'I am sixteen. I am as old as the century' It is 1916. Vincent is sixteen, on the brink of manhood. Vincent is aristocratic and privileged, frequenting the salons of Paris while France is at war and the city almost deserted of men. In that brutal summer, Vincent's beauty and precocity captivate two men: Marcel, some thirty years his senior, a writer and celebrated socialite; an...(展开全部)

The Metamorphosis of Plants, published in 1790, was Goethe's first major attempt to describe what he called in a letter to a friend "the truth about the how of the organism." Inspired by the diversity of flora he found on a journey to Italy, Goethe sought a unity of form in diverse structures. He came to see in the leaf the germ of a plant's metamorphosis--"the true Proteus who...(展开全部)

The Metamorphosis first published in 1915, it has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka himself never gave an explanation. The rest of Kafka's novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.

Like Michael Cunningham's homage to Virginia Woolf in The Hours and Jean Rhys's to Charlotte Bronte in The Wide Sargasso Sea, Philippe Besson's extravagantly praised first novel pays tribute to Marcel Proust. It also dares to introduce an asthmatic middle-aged Proust into its masterfully manipulated plot and invents a series of deeply felt letters written by him to the novel's ...(展开全部)

Here is the classic, much-read introduction to the craft and history of mathematics by E.T. Bell, a leading figure in mathematics in America for half a century. Men of Mathematics accessibly explains the major mathematics, from the geometry of the Greeks through Newton's calculus and on to the laws of probability, symbolic logic, and the fourth dimension. In addition, the boo...(展开全部)

The Black Vortex, an ancient artifact imbued with immeasurable power, is now in the hands of Mr. Knife! With billions of lives potentially at stake, Peter Quill, the Legendary Star-Lord, is going to have to dust off his thieving gloves. But with Knife's Slaughter Squad protecting him, Peter's probably going to need some help... COLLECTING: Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The B...(展开全部)

Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde have stolen the ancient Black Vortex, which offers cosmic power to anyone who peers within. Peter's father, the deposed emperor Mister Knife, wants it - and so does the son of Thanos. Could this dark mirror deliver unto Thane the Mad Titan's full legacy? To keep their prize safe from mounting threats, Peter and Kitty will need all their allies - includ...(展开全部)

Admirers of The Color Purple will find in these stories more evidenceof Walker's power to depict black women--women who varygreatly in background yet are bound together by what they share incommon.Taken as a whole, their stories form an enlightening, disturbing view of life in the South.

Admirers of The Color Purple will find in these stories more evidenceof Walker's power to depict black women--women who varygreatly in background yet are bound together by what they share incommon.Taken as a whole, their stories form an enlightening, disturbing view of life in the South.

“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetlelike insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his famil...(展开全部)