Before he embarked on his massive history of the novel, Steven Moore was best known as a tireless promoter of innovative fiction, mostly by way of hundreds of book reviews published from the late 1970s onward. Virtually all have been gathered for this collection, which offers a panoramic view of modern fiction, ranging from well-known authors like Barth and Pynchon to lesser-known but deserving ones, many published by small presses. Moore also reviews dozens of critical studies of this fiction, and takes some side trips into rock music and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The second half of the book reprints Moore's best essays. Several deal with novelist William Gaddis on whom Moore is considered the leading authority and other writers associated with him (Chandler Brossard, Alan Ansen, David Markson, Sheri Martinelli). Others champion such writers as Alexander Theroux, Brigid Brophy, Edward Dahlberg, Carole Maso, W. M. Spackman, and Rikki Ducornet. Two essays deal with the late David Foster Wallace, whom Moore knew, and others treat such matters as book reviewing, postmodernism, the Beat movement, maximalism, gay literature, punctuation, nympholepsy, and the history of the novel.

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE A beautiful, comprehensive volume of Dylan’s lyrics, from the beginning of his career through the present day—with the songwriter’s edits to dozens of songs, appearing here for the first time. Bob Dylan is one of the most important songwriters of our time, responsible for modern classics such as “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” The Lyrics is a comprehensive and definitive collection of Dylan’s most recent writing as well as the early works that are such an essential part of the canon. Well known for changing the lyrics to even his best-loved songs, Dylan has edited dozens of songs for this volume, making The Lyrics a must-read for everyone from fanatics to casual fans.

A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2011! A picture-book delight by a rising talent tells a cumulative tale with a mischievous twist. Features an audio read-along! The bear’s hat is gone, and he wants it back. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes across, one by one, whether they have seen it. Each animal says no, some more elaborately than others. But just as the bear begins to despond, a deer comes by and asks a simple question that sparks the bear’s memory and renews his search with a vengeance. Told completely in dialogue, this delicious take on the classic repetitive tale plays out in sly illustrations laced with visual humor-- and winks at the reader with a wry irreverence that will have kids of all ages thrilled to be in on the joke.

Winner of the Christian Gauss Award for excellence in literary scholarship from the Phi Beta Kappa Society Having excavated the world's earliest novels in his previous book, literary historian Steven Moore explores in this sequel the remarkable flowering of the novel between the years 1600 and 1800-from Don Quixote to America's first big novel, an homage to Cervantes entitled Modern Chivalry. This is the period of such classic novels as Tom Jones, Candide, and Dangerous Liaisons, but beyond the dozen or so recognized classics there are hundreds of other interesting novels that appeared then, known only to specialists: Spanish picaresques, French heroic romances, massive Chinese novels, Japanese graphic novels, eccentric English novels, and the earliest American novels. These minor novels are not only interesting in their own right, but also provide the context needed to appreciate why the major novels were major breakthroughs. The novel experienced an explosive growth spurt during these centuries as novelists experimented with different forms and genres: epistolary novels, romances, Gothic thrillers, novels in verse, parodies, science fiction, episodic road trips, and family sagas, along with quirky, unclassifiable experiments in fiction that resemble contemporary, avant-garde works. As in his previous volume, Moore privileges the innovators and outriders, those who kept the novel novel. In the most comprehensive history of this period ever written, Moore examines over 400 novels from around the world in a lively style that is as entertaining as it is informative. Though written for a general audience, The Novel, An Alternative History also provides the scholarly apparatus required by the serious student of the period. This sequel, like its predecessor, is a “zestfully encyclopedic, avidly opinionated, and dazzlingly fresh history of the most 'elastic' of literary forms” (Booklist).

Gathered here are the most revealing and personal of enigmatic superstar Dylan's previously unavailable interviews. As a group they show a brilliant, adored, and eclectic musician, unsettled and angered by the fame and reverence surrounding him.

'A must have for Dylan enthusiasts, lovers of London, and anyone with even a passing interest in the history of music. I devoured it in two sittings - and I loved it!' Conor McPherson, playwright, Girl from the North Country This is both a guide and history on the impact of London on Dylan, and the lasting legacy of Bob Dylan on the London music scene. Bob Dylan in London celebrates this journey, and allows readers to experience his London and follow in his footsteps to places such as the King and Queen pub (the first venue that Dylan performed at in London), the Savoy hotel and Camden Town. This book explores the key London places and times that helped to create one of the greatest of all popular musicians, Bob Dylan.

My Back Pages Volume II is a collection of 60 funny, insightful, and often poignant columns penned over the past few years by Daryl Fisher for his hometown newspaper, the West Sacramento News-Ledger. His columns have received statewide attention, including a prestigious Gold Medal Award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Fisher's columns talk positively about family, friends, and community, the three things which he believes connect us all and give us the comforting illusion that we are not alone in the world. He writes about the fun and games of raising children, the love of all creatures great and small, politics, and his friends and neighbors. Sometimes a column also becomes a eulogy, a way of saying goodbye to those who have touched and enriched his life. It is one of those rare books that you can pick up, turn to any page, and find yourself there.

I was born and raised in a small Northern California town. At one time, the population was very near that of the fictitious town of Payton Place with equal amounts of gossip and everyone knowing everyone else’s business. I graduated from the local high school in the late ’60s and couldn’t wait to get out of town. I moved to the city and began a series of counterculture adventures, which ultimately landed me in jail. Over the course of time, I came to think fondly of the time I spent in my then small hometown. The town has grown since then but is still small, relatively speaking. I have always enjoyed writing and sharing my experiences with other people and now, at this point in my life, would like to relay what it was like growing up with “country ways." Plain ole everyday events are what make up all our lives. What follows here are some of those events that have made up my life and those around me. Some of these stories are pieces I wrote for a writing group I was involved in at our local library. The group was “Down Memory Lane” and was anything about our past in our small town. Our pieces were usually printed in the local newspaper, and I came to appreciate the comments I would get on the articles. Of course, this is life in a small town, so usually everyone knows everyone else and their dogs. But as Wallace Stegner once said, “How do you make a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these?” This is that attempt. This is just plain old everyday events. Fellini once insinuated that what he creates is more real to him than what actually is or was. He created his own reality. Most of these stories are just as they happened. I did these stories in an effort to explain the time and the events that made up those experiences (my life and times).

Relates the experiences of 13-year-old Melanie as she copes with the traumas and pleasures of her first year at summer camp.