The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English

New In Paperback $24.95

BlackBook Guide to New York 2008

New In Paperback  $10.95

Hundreds of succinct listings for a city’s hippest restaurants, bars, clubs, and hotels fill this sleek guide for nightlife connoisseurs. Written by and for discerning city savants, this offshoot of BlackBook magazine’s Little BlackBook offers smart, fresh, and pithy listings for the most intriguing and fashion-forward hot spots. Each easily totable guide contains the latest information and numerous two-tone city maps ensure that glamour never has to pause for bad directions.

A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond by CHRISTINE VACHON

New In Paperback $16.95

nterested in the travails of big-time creative movie producers? Check out Vachon’s entertainingly brooding story, that of a producer of such edgy yet profitable films as Boys Don’t Cry and Far from Heaven. More than the grandiose Robert Evans (Urban Cowboy, Chinatown–but also The Cotton Club), who memorably chronicled his career in autobio The Kid Stays in the Picture (1994), Vachon tightrope-walks between making engaging movies and turning a profit, which nowadays means earning enough to ensure further opportunities to film stories different from the current mainstream fare of feelings-heavy weepers and gratuitous-explosion capers. Despite Vachon’s proven track record, bottom-line considerations are never far from her consciousness, and the ingenious ways in which she deals with that situation provide much fodder for ironic reflection and pointed exposition. Her tale of professional ups and downs engagingly describes the Hollywood firmament that lies between the heady realm of big-timers like Evans and the hand-to-mouth existence of ground-level filmmakers like Lloyd Kaufman of Toxic Avenger fame. A fine, informative, entertaining addition to -inside-Hollywood literature.

Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by PETER ALLISON

New In Paperback $16.95

At age 19, Australian-born Allison headed to Africa for challenge and adventure, planning to stay no more than a year; having found work as a safari guide, he’s still there some 13 years later. In this fun, fearless memoir, Allison shares his experiences taking “guests” through the African wilderness, trips that often don’t go quite as planned-due especially to the unpredictability of the animals around them. Allison is a skilled, funny and vibrant storyteller, dishing arcane bits of wisdom like an expatriate Alligator Hunter: “I understand a little bit of monkey language, and ‘kwe’ is a sound I listened for. It was an alarm… full blown monkey conniptions were reserved for leopards.” A hilarious chapter recounting a troubled thousand mile trek through the Kalahari Desert finds Allison trying to wave down a passing truck in the middle of the night: “I realized that the driver would have seen what looked like a very animated sage bush with pasty white hands growing from it… he’d probably go straight to a witch doctor… and ask if there was a curse on him.” Along the way, Allison examines his fellow guides, the struggle with exhaustion, getting lost and the temptation to make frequently visiting animals into pets, as well as some poignant asides on love and death.

Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to the Present Edited by LEX WILLIFORD & MICHAEL MARTONE

New In Paperback $20.00

From memoir to journalism, personal essays to cultural criticism - this unique, indispensable anthology brings together fifty unforgettable works from all genres of creative nonfiction.

Selected by five hundred writers, English professors, and creative writing teachers from across the country, this collection includes only the most highly regarded nonfiction work published since 1970.

Jo Ann Beard - Wendell Berry - Eula Biss - Mary Clearman Blew - Charles Bowden - Janet Burroway - Kelly Grey Carlisle - Anne Carson - Bernard Cooper - Michael W. Cox - Annie Dillard - Mark Doty - Brian Doyle - Tony Earley - Anthony Farrington - Harrison Candelaria Fletcher - Diane Glancy - Lucy Grealy - William Harrison - Robin Hemley - Adam Hochschild - Jamaica Kincaid á Barbara Kingsolver - Ted Kooser - Sara Levine - E. J. Levy - Phillip Lopate - Barry Lopez - Thomas Lynch - Lee Martin - Rebecca McCLanahan - Erin McGraw - John McPhee - Brenda Miller - Dinty W. Moore - Kathleen Norris - Naomi Shihab Nye - Lia Purpura - Richard Rhodes - Bill Roorbach - David Sedaris - Richard Selzer - Sue William Silverman - Floyd Skloot - Lauren Slater - Cheryl Strayed - Amy Tan - Ryan Van Meter - David Foster Wallace - Joy Williams

Transit Maps of the World by MARK OVENDEN

New In Paperback $25.00

Transit Maps of the World is the first and only comprehensive collection of historic and current maps of every rapid-transit system on earth. Using glorious, colorful graphics, Mark Ovenden traces the history of mass transit-including rare and historic maps, diagrams, and photographs, some available for the first time since their original publication. Transit Maps is the graphic designer’s new bible, the transport enthusiast’s dream collection, and a coffee-table essential for everyone who’s ever traveled in a city.

1,001 Foods To Die For 

New In Hardcover $39.95 - 10%

Every epicure seeks the very best-of-the-best foods the world has to offer, from extra-virgin olive oil and artisanal cheeses to rich, dark chocolate. 1,001 Foods To Die For is an essential list for food lovers, featuring luscious photographs and descriptions of must-eat foods from soup to nuts and from all over the world. This food bible includes everything from simple classics like foie gras and aged aceto balsamico to more exotic fare such as blowfish sushi or gratin Dauphinois. The book’s contributors include more than eighty renowned culinary professionals–chefs, writers, critics, and historians–who share their expert opinions on the delicious dishes and cuisines that must be experienced at least once in a lifetime. With lots of informational sidebars, and recipes for some of the featured dishes, 1,001 Foods To Die For is the ultimate culinary catalog for foodies everywhere.

India Contemporary by HENRY WILSON

New In Hardcover $40.00 - 10%

A dramatic resurgence is under way in India as the country flourishes its exciting hybrid style, informed by the past yet transcending it. “New Indian chic” is everywhere, from cuisine to fashion to film, yoga to ayurveda, and this book explores the worldwide upsurge of interest through a wonderful array of contemporary Indian interiors.

India today is much more than the exotic East of traditional crafts. The book takes us into the private homes of those at the forefront of the new approach to decoration and design. Here are interiors by Indians for Indians, by Indians for foreigners, by foreigners for foreigners, and by foreigners for Indians—radically modern, allusively traditional, distinctively stylish. 200+ color photographs and illustrations.