Catalog Search Results
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Celebrates the pleasures of reading and pays homage to the works and writers the author admires above all others, from Jane Austen to Charles Dickens to Jennifer Egan.
In an age defined by hyper-connectivity and constant stimulation, Francine Prose makes a compelling case for the solitary act of reading and the great enjoyment it brings. Inspiring and illuminating, What to Read and Why includes selections culled from Prose's previous essays, reviews,...
Author
Publisher
Sasquatch Books
Pub. Date
c2010
Language
English
Description
Includes both nonfiction and fiction reading recommendations for armchair or "real" travelers. This librarian famous for reader's advisory covers places as diverse as Afghanistan, Appalachia, Arizona, Baltimore, Boston, Burma, Congo, Corfu, Detroit, England, Finland, the Galapagos, Guernica, Hawaii, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Korea, Law Vegas, Los Angeles, Maine, Malaysia, Martha's Vineyard, Miami, Nebraska, New York City, New Orleans, Niagara...
Author
Publisher
Scribner
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
"From ancient times to the present day, The World in Books offers a wide-ranging historical education through pleasure reading-and a fantastic introduction to some of the most thought-provoking, profound, and interesting nonfiction works of all time. From Sun Tzu's The Art of War to bell hooks's All About Love, as well as such recent classics as Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists, Davis's...
Author
Publisher
Scribner
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
An entertaining guide to some of the best short novels of all time looks at works from the eighteenth century to the present day, spanning multiple genres, cultures, and countries.
Fall back into the joys of literature with an extraordinary book for book lovers: a compulsively readable, deeply engaging list of great short novels. A journey into short fiction designed with our contemporary attention spans in mind, Great Short Books suggests fifty-eight...
Author
Publisher
HarperCollins
Pub. Date
c2005
Language
English
Description
In celebration of five eventful centuries of the printed word, Basbanes considers of writings that have "made things happen" in the world, works that have both nudged the course of history and fired the imagination of influential people. Basbanes asks what we can know about such figures as Milton, Gibbon, Locke, Newton, Coleridge, John Adams, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Henry James, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller--even the Marquis de Sade and...
Author
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Formats
Description
Encompassing fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children's books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die moves across cultures and through time to present an eclectic collection of titles, each described with the special enthusiasm readers summon when recommending a book to a friend.
Mustich provides brief (usually one page) introductions to works of fiction, poetry, science and science...
Series
Publisher
H.W. Wilson, a division of EBSCO Information Services
Pub. Date
[2022]
Language
English
Description
H.W. Wilson's Fiction Core Collection (21st Edition, 2022) provides the busy librarian with expert collection development advice on the most highly recommended works of classic and contemporary fiction. Over 7,600 titles are included -- all are popular works deemed to have lasting value to readers as well as new literary and genre titles that have been recognized as significant achievements in their respected areas of literature. Fiction Core Collection...
16) The Great Books reader: excerpts and essays on the most influential books in western civilization
Publisher
Bethany House
Pub. Date
c2011
Language
English
Description
Includes excerpts from thirty of the greatest works in western literature, and essays about those works.
Author
Publisher
Pavilion Books
Pub. Date
2023.
Language
English
Description
"The inspiring novels that have left a significant mark on the world of literature and popular culture. Before the novel, the world of books was dominated by scientific tomes, religious tracts and histories of the victorious in war. There had been stories and epic poems from ancient times -- Homer's Iliad and Odyssey recounted ancient Greece, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was a chivalric romance in Middle English, but it was not until the seventeenth...
Author
Publisher
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
"The Great American Read: The book of books celebrates America's 100 best-loved novels--the books whose ideas, characters, and themes have shaped our country and reflect it back to us. This companion volume to PBS's series The Great American Read profiles the books, their authors, and their impact on our culture, as well as the little-known stories about how they came to be..."--Dust jacket.
Interlibrary Loan Request
Didn't find what you need? Items not owned by Des Moines Public Library can be requested from other libraries to be delivered to your local library for pickup.
Didn't find it?
Can't find what you are looking for? If the item was published recently, submit a purchase suggestion. Submit Request