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Novels

To be great, a novel must show an old thing in a new way. It's equally disastrous to espouse tradition for its own sake as to propose novelty for the sake of novelty—only together can these elements have meaning.

Modernist and postmodernist authors are infatuated with newness as a thing in itself. They subject language to increasingly complicated gymnastic maneuvers, play with ideas rather than defending them, and generally wreak havoc on established forms. This results in novels that may or may not be aesthetically pleasing, but are surely meaningless.

If we adhere too closely to the forms of the past, however, we run the risk of shortsightedness, bigotry, and prejudice. Humans too often must be shaken from their stupor, made to see things as others see them in order to promote equality and peace and goodwill. A good novel rooted in universal ideals freshly presented can do just that.

Novels are seldom the impetus for social movements, but they often augment cultural change. As a literary form, they came into being because writers wanted a venue for espousing or exploring ideas that wasn't rooted in history or "real life." They wanted, in short, to write fiction.

Before the novel, works modern readers would view as fictional were generally considered in a different light. Either they were actual history, or they were meta-narratives, or they were religious, or they were simply narrative philosophy. The idea was to impart truth, not simply data. As writers became more concerned with the world-as-it-is and scientific understanding, they turned toward forms more consistent with the Enlightenment emphasis on knowledge-acquisition as a means to truth.

The novel was such a form. Symbolism was never abandoned wholesale (except by certain eccentric groups at various times), but a new attention was paid to detail—not just detail integral to the story or signifying something else, but detail that set the scene, that gave the reader a sense of place, mood, circumstance and character. It was this attention to detail that helped fiction emerge as a respectable genre.

For ancient and Medieval writers, the seen world and the world beyond were indistinguishable. The famed Celtic knot was intended to show the interrelatedness of all things, how each realmbled into the other and held everything in place. Pre-Enlightenment writing reflected this view, and any detail provided in a poem or narrative was intended, not to portray physical or human "realities," but to demonstrate truths consistent between realms.

When the Enlightenment came around and proclaimed scientific observation and empiricism the new guides (replacing revelation and divine authority), a new approach was needed. No longer were things primarily representative of other things, things were essentially what they were—meaning things were eseentially physical.

Description evolved to fit the new ethos, and creative literature evolved with it. The novel, prose rather than poetry, devoted to detail and incident rather than sweeping generalization, was one of the best weapons in the Enlightenment arsenal. Writers were no longer primarily concerned with affecting readers' attitudes and hearts, they wanted to change their minds. Western culture has never recovered.

Fortunately, the novel was never stagnant, and never fully enslaved by Enlightenment practitioners. Novels have diversified: there are philosophical novels, poetic novels, experimental novels, comic novels, historical novel, all of them aimed at the reader in such a way that the encounter is either devastating or uplifting, frightening or comforting, horrible and sad or fresh and beautiful.

We don't pretend to carry every important novel ever penned. We don't apologize for that....or for the fact that we carry novels at all. It's easy to look at fiction as mere escapism, much harder to engage it seriously hoping to be transformed. Our goal is to offer books (whether "classics" or not) that offer new ways of seeing, opportunities for transformation, encounters with the sublime as harrowing as they are exhilerating.

