novelists, american

A biography of author Joseph Heller, discussing his experiences as a pilot fighting in France during World War II, which he based his novel "Catch-22" on, and his recovery from Guillain-Barr? syndrome.

Reveals Upton Sinclair's role as a social, political, and cultural reformer who was also a writer, filmmaker, women's rights advocate, and health pioneer, providing a new perspective on the activist's productive life.

Like most women, whether they?ve chosen the Fortune 500 career path or have had five kids by 35, Anna David wondered if she?d made the right choices. Anna vowed to use a newly discovered book as a lesson plan, venturing out of her comfort zone in the hope of overcoming the fears and insecurities that had haunted her for years. Embarking on a journey both intensely personal and undeniably universal, she becomes adventurous and spontaneous?reviving her wardrobe and apartment, taking French lessons, dashing off to Seville, and whiling nights away with men she never would have considered before. In the process, she ends up meeting the person really worth changing for: herself.

Here, Anne Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter of her own life: grandmotherhood. Stunned to learn that her son, Sam, is about to become a father at nineteen, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson Jax's life. In careful and often hilarious detail, Lamott and Sam--about whom she first wrote so movingly in Operating Instructions--struggle to balance their changing roles with the demands of college and work, as they both forge new relationships with Jax's mother, who has her own ideas about how to raise a child. Lamott writes about the complex feelings that Jax fosters in her, recalling her own experiences with Sam when she was a single mother. Over the course of the year, the rhythms of life, death, family, and friends unfold in surprising and joyful ways. This is the true story of how the birth of a baby changes a family.

Oates talks about her works, her purposes, her concepts of literature, and her writing methods.

Novelist Anne Lamott presents contemplative essays on the challenges--including the everyday and the life-changing--she has faced in her faith as a Christian.

A collection of interviews in which author Gloria Naylor discusses her work, personal life, achievements, and failures.

A memoir in which the author describes her experiences caring for her father in the final months of his battle with Alzheimer's disease, and shares the insights she gained into his, and her own, life.

Presenst a memoir of Augusten Burroughs' relationship with his father, which consisted of abuse, aloofness, and betrayal.

Contains alphabetically arranged entries that provide information about the life and writings of William Faulkner, covering major characters and themes; literary and cultural contexts; relatives and friends; historical events, people, and places; social and cultural developments; and literary and philosophical terms and movements.