Rian Johnson

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today. George Saunders shares his twenty-year experience teaching a class on Russian short stories to MFA students at Syracuse University. In this book, he pairs iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol with his technical yet accessible essays on how narrative functions, why we stay immersed in a story, and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster to create compelling fiction. Through this exploration, Saunders illuminates how the mind itself works while reading and how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.

This riveting spy novel follows Vivienne Michel, a woman with a troubled past, as she finds herself in the midst of danger at an American motel. Two killers are after her, but when James Bond, 007 arrives on the scene, Viv becomes both hopeful and fascinated. Will the spy be able to save her and show her the love she craves? Find out in this thrilling read.

This classic work of literature from Herman Melville takes place on a steamboat journey down the Mississippi on April Fool's Day. Everyone on board is selling something, from quack remedies to fraudulent charities. Set on the eve of the Civil War, the novel satirizes Manifest Destiny and poses the question of where one's faith should lie. The Confidence-Man was Melville's final novel before he retired from writing, and HarperPerennial Classics brings it to life in digital format for modern readers to enjoy.

A murder and a death by overdose shock the English village of King's Abbot. In 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,' the acclaimed author Agatha Christie reinvents the mystery genre with a plot that involves blackmail and restless "little grey cells." Hercule Poirot is on the case, attempting to solve the most perplexing and disturbing case of his career.

An island mansion off the Devon coast is the setting for a thrilling mystery. Ten strangers, lured by a mysterious host, soon find themselves accused of having guilty secrets. As they are stranded by a violent storm, they begin to die off one by one. Who is the killer, and will anyone survive?

A group of seemingly harmless houseguests turn out to be anything but when Hercule Poirot declares one of them a five-time murderer. In this country house mystery, Poirot and Arthur Hastings reunite and tackle the case in their final appearance in Christie's works. Set in one house, this novel is a nod to Christie's first, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. It has been adapted for television and is sure to keep you guessing until the end.