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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1984
by George Orwell
from Harcourt
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
A.B.C. Murders
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #13
by Agatha Christie
from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
After the Funeral
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #29
by Agatha Christie
2011 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.00
And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
75th Anniversary from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Annotated Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Revised & Expanded from Anchor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$20.00 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Appointment with Death
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #19
by Agatha Christie
2011 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Appointment with Death
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #19
by Agatha Christie
1975 Printing from Dell Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
At Bertram's Hotel
A Miss Marple Mystery #10
by Agatha Christie
Reprint from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Atonement
by Ian McEwan
Reprint Edition from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Big Four
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #5
by Agatha Christie
Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Big Over Easy
by Jasper Fforde
from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.00
Blue at the Mizzen
Aubrey/Maturin #20
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Blue Shoes and Happiness
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #7
by Alexander McCall Smith
Edition from Anchor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Body in the Library
A Miss Marple Mystery #2
by Agatha Christie
2022 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Bounty Trilogy
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
from Harper Perennial
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh
from Back Bay Books
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Busman's Honeymoon (11)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 11
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reprint from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Cards on the Table
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #15
by Agatha Christie
Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Caribbean Mystery
A Miss Marple Mystery #9
by Agatha Christie
from William Morrow & Company
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Castle of Otranto
by Horace Walpole
from Dover Publications
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Clouds of Witness (2)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 2
by Dorothy Sayers
Reissue from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Code of the Woosters
by P. G. Wodehouse
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Humor for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95
Commodore
Aubrey/Maturin #17
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Complete Tolkien Companion
by J.R.R. Tolkien & J.E.A. Tyler
3rd edition from St. Martin's Griffin
Lord of the Rings Reference for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Complete Tolkien Companion
by J.R.R. Tolkien & J.E.A. Tyler
3rd edition from St. Martin's Griffin
Lord of the Rings Reference for 8th-Adult
in Lord of the Rings (Location: LIR-LOTR)
$27.00
Daughter of Time
by Josephine Tey
1st edition from Touchstone
for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens
Revised from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
David Elginbrod
by George MacDonald
from CreateSpace
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Death on the Nile
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #17
by Agatha Christie
from HarperCollins
Mystery & Suspense for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Descent into Hell
by Charles Williams
from Eerdmans
Theological thriller for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$22.50
Emma
by Jane Austen
from Oxford University
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Empire of the Sun
by J. G. Ballard
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Enchantress of Florence
by Salman Rushdie
Reprint from Anchor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Enter Jeeves
by P. G. Wodehouse
from Dover Publications
Humor for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.95
Eyre Affair
Thursday Next Book 1
by Jasper Fforde
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Far Pavilions
by M. M. Kaye
from St. Martin's Griffin
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
from Tyndale House
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Five Red Herrings (6)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 6
by Dorothy Sayers
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Fourth Bear
by Jasper Fforde
Reprint from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
from Penguin Putnam
Horror for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley, edited with an introduction and notes by M. K. Joseph
from Oxford University
Horror for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Full Cupboard of Life
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #5
by Alexander McCall Smith
from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Gaudy Night (10)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 10
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reissue from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Golden Ocean
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Good Husband of Zebra Drive
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #8
by Alexander McCall Smith
from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Gormenghast Novels
by Mervyn Peake
from Overlook Press
Historical Fiction for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$31.95
Great Divorce
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegory for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.00
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens
from Dover Publications
Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Guy Mannering
by Sir Walter Scott
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
H. M. S. Surprise
Aubrey/Maturin #3
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
H.M.S. Surprise
Aubrey/Maturin #3
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
Reissue from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Have His Carcase (7) TOS
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 7
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reprint from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
from Modern Library
Realistic Modern Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.00
History of Rasselas
by Samuel Johnson
from Oxford University
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$8.95
History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
by Samuel Johnson
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$6.95
Hound of the Baskervilles
by Arthur Conan Doyle
from Dover Publications
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.20
How Right You Are, Jeeves
by P. G. Wodehouse
from Touchstone
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Howards End
by E. M. Forster
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.00
Howards End
by E. M. Forster
from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.00
I Capture the Castle
by Dodie Smith
from St. Martin's Griffin
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #6
by Alexander McCall Smith
from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
from Dover Publications
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Kalahari Typing School for Men
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #4
by Alexander Mccall Smith
1st Anchor Books Edition from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Kenilworth
Penguin Classics
by Sir Walter Scott
from Penguin Classics
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Bantam Books
Historical Romance for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
King Solomon's Mines
by H. Rider Haggard
125th anniversary edition from Great Light Publications
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain and She
by H. Rider Haggard
from Dover Publications
Action/Adventure for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.95
Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon
Penguin Classics
by Jane Austen
from Penguin Classics
Realistic fiction for 8th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.00 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Leave it to Psmith
by P. G. Wodehouse
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Humor for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95
Lilith
by George MacDonald
from Eerdmans
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.99
Little Dorrit
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.00
Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
from Penguin Putnam
Utopian and Dystopian Literature for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00
Lorna Doone (adapted)
by R. D. Blackmore, adapted by Jordan, Berglund & Washburne, illustrated by Alexander Key
Reprint from Scott, Foresman & Co.
for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Lost Horizon
by James Hilton
1st Perennial Edition from Harper Perennial
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Lost in a Good Book
Thursday Next Book 2
by Jasper Fforde
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Lost World
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Modern Library
for 9th grade-adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.40
Manalive
by G.K. Chesterton
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.16
Many Dimensions
by Charles Williams
from Eerdmans
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$27.50
Master and Commander
Aubrey/Maturin #1
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Master and Commander
Aubrey/Maturin #1
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Master of Ballantrae
Penguin Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Master of Ballantrae
Penguin Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from SeaWolf Press
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
Mauritius Command
Aubrey/Maturin #4
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Memento Mori
by Muriel Spark
from Time-Life Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Jim Kay
Reprint from Candlewick Press
for 5th-Adult
2012 Carnegie Medal
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00
Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
from Candlewick Press
for 5th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Moon and Sixpence
by W. Somerset Maugham
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Morbid Taste for Bones
Brother Cadfael
by Ellis Peters
from Mysterious Press
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Morbid Taste for Bones
Brother Cadfael
by Ellis Peters
Reissue from Mysterious Press
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Mrs. Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf
from Mariner Books
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Mrs. Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf
from Dover Publications
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00
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