Other books that might interest you

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  Christmas Past - The Fascinating...

  Brian Earl

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  Behind every Christmas tradition is a story—usually, a forgotten one. Each year, as we string up lights, build a gingerbread house, and get ready for a visit from St. Nicholas, we’re continuing generations-old narratives, while being largely unaware of their starting chapters. But knowing how these traditions began adds  
  a new level of depth to our Christmas spirit, as well as an arsenal of anecdotes to share at Christmas parties. Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday’s Traditions reveals the surprising, quirky, mysterious, and sometimes horrifying stories behind the most wonderful time of the year. 
   
  With twenty-six short chapters, Christmas Past is a festive, digestible Advent calendar of a book. Covering traditions ancient and modern, it’s filled with stories of happy accidents, cultural histories, criminal capers (including tomb raiders and con artists), and hidden connections between Christmas and broader social,  
  economic, and technological influences. How did the invention of plate glass forever change the Christmas season? What common Christmas item helped introduce fine art to the masses? Why do Americans typically spike their eggnog with rum rather than the traditional brandy? And speaking of booze, does using  
  the phrase “Merry Christmas” mark you as a drunken reveler? Christmas Pastanswers all those questions and many more.

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  The Age of Doubt

  Kyongni Pak

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  The Age of Doubt collects some of Pak Kyongni's most famous works, including her 1955 debut and other stories featuring characters that would appear in her 21-volume epic, Toji. Many of Pak's stories reflect her own turbulent experiences during the period following the Korean war and the various South Korean dictatorships throughout the twentieth century.

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  Edna Ferber: The Woman Who Tried...

  Edna Ferber

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  "Before she tried to be a good woman she had been a very bad woman—so bad that she could trail her wonderful apparel up and down Main Street, from the Elm Tree Bakery to the railroad tracks, without once having a man doff his hat to her or a woman bow. You passed her on the street with a surreptitious glance, though she was well worth looking at—in her furs and laces and plumes. She had the only full-length mink coat in our town, and Ganz's shoe store sent to Chicago for her shoes. Hers were the miraculously small feet you frequently see in stout women. 
  For she owned the House with the Closed Shutters, near the freight depot—did Blanche Devine".

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  The Piazza Tales

  Herman Melville

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  First published in 1856, The Piazza Tales is a masterful collection of short stories by Herman Melville that highlights his brilliance beyond the novel and his deep engagement with the moral and psychological tensions of human life.
  
  This collection brings together six powerful and diverse works: "The Piazza," "Bartleby, the Scrivener," "Benito Cereno," "The Lightning-Rod Man," "The Encantadas," and "The Bell-Tower." Each tale offers a distinct setting and tone, yet all are united by Melville's penetrating insight into isolation, authority, freedom, and the hidden forces that shape human behavior.
  
  From the haunting stillness of "Bartleby, the Scrivener," with its quiet rebellion against modern life, to the intense moral drama of "Benito Cereno," which confronts slavery, power, and perception, Melville challenges readers to question appearances and assumptions. "The Encantadas" presents stark, imaginative sketches of the Galápagos Islands, while the remaining stories explore superstition, obsession, and the limits of human control.
  
  Philosophical, symbolic, and often unsettling, The Piazza Tales stands as one of Melville's most important works—an essential collection that reveals his daring experimentation and lasting influence on American literature.

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  These Islands Here - Short...

  Bronwyn Elsmore

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  A novel is a marriage. A short story a love affair. 
  Prominent authors have described short stories as the most disciplined and difficult form of prose writing. 
  Bronwyn Elsmore’s collection These Islands Here – Short Stories of the South Pacific, includes 32 fictional tales that present the varied facets of living in this part of the world. Most have been published previously, several have won short story competitions. 
  Reviewers say: "the author has mastered the art of the short story"; "they all have one common factor – they are each beautifully crafted". “The 32 stories in this book are divided into decades, each time period with its own helpful introduction. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll learn more about the recent histories of Aotearoa/New Zealand.”

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  Hot Shift - Werewolf Romantic...

  Aimee Easterling

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  When a mysterious outsider crashes Terra's fiftieth birthday party, her position as female alpha hangs by a thread. Uncontrollable shifts make matters worse as Terra and her mate go undercover to hunt through the circus for missing family members. Can they bring their daughter and pack mates home before it's too late? 
  This bonus epilogue is set after and contains spoilers for the Wolf Rampant Trilogy.

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