National Network for Equitable Library Service

Immoral Views is a collection of titillating tales of voyeuristic sex, written by five of erotica's sultriest mistresses. A deliciously dissolute anthology of sex in public, and the illustrated versions are illustrated by John LaChatte!

In Japanese gardens, composition follows from placement of the first stone; all elements and plantings become interconnected. These eight essays on Kyoto gardens similarly begin with keen description and build into richly meditative excursions into art, Buddhism, nature, and science. Landscape architect Marc Keane shows how Japanese gardens are both a microcosm of the natural universe and a clear expression of our humanity, mirroring how we think, worship, and organize our lives and communities.

Four of the most important and enduring American slave narratives together in one volume. Until slavery was abolished in 1865, millions of men, women, and children toiled under a system that stripped them of their freedom and their humanity. Much has been written about this shameful era of American history, but few books speak with as much power as the narratives written by those who experienced slavery firsthand. The basis for the film of the same name, Twelve Years a Slave is Solomon Northup's heartrending chronicle of injustice and brutality.

Acclaimed literary critic George Steiner on two of the literary canon's greatest and most influential writers "Literary criticism," writes Steiner, "should arise out of a debt of love." Abiding by his own rule, Tolstoy or Dostoevsky is an impassioned work, inspired by Steiner's conviction that the legacies of these two Russian masters loom over Western literature.

Incisive essays on Patty Hearst and Reagan, the Central Park jogger and the Santa Ana winds, from the New York Times-bestselling author of South and West. In these eleven essays covering the national scene from Washington, DC; California; and New York, the acclaimed author of Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album "capture[s] the mood of America" and confirms her reputation as one of our sharpest and most trustworthy cultural observers (The New York Times).

An extraordinary report on the aftermath of the 1960s in America by the New York Times-bestselling author of South and West and Slouching Towards Bethlehem. In this landmark essay collection, Joan Didion brilliantly interweaves her own "bad dreams" with those of a nation confronting the dark underside of 1960s counterculture.

The "dazzling" and essential portrayal of 1960s America from the author of South and West and The Year of Magical Thinking (The New York Times). Capturing the tumultuous landscape of the United States, and in particular California, during a pivotal era of social change, the first work of nonfiction from one of American literature's most distinctive prose stylists is a modern classic.

These transcendent, lyrical essays on the West announced Gretel Ehrlich as a major American writer-"Wyoming has found its Whitman" (Annie Dillard). Poet and filmmaker Gretel Ehrlich went to Wyoming in 1975 to make the first in a series of documentaries when her partner died. Ehrlich stayed on and found she couldn't leave. The Solace of Open Spaces is a chronicle of her first years on "the planet of Wyoming," a personal journey into a place, a feeling, and a way of life.

Ten essays on nature, ritual, and philosophy "that are so point-blank vital you nearly need to put the book down to settle yourself" (San Francisco Chronicle). Gretel Ehrlich's world is one of solitude and wonder, pain and beauty, and these elements give life to her stunning prose. Ever since her acclaimed debut, The Solace of Open Spaces, she has illuminated the particular qualities of nature and the self with graceful precision. In Islands, the Universe, Home, Ehrlich expands her explorations, traveling to the remote reaches of the earth and deep into her soul.

The collected nonfiction of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ironweed: "A great pleasure to read no matter what the subject" (Library Journal). When William Kennedy arrives in Barcelona, his guidebook recommends taking the trolley around town-but the trolleys haven't run in the city for years. He's on his way to interview the novelist Gabriel Garcia MArquez when, out of the corner of his eye, he sees something impossible: a yellow trolley running down the street.