Literature by Place - Exodus Books

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It's kind of crazy to what extent geography can inform an author's work. Jack London spent most of his life at sea, dog-sledding across Alaska, boxing and generally being an adventurous guy who would put today's REI crowd to shame. Would he have penned some of the greatest American novels otherwise? especially ones concerned primarily with man battling the elements for survival in both a mental and physical sense? Very probably not, which explains why Oscar Wilde didn't write about wolves and crazy ship captains.

No, Oscar Wilde wrote primarily about fops and society people parrying witticisms incessantly. That's not to say his work has no place in a serious consideration of literature—au contraire, The Picture of Dorian Grey is one of the finest novels written in English. It's just more evidence that if you're an author who lives in the Canadian mountains or the clubs of London, your writing will reflect that.

Physical terrain isn't the only consideration. Sartre wrote about people lolling about with no real sense of purpose except to drink wine and smoke cigarettes and look languorous because he lived in France in the 1940s. Friedrich Nietzsche had immense mustaches and espoused a form of nihilism because he was German. The Russians wrote impossibly long novels because they lived in Russia. And Chinua Achebe was almost entirely influenced by his African upbringing.

That's not to say no one can write well about a context they haven't experienced firsthand. I'm pretty sure Robert Heinlein never visited Mars, and even if he did it wasn't as his books describe; the same goes for Bradbury. And no, Roald Dahl was never lost in a delightfully (though at times, terrifyingly) absurd chocolate factory. Yet even with these examples, the authors conveyed essentially the attitudes of the countries they came from—Heinlein and Bradbury from the U.S., Dahl from the U.K.

Our Literature by Place subcategories are admittedly Anglo-centric. North American literature features, well, American literature, and you can be pretty sure British literature reflects the same system; everything else goes in world literature. We have plenty of non-American or -British literature, we just don't have much from any one place besides those two. At any rate, we hope these categories are helpful, and if they guide you toward one book you're looking for (or maybe one you didn't even know existed), they've done their job.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

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7th grade (Ages 12-13),

Mass market paperback

	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain from Dover Publications Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.00
	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain from Bantam Books Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Adventures of Tom Sawyer Dover Thrift Editions by Mark Twain from Dover Publications for 6th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.00
	Adventures of Tom Sawyer Puffin Classics by Mark Twain from Penguin Classics Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $10.00
	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass Penguin Classics by Lewis Carroll from Penguin Classics Fantasy for 5th-8th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $11.00
	All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot Series Book 1 by James Herriot from St. Martin's Press Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $18.00
	All Things Bright and Beautiful James Herriot Series Book 2 by James Herriot from St. Martin's Press Realistic Fiction for 7th-12th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $18.00
	All Things Wise and Wonderful James Herriot Series Book 3 by James Herriot from St. Martin's Press Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $17.99
	Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ Signet Classics by Lew Wallace from Signet Classics Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.95
	Black Arrow Dover Evergreen Classics by Robert Louis Stevenson from Dover Publications Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $5.99
	Bulfinch's Medieval Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch from Dover Publications for 6th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $10.00
	Call of the Wild Dover Thrift Editions by Jack London from Dover Publications Action/Adventure for 7th-10th grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $3.00 $2.00 (1 in stock)
	Captain Blood Penguin Classics by Rafael Sabatini from Penguin Classics Historical Romance for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $16.00
	Captains Courageous Signet Classics by Rudyard Kipling from Signet Classics Nautical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) Puffin Classics by Alexandre Dumas from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction/Adventure for 7th-10th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $7.99
	Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card from Tor Classic Science Fiction for 7th-Adult in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI) $9.99
	Every Living Thing by James Herriot from St. Martin's Press for 7th-Adult in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $17.99
	Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury 1^st edition from William Morrow & Company for 7th-12th grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $8.99
	First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells from Magnum for 7th-Adult in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI) $3.50 (1 in stock)
	Five Great Short Stories Dover Thrift Editions by Jack London from Dover Publications for 6th-9th Grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $4.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
	Frankenstein Dover Thrift Editions by Mary Shelley from Dover Publications for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.00
	Gift of the Magi & Other Short Stories Dover Thrift Editions by O. Henry from Dover Publications for 4th-10th grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $5.00 $2.00 (7 in stock)
	Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Puffin Classics by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from Puffin Books Mystery for 6th-10th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Great American Short Stories from Dover Publications for 7th-Adult in Short Stories (Location: LIT-ANTH) $8.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Great Expectations (abridged) Puffin Classics by Charles Dickens from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $7.99
	Hobbit There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien 2^nd edition from Ballantine Books Fantasy for 5th-9th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.99
	Hobbit & Lord of the Rings - Mass-Market Boxed Set by J. R. R. Tolkien Mti from Ballantine Books Fantasy for 4th-12th grade in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX) $35.96
	Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan from HarperCollins for 4th-7th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $9.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
	Hound of the Baskervilles Puffin Classics by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Reissue from Puffin Books for 6th-10th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $7.99
	I, Robot by Isaac Asimov from Bantam Books Science Fiction for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $7.99
	Invisible Man by H. G. Wells from Signet Classics Science Fiction for 7th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Jo's Boys Puffin Classics by Louisa May Alcott from Puffin Books for 4th-8th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $5.99
	Jungle Books Signet Classics by Rudyard Kipling from Signet Classics Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle Dover Children's Thrift Classics by Washington Irving from Dover Publications Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-9th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT) $4.00
	Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther from P&R Publishing for 7th-Adult in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
	Mio My Son by Astrid Lindgren, translated by Marianne Turner and illustrated by Ilon Wikland from Puffin Books for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Miracle Worker A Play in Three Acts by William Gibson from Pocket Books Drama for 7th-10th grade in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
	Myths of the Norsemen Puffin Classics by Roger Lancelyn Green Reprint from Puffin Books for 5th-9th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Once and Future King by T. H. White from ACE Publishing for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $9.99
	Once and Future King / Book of Merlyn by T. H. White from ACE Publishing for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
	Pride and Prejudice (abridged) Puffin Classics by Jane Austen, Abridged by Linda Jennings from Puffin Books Realistic Romantic Fiction for 7th-12th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane from Bantam Books Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories Puffin Classics by Washington Irving from Puffin Books Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-9th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $7.99
	Shane by Jack Schaefer from Harcourt for 7th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
	Time Machine by H. G. Wells from Dover Publications for 7th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $2.00 (1 in stock)
	Time Machine by H. G. Wells from Signet Classics Science Fiction/Dystopian Literature for 7th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Treasure Island by Sir Robert Louis Stevenson from Bantam Books for 6th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	Wuthering Heights Puffin Classics by Emily Brontë Reissue from Puffin Books for 7th-9th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings from Simon Pulse Realistic Animal Stories for 6th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20) $9.99

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