The Times [UK] have released their “100 Best Books of the Decade” list, and we’re pleased to see how many Knopf titles have made the list, including the number one spot (click through to find out what it is!).
More >Last night, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles received the 2009 National Book Award for nonfiction.
More >Photos of the interior pages of The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov. More about the book here.
More >The Jazz Loft Project Radio Series premiered on WNYC during Morning Edition on Nov. 16, 2009. The series coordinates with The Jazz Loft Project book (published November 24th) by Sam Stephenson of the Center for Documentary Studies. One episode will be heard each day for 10 days. The series will begin its national broadcast on Dec. 6, 2009. More details on the Jazz Loft Project can be found at jazzloftproject.org.
More >When Vladimir Nabokov died in 1977, he left instructions for his heirs to burn the 138 handwritten index cards that made up the rough draft of his final and unfinished novel, The Original of Laura. But Nabokov’s wife, Vera, could not bear to destroy her husband’s last work, and when she died, the fate of the manuscript fell to her son. Dmitri Nabokov, now seventy-five—the Russian novelist’s only surviving heir, and translator of many of his books—has wrestled for three decades with the decision of whether to honor his father’s wish or preserve for posterity the last piece of writing of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. His decision finally to allow publication of the fragmented narrative—dark yet playful, preoccupied with mortality—affords us one last experience of Nabokov’s magnificent creativity, the quintessence of his unparalleled body of work.
More >Ten superb new stories by one of our most beloved and admired writers—the winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize.
More >This one-of-a-kind book of 300 photographs of some of the most celebrated actors, artists, models, First Ladies, and social figures draws on stories that have appeared in the pages of Vogue over the past four decades, as well as photographs from those stories that have never been published. These trendsetters and newsmakers are captured by such famous photographers as Cecil Beaton, Jonathan Becker, Eric Boman, Horst P. Horst, Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, François Halard, Helmut Newton, Stephen Meisel, Snowdon, Toni Frissell, Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, and Annie Leibovitz. Not only did these photographers take dazzling portraits—in studios or on location—that caught these iconic figures in classic, playful, or dramatic moments but they also documented their parties, weddings, houses, and gardens. Writers like Hamish Bowles, Paul Rudnick, Truman Capote, Francis Wyndham, Jeffrey Steingarten, Joan Juliet Buck, William Norwich, Gloria Steinem, Georgina Howell, Vicki Woods, Marina Rust, Michael Specter, and Jonathan Van Meter tell you the stories behind these figures and events.
More >Polar bears—fierce and majestic—have captivated us for centuries. Feared by explorers, revered by the Inuit, and beloved by zoo goers everywhere, polar bears are a symbol for the harsh beauty and muscular grace of the Arctic. Today, as global warming threatens the ice caps’ integrity, the polar bear has also come to symbolize the peril that faces all life on earth as a result of harmful human practices. Here, the acclaimed science writer Richard Ellis offers an impassioned and moving statement on behalf of polar bears—and all they stand for.
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Knopf
Doubleday
Pantheon
Vintage/Anchor