Books

A softcover edition in very good condition. Wear is confined to light rubbing around the edges, with the spine remaining free of creasing. Pages are clean and free of any marks or annotations throughout. Salammbô is a historical novel by Gustave Flaubert, first published in 1862. Set in ancient Carthage during the Mercenary Revolt. A vivid departure from the realism of Madame Bovary, grounded in Flaubert's extensive research into Carthaginian history.

A beautiful softcover in very good condition. Wear is limited to light shelf rubbing at the bottom edges of the spine. The boards are square and unmarked, and the pages are clean throughout, with no marks. A tight, clean copy. This Scribner trade paperback gathers ten short stories representing Hemingway at the height of his craft. Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea and the Nobel Prize in Literature the following year.

This beautiful hardcover first edition of The Gazebo by Emily Grayson is in very good condition. The boards are pristine and unmarked, the dust jacket likewise unmarked, and the pages are clean and unmarked throughout. There is, however, a binding issue near the front of the book, close to the title page. This appears most consistent with a manufacturing flaw. First edition, first printing. Published by William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1999. Emily Grayson's debut novel tells the story of a fifty-year love affair between two people, Martin Rayfiel and Claire Swift, who never married each other but who met every year at the gazebo in the town square of Longwood Falls, New York. Compared in the tradition of The Notebook.

This well-loved mass market paperback of John Grisham's The Pelican Brief is a great copy for travel. There's light shelf wear visible to the covers, and the pages have lightly tanned with age, but everything is unmarked throughout. The binding shows a little wear from time, though it remains sound and unmarked. This is the complete thriller in one volume, ready to pack for a flight or a beach day. Island Books / Dell Publishing edition, 1993; copyright 1992 by John Grisham. Cover art copyright 1993 by Warner Bros. Inc. Reprinted by arrangement with Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell. One of Grisham's most beloved legal thrillers, The Pelican Brief follows law student Darby Shaw as she uncovers a conspiracy behind the assassination of two Supreme Court justices, a discovery that puts her own life in danger. A Warner Bros. Inc. film adapted only one year after the novel's original publication, starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington.

This handsome hardcover edition of Amy Tan's second novel, The Kitchen God's Wife, is in fine condition, almost new, with a fine dust jacket. First printing, confirmed by the full number line on the copyright page. Published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1991; published simultaneously in Canada. Designed by MaryJane DiMassi. Amy Tan's second novel deals extensively with Chinese-American female identity and draws closely on the story of her own mother's life. a deeply personal book for Tan. The title refers to an old Chinese folktale. Tan's novel uses this legend as a frame for the story of Winnie Louie, who at last reveals to her American-born daughter Pearl the secrets of a difficult marriage and the hardships she endured in China during the Japanese occupation. The novel reached the New York Times Best Seller list within its first month of publication and remained there for thirty-eight weeks. A review in Time magazine declared that the novel exceeded the high expectations raised by Tan's magnificent first novel. I've read this one myself and would recommend it without hesitation.

This mass market paperback of John Grisham's The Firm is a great, affordable reading copy, containing the complete novel in a single volume — not a split or two-part edition. There's light creasing to the edges and a tanning to the pages, as you'd expect from a book of this age, but the pages are tight and the copy appears unread, with a firm, sound binding throughout. Island Books / Dell Publishing edition, February 1992; copyright 1991 by John Grisham. Reprinted by arrangement with Doubleday, New York. The novel that launched John Grisham's career as one of the world's bestselling authors, The Firm follows young Harvard Law graduate Mitch McDeere as he joins a small, prestigious Memphis law firm, only to discover its deep ties to organized crime. Later adapted into the 1993 film starring Tom Cruise. A perfect, low-stakes copy for the beach, a flight, or anywhere you'd rather not worry about a nicer book, and the whole story in one complete volume.