Literary collections / Essays

Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays

by David Foster Wallace

Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person? David Foster Wallace answers these questions...

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

by Chelsea Handler & Digby Diehl

WHAT . . . A RIOT!

Life doesn't get more hilarious than when Chelsea Handler takes aim with her irreverent wit. Who else would send all-staff emails to smoke out the dumbest people on her show? Now, in this...

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

by David Sedaris

A guy walks into a bar car and...

From here the story could take many turns. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists...

How to Tell a Story and Other Essays

by Mark Twain

In How to Tell a Story and Other Essays, iconic American author Mark Twain discusses his own experience as a writer and his personal style. In various essays in the collection he attacks a contemporary of his,...

Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey

by Lori Perkins, MJ Rose & Sylvia Day

E. L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy has fascinated and seduced millions of readers. In bedrooms, in book clubs, and in the media, people can’t stop talking about it!

In Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey...

Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries

by Jon Ronson

The New York Times–bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, Jon Ronson writes about the dark, uncanny sides of humanity with clarity and humor. Lost at Sea reveals how deep our collective craziness lies,...

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: An Essay (Digital Original)

by David Foster Wallace

In this exuberantly praised book - a collection of seven pieces on subjects ranging from television to tennis, from the Illinois State Fair to the films of David Lynch, from postmodern literary theory to the...

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

by Malcolm Gladwell

What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair...

Through the Window: Seventeen Essays and a Short Story

by Julian Barnes

From the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending and one of Britain’s greatest writers: a brilliant collection of essays on the books and authors that have meant the most to him throughout...

To the Batpole: An Essay/Parody on Batman

by Alex Bledsoe

From Batman Unauthorized: Vigilantes, Jokers, and Heroes in Gotham City: Alex Bledsoe imagines Alfred's reaction to Bruce Wayne's confusion over the onset of puberty.

Wild Ducks Flying Backward

by Tom Robbins

Known for his meaty seriocomic novels–expansive works that are simultaneously lowbrow and highbrow–Tom Robbins has also published over the years a number of short pieces, predominantly nonfiction. His travel...

We Learn Nothing: Essays and Cartoons

by Tim Kreider

In We Learn Nothing, satirical cartoonist Tim Kreider turns his funny, brutally honest eye to the dark truths of the human condition, asking big questions about human-sized problems: What if you survive a brush...

Magic Hours: Essays on Creators and Creation

by Tom Bissell

In Magic Hours, award-winning essayist Tom Bissell explores the highs and lows of the creative process. He takes us from the set of The Big Bang Theory to the first novel of Ernest Hemingway to the final work...

Vintage Reading: From Plato to Bradbury: A Personal Tour of Some of the World's Best Books

by Robert Kanigel

Vintage Reading brings eighty of the world's most unforgettable books out from behind the high castle walls, lowers the drawbridge, and welcomes readers inside. With lively and concise commentary, award-winning...

I Know You're Out There: Private Longings, Public Humiliations, and Other Tales from the Personals

by Michael Beaumier

Love lost, found, and kicked around

“It might be my imagination, but it seems like most people in the building tend to steer clear of me. I’m the one who gets the weird phone calls, the strange visitors,...

The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry: A Critical Edition

by Ernest Fenollosa

First published in 1919 by Ezra Pound, Ernest Fenollosa's essay on the Chinese written language has become one of the most often quoted statements in the history of American poetics. As edited by Pound, it presents...

Eating the Dinosaur

by Chuck Klosterman

Q: What is this book about?

A: Well, that’s difficult to say. I haven’t read it yet—I’ve just picked it up and casually glanced at the back cover. There clearly isn’t a plot. I’ve heard there’s...

The Heart That Bleeds: Latin America Now

by Alma Guillermoprieto

An extraordinarily vivid, unflinching series of portraits of South America today, written from the inside out, by the award-winning New Yorker journalist and widely admired author of Samba.

From the Trade Paperback...

The Cabin: Reminiscence and Diversions

by David Mamet

In these mordant, elegant, and often disquieting essays, the internationally acclaimed dramatist creates a sort of autobiography by strobe light, one that is both mysterious and starkly revealing.

The pieces...

Essays, Speeches & Public Letters

by William Faulkner & James B. Meriwether

An essential collection of William Faulkner’s mature nonfiction work, updated, with an abundance of new material.

This unique volume includes Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, a review of Hemingway’s...