"The Best American Short Stories of the Century brings together the best of the best - fifty-five extraordinary stories that represent a century's worth of unsurpassed accomplishments in this quintessentially American literary genre. Here are the stories that have endured the test of time: masterworks by such writers as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Saroyan, Flannery O'Connor, John Cheever, Eudora Welty,...

"In 2001, Eoin Colfer published Artemis Fowl, a hilarious and rip-roaring science-fiction/fantasy adventure about a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind who kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. But these aren't the fairies of bedtime stories; these fairies are armed and dangerous. Artemis thinks he has them right where he wants them... until they stop playing by the rules. The novel was an instant sensation and became the start...

A mysterious minister who never removes the black veil shrouding his face, an eccentric scientist who experiments with the fate of his friends, a cheerful tombstone carver who speaks the wisdom of the graveyard, these are but a few of the unusual New Englanders you'll meet in Twice-Told Tales

"Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is one of America's most beloved writers, most known for his short stories of mystery and horror. He was also an accomplished poet and tough literary critic. Much like the drama and fiction, Poe's life was full of hardships. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by a foster family. As a young man, he developed problems with gambling, debts, and alcohol, and was even dismissed from the army. His love life was marked by...

"Set among the cities and suburbs of Florida, each story in Milk Blood Heat delves into the ordinary worlds of young girls, women, and men who find themselves confronted by extraordinary moments of violent personal reckoning. These intimate portraits of people and relationships scour and soothe and blast a light on the nature of family, faith, forgiveness, consumption, and what we may, or may not, owe one another. A thirteen-year-old meditates on...

"This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage takes us into the very real world of Ann Patchett's life. Stretching from her childhood to the present day, from a disastrous early marriage to a later happy one, it covers a multitude of topics, including relationships with family and friends, and charts the hard work and joy of writing, and the unexpected thrill of opening a bookstore."--Publisher.

In 1855, Walt Whitman published — at his own expense — the first edition of Leaves of Grass, a visionary volume of twelve poems. Showing the influence of a uniquely American form of mysticism known as Transcendentalism, which eschewed the general society and culture of the time, the writing is distinguished by an explosively innovative free verse style and previously unmentionable subject matter. Exalting nature, celebrating the human body, and...

Poor Screamin' Millie is just one of the unforgettable characters in this wonderous new book of poems and drawings. Here you will also meet Allison Beals and her twenty-five eels; Danny O'Dare, the dancin' bear; the Human Balloon; and Headphone Harold.

Five stories by the nineteenth-century American writer best known for his tales of horror.

In this classic story, Ebenezer Scrooge learns the true meaning of Christmas after being visited by three ghosts.