Spark’s mind-bogglingly stunning 1957 debut With easy, sunny eeriness, Spark lights up the darkest things: blackmail, a drowning, nervous breakdowns, a ring of smugglers, a loathsome busybody, a diabolic bookseller, human evil.

Coffee, comforters, king-sized beds, gel toothpaste, razors, underwear, the morning shower-all activities and objects we have tended to pay no attention to-until the publication of this book. In a series of short vignettes endearingly illustrated by the author, Arthur Asa Berger gives Americans a profound way to understand their morning rituals. Have you ever considered, for instance, that the digital clock, by producing free-floating liquid numerals disconnecting us from both time past and time future, could be interpreted as a metaphor for the alienation many people feel in contemporary society? Or consider our nightclothes: The pajama is the most immediate witness to our sexual activities; thus, we cover our pajamas with a bathrobe to guard against the anxiety of being revealed to other family members. The pajama is intricately connected to human shame. Bloom's Morning, with thirty-six short chapters bracketed by brief essays on the nature of semiotic analysis, is a perfect book for the inquisitive mind. It is chock-full of valuable and quirky nuggets from this most interesting of social commentators-items that, taken together, give us a new vision through which to understand ourselves.

Focusing on patchwork style, this handy how-to presents 42 fun quilting projects for every occasion, from baby blankets, artistic quilts, and comforter shawls to foot warmers, throws, and bedspreads. Through step-by-step instructions, clear diagrams, and vivid photographs, the guide shows both beginners and experienced quilters how to create traditional designs with a modern twist. Starting off with a super easy project, each of the chapters--including Simple Comforts, Rolls & Squares, and Uncommon Quilts--caters to busy quilters looking to create quality pieces in minimal time. Mindful of both time and available resources, the instructional largely utilizes today's popular fabric cuts: 1.5-inch rolls, 2.5-inch rolls, 5-inch charms, and 10-inch squares. With several intermediate- and advanced-level designs, some of which feature both standard and 3-D appliqué, this lively tutorial is ideal for crafters seeking contemporary takes on classic quilts.

A slender satirical gem from the “master of malice and mayhem” (The New York Times) The Ballad of Peckham Rye is a wickedly farcical tale of an English factory town turned upside-down by a Scot who may or may not be in league with the Devil. Dougal Douglas is hired to do “human research” into the lives of the workers, Douglas stirs up mutiny and murder.

Muriel Spark's bracingly salty memoir is a no-holds-barred trip through an extraordinary writer's life.

In Muriel Spark's fantastic first novel, the only things that aren't ambiguous are her matchless originality and glittering wit.

"The short dirk in the hands of Muriel Spark has always been a deadly weapon," said The New York Times, and "never more so than in The Abbess of Crewe." An elegant little fable about intrigue, corruption, and electronic surveillance, The Abbess of Crewe is set in an English Benedictine convent. Steely and silky Abbess Alexandra (whose aristocratic tastes run to pâté, fine wine, English poetry, and carpets of "amorous green") has bugged the convent, and rigged her election. But the cat gets out of the bag, and--plunged into scandal--the serene Abbess faces a Vatican inquiry.