Literary Collections : Essays

Featuring a collection of writings by and about religious women, this work presents some of the original literature of the Middle Ages: biographies, poetic compositions, works that are mystical, prophetic, visionary, or meditative. Its writings reflect the link between female spirituality and the body. more...

Price: $17.00

50 Irresistible True Accounts of Love in the Twenty-first Century. A young woman wryly describes a relationship that races from start to finish almost entirely via text messages. A Casanova is jilted after an idyllic three weeks and learns the hard way that the woman is, well, just not that into him. more...

Price: $14.95

This newly expanded edition of On Doctoring is an extraordinary collection of stories, poems, and essays written by physicians and non-physicians alike - works that eloquently record what it is like to be sick, to be cured, to lose, or to triumph. In this era of managed healthcare, when medicine is becoming more institutionalized and impersonal, this book recaptures the breadth and the wonder of the medical profession. Presenting the issues, concerns, and challenges facing doctors and patients alike, On Doctoring is at once illuminating and provocative, a compelling record of the human spirit. more...

Price: $17.99

On the Decay of the Art of Lying is a short essay written by Mark Twain in 1885 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. In the essay, Twain laments the four ways in which men of America's Gilded Age employ man's 'most faithful friend'. He concludes by insisting that: the wise thing is for us diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully, judiciously; to lie with a good object, and not an evil one; to lie for others' advantage, and not our own; to lie healingly, charitably, humanely, not cruelly, hurtfully, maliciously; to lie gracefully and graciously, not awkwardly and clumsily; to lie firmly, frankly, squarely, with head erect, not haltingly, tortuously, with pusillanimous mien, as being ashamed of our high calling. The essay was offered the thirty-dollars prize, which it did not take. [Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Decay_of_the_Art_of_Lying] more...

Price: $2.50

In the 1970s and 1980s, before he earned national acclaim for his award-winning novels, Pete Dexter was a newspaper columnist. Every week, in a few hundred words, Dexter cut directly to the heart of the American character at a time of national turmoil and crucial change. With haunting urgency, his columns laid bare the violence, hypocrisy, and desperation he saw on the streets of Philadelphia and in the places he visited across the country. But he reveled, too, in the lighter side of his own life, sharing scenes with the indefatigable Mrs. Dexter, their young daughter, and a series of unforgettable creatures who strayed into their lives. No matter what caught Dexter's eye, it was illuminated by his dark, brilliant humor. Collected here for the first time are eighty-two of the best of those spellbinding, finely wrought pieces—with a new introduction by the author—assembled by Rob Fleder, editor of the bestselling Sports Illustrated 50th Anniversary Book . Paper Trails is searing, heart-breaking, and irresistibly funny, sometimes all at once. As Pete Hamill says in his foreword, these essays ''are as good as it ever gets.''. more...

Price: $19.95