Thomas Hardy

Jonathan A. Cook

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Texas

Far from the Madding Crowd (Barnes and Noble Classics Series)

da7338a4-a743-48ae-a641-615c14d2f3b3-1

David Rooney

A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks

One of Smithsonian Magazine's Ten Best History Books of 2021 A captivating, surprising history of timekeeping and how it has shaped our world. For thousands of years, people of all cultures have made and used clocks, from the city sundials of ancient Rome to the medieval water clocks of imperial China, hourglasses fomenting revolution in the Middle Ages, the Stock Exchange clock of Amsterdam in 1611, Enlightenment observatories in India, and the high-precision clocks circling the Earth on a fleet of GPS satellites that have been launched since 1978. Clocks have helped us navigate the world and build empires, and have even taken us to the brink of destruction. Elites have used them to wield power, make money, govern citizens, and control lives—and sometimes the people have used them to fight back. Through the stories of twelve clocks, About Time brings pivotal moments from the past vividly to life. Historian and lifelong clock enthusiast David Rooney takes us from the unveiling of al-Jazari’s castle clock in 1206, in present-day Turkey; to the Cape of Good Hope observatory at the southern tip of Africa, where nineteenth-century British government astronomers moved the gears of empire with a time ball and a gun; to the burial of a plutonium clock now sealed beneath a public park in Osaka, where it will keep time for 5,000 years. Rooney shows, through these artifacts, how time has been imagined, politicized, and weaponized over the centuries—and how it might bring peace. Ultimately, he writes, the technical history of horology is only the start of the story. A history of clocks is a history of civilization.

About Time

d6acb0d3-2b89-4d1d-aa05-a916953e805b-1

Nicole Trope

A Totally Unputdownable Psychological Thriller with a Shocking Twist

Sometimes, the most perfect families are hiding the most terrible secrets. How well do you know the people next door? Everybody wants to live on Hogarth Street, the pretty, tree-lined avenue with its white houses. The new family, The Wests, are a perfect fit. Katherine and Josh seem so in love and their gorgeous five-year-old twins race screeching around their beautiful emerald-green lawn. But soon people start to notice: why don't they join backyard barbecues? Why do they brush away offers to babysit? Why, when you knock at the door, do they shut you out, rather than inviting you in? Every family has secrets, and on the hottest day of the year, the truth is about to come out. As a tragedy unfolds behind closed doors, the dawn chorus is split by the wail of sirens. And one by one the families who tried so hard to welcome the Wests begin to realise: Hogarth Street will never be the same again. A completely gripping, twist-packed psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, Sally Hepworth and Lisa Jewell. Readers love The Family Across the Street: 'Wow!!! Wow!!! Wow!!! This book is a total page-turner and will keep you guessing with every page. Halfway through I thought I had figured it out and then BAM! The ending floored me. I just loved this book.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Omg! Omg!... My son came in and asked me who I was yelling at?! (I was yelling at my e-reader) LOL... My heart beat out of my chest... The suspense was killing me! LOL my heart is still beating crazy!...OK I have to go now I need a big glass of wine to calm down!' Ana's Attic Guest Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Family Across the Street

88f54741-c943-438c-8986-6b710391bf2d-1

Walker Percy

Paul Elie

A Novel

Winner of the 1962 National Book Award and one of Time magazine's 100 Best English-Language Novels, Walker Percy's debut The Moviegoer is an American masterpiece and a classic of Southern literature. Insightful, romantic, and humorous, it is the story of a young man's search for meaning amid a shallow consumerist landscape.

Binx Bolling, a young New Orleans stockbroker, fills his days with movies and casual sex. His life offers him nothing worth retaining; what he treasures are scenes from The Third Man or Stagecoach, not the personal experiences he knows other people hold dear. On the cusp of turning thirty, however, something changes: At Mardi Gras, he embarks on a quest for some form of authentic experience. The consequences of Binx's quest, on both himself and his unstable cousin Kate, prove outrageous, absurd, moving, and indelible.

Featuring an afterword by Paul Elie, this new edition of The Moviegoer cements Walker Percy's place as a giant of American literature.

The Moviegoer

4cd38a36-fb72-4b98-b8b0-7c8901b72ac9-1

W. Somerset Maugham

Up at the Villa is a 1941 novella by William Somerset Maugham about a young widow caught among three men: her suitor, her one-night stand, and her confidant. A fast-paced story, Up at the Villa incorporates elements of the crime and suspense novel.

