Longlisted for the 2002 Booker Prize: the compelling story of a relationship between a young white South African woman and a young Arab man

Nick Somebody once said we don't decide who we love. The world decides for us. But I disagree. I believe love is a decision. Who we love, how we love. It's in our control--in our hands. I grew up having no clue about the true meaning of love. Money. Cars. Houses. Status. Fame. That's what love means to the people around me. It wasn't until the woman I picked up in a bar came back into my life and showed me love can be so much more. So, what's the problem? The woman I'm falling in love with believes in fairytales. She compares everything to a storybook and wants the happily-ever-after. So while she's stuck on recreating