Sara Nichols

A founding member of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of New York City writers, critics, and actors, Dorothy Parker rose to literary fame during the first part of the 20th century. An accomplished poet, writer, critic, satirist, playwright, and screenwriter, Parker was known for her sharp wit in describing 20th century urban life. Although she disliked this characterization, because she thought it undermined her writing, it is primarily for this...

Miles Franklin's 1901 ground-breaking debut, and an instant sensation. Meet Sybylla Melvyn, the young girl hungering for life and love in outback New South Wales. First published in 1901, this Australian classic is the candid tale of the aspirations and frustrations of sixteen-year-old Sybylla Melvin, a headstrong country girl constrained by middle-class social arrangements, especially the pressure to marry. Trapped on her parents' outback farm, Sybylla...

"Her life was a bridge from the nineteenth century to the twentieth, from the time-hallowed beauty and rigidity of a samurai household to the disorienting, forward-looking freedoms of the West." --Janice P. Nimura, from the foreword. This is the story of one woman's remarkable life successfully navigating two very different cultures--the first memoir of an Asian-American woman. Beautifully told, this immigrant's account of an unforgettable journey...

Orlando: A Biography is a groundbreaking English novel by Virginia Woolf that explores English history, gender roles and sexual politics in a way few books have before or since. Inspired by the life of Woolf's friend and lover Vita Sackville-West, an accomplished poet and novelist, the story follows the life of an aristocratic nobleman who changes sex from man to woman and goes on to live for centuries, meeting all of the most influential and powerful...

A blistering criticism of the literary world in which she lived, Charlotte Brontë's "The Biographical Notes on the Pseudonymous Bells" contains two fascinating and insightful essays by the author of "Jane Eyre" addressing her late sisters' Emily and Anne's writing careers (Emily wrote "Wuthering Heights," Anne created "Agnes Grey" and"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall"). With surprising frankness and honesty, Charlotte offers a glimpse of the challenges...

"Pride and Prejudice," written in 1813, was the second of six books by legendary British author Jane Austen. In this story, we are introduced to the Bennet family: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet...and their five daughters, each of whom (according to Mrs. Bennet) must find rich husbands as soon as possible. When Mr. Bingley - a wealthy bachelor - takes up residence in a nearby estate, the Bennets kindle hopes that he might be a good match for their eldest,...

A collection of observations about the male of the species from one of the 20th century's most celebrated and renowned humorists, "Men I'm Not Married To" is a series of descriptions of nine men, all of whom Parker managed to avoid accompanying down the aisle. Some longer, some very short, each of these descriptions shows Parker's full range of wit, sardonic humor and wry cynicism. Dorothy Parker - social commentator, political reformer and...

Collected here are three of Dorothy Parker's earliest works: two collections of poetry - "Enough Rope" and "Sunset Gun" as well as her short, hilarious collection of stories recounting all of the men she managed to avoid marrying named (appropriately) "Men I'm Not Married To." One of the 20th century's most celebrated and renowned humorists, Parker burst upon the unsuspecting literary world with these best-selling books, delivering biting, satiric...

The Prairie Trilogy is series of three novels centered around life in the Midwest during the late 19th/early 20th centuries by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather. First, in "O Pioneers!," we meet Alexandra Bergson, who inherits the family farm after her father dies and leaves her to care for her three siblings. While many immigrant families are giving up their farms and moving back to the city (or to their home countries), Alexandra decides...

"Persuasion" is the last of six books by the legendary British author Jane Austen. It was written during the years 1815-16 and published posthumously in 1818. In the story, we meet Anne Elliot, whose family is in crisis. Anne's once-wealthy father - widowed for fourteen years - has fallen into financial ruin and the family is forced to rent their estate and move to more modest accommodations. What's more, the family that moves in to the house is...