named Paris, claims the bottle is rightfully hers. After all, the label itself says it's property of the Maddox family who owned and operated the Red Thread Bourbon distillery since the last days of the Civil War, u...

In intimate and eloquent interviews, including the last he gave before his suicide, the writer hailed by A.O. Scott of The New York Times as “the best mind of his generation” considers the state of modern America, entertainment and discipline, adulthood, literature, and his own inimitable writing style.In addition to Wallace’s last interview, the volume features a conversation with Dave Eggers, a revealing Q&A with the magazine of his alma mater Amherst, his famous Sal...

Nancy Drew loves to share her tips for solving mysteries with the Detective Club, a group of her friends from River Heights. Get the scoop on Nancy’s sleuthing secrets—like what your handwriting says about your personality, how to identify fingerprints, and even how to catch a ghost! Get a clue with Nancy Drew!