Now a major motion picture from USA Films starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, and director Philip Haas (director of Angels and Insects). In Up at the Villa, W. Somerset Maugham portrays a wealthy young English woman who finds herself confronted rather brutally by the repercussions of whimsy. On the day her older and prosperous friend asks her to marry him, Mary Leonard demurs and decides to postpone her reply a few days. But driving into the hills above Florence alone that evening, Mary offers a ride to a handsome stranger. And suddenly, her life is utterly, irrevocably altered. For this stranger is a refugee of war, and he harbors more than one form of passion. Before morning, Mary will witness bloodshed, she will be forced to seek advice and assistance from an unsavory man, and she will have to face the truth about her own yearnings. Erotic, haunting, and maddeningly suspenseful, Up at the Villa is a masterful tale of temptation and the capricious nature of fate.

Up at the Villa

d81dced7-f51c-4ccc-b41d-b04c4b531cca-1

Rita Dove

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Penguin’s landmark poetry anthology, perfect for learning poems by heart in the age of ephemeral media Recipient of the Academy of American Poets' Wallace Stevens Award (Dove) Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate of the United States, introduces readers to the most significant and compelling poems of the past hundred years in The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Now available in paperback, this indispensable volume represents the full spectrum of aesthetic sensibilities—with varying styles, voices, themes, and cultures—while balancing important poems with vital periods of each poet. Featuring works by Mary Oliver, Derek Walcott, John Ashbery, Gwendolyn Brooks, Kevin Young, Terrance Hayes, Li-Young Lee, Joanna Klink and A.E. Stallings, Dove’s selections paint a dynamic and cohesive portrait of modern American poetry.

The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry

566f0493-eedd-4995-894f-ad20a5d63533-1

Ulrich Boser

One museum, two thieves, and the Boston underworld—the story behind the lost Gardner masterpieces and the art detective who swore to get them back.

The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft

“Boser cracks the cold case of the art world’s greatest unsolved mystery.” —Vanity Fair “The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft,” The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser is a fascinating account of a brazen and amazing criminal act—a book that could help police and investigators solve the mystery of the 1990 break-in and burglary at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “A tantalizing whodunit” (Boston Globe) and a “riveting, wonderfully vivid account [that] takes you into the underworld of obsessed art detectives, con men, and thieves” (Jonathan Harr, author of The Lost Painting), The Gardner Heist is true crime history at its most spellbinding.

The Gardner Heist

bdb2384f-f0e6-4307-b8a6-cf21170f0538

Eric Etheridge

Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders is a 2008 book by Eric Etheridge. The book features the life stories of over 80 of the Freedom Riders who fought to desegregate interstate bus transportation in the Deep South, and includes both their original mug shots and contemporary photographic portraits taken 45 or more years later by Etheridge.

Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders

Breach of Peace

92f84e04-063a-451a-ac38-031254818e22-0

Unsolved! The History and Mystery of the World’s Greatest Ciphers from Ancient Egypt to Online Secret Societies is a 2017 book by American mathematician and cryptologist Craig P. Bauer. The book explores the history and challenges of various unsolved ciphers, ranging from ancient scripts to modern codes and puzzles. 

The History and Mystery of the World’s Greatest Ciphers from Ancient Egypt to Online Secret Societies

Unsolved!

Gary Keller

Jay Papasan

The book has a few highlights throughout. 

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

The Surprisingly Simple Truth about Extraordinary Results

Offers advice on living a better life by cutting down on distractions, building momentum toward a goal, and coping with stress.

The ONE Thing

92f53142-0b90-4fba-8ebd-2fafa5023e72-1

David Howarth

Stephen E. Ambrose

In March 1943, a team of expatriate Norwegian commandos sailed from the Shetland Islands, the most northerly part of Britain, for Nazi-occupied Norway. Their mission was to organise and support the Norwegian resistance. They were betrayed, and only one man, Jan Baalsrud, survived the ambush by the Nazis.

Hodge Podge Book Shop

@amandalovesbooks

Books Listed

Following

Followers

Thomas Hardy; Jonathan A. Cook

Far from the Madding Crowd (Barnes and Noble Classics Series)

David Rooney

About Time

Nicole Trope

The Family Across the Street

Walker Percy; Paul Elie

The Moviegoer

W. Somerset Maugham

Up at the Villa

Rita Dove

The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry

Ulrich Boser

The Gardner Heist

Eric Etheridge

Breach of Peace

Craig P. Bauer

Unsolved!

Gary Keller; Jay Papasan

The ONE Thing

David Howarth

We Die Alone

Get The App

Browse by categories

Thomas Hardy; Jonathan A. Cook

Far from the Madding Crowd (Barnes and Noble Classics Series)

David Rooney

About Time

Nicole Trope

The Family Across the Street

Walker Percy; Paul Elie

The Moviegoer

W. Somerset Maugham

Up at the Villa

Rita Dove

The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry

Ulrich Boser

The Gardner Heist

Eric Etheridge

Breach of Peace

Craig P. Bauer

Unsolved!

Gary Keller; Jay Papasan

The ONE Thing

David Howarth

We Die Alone

Get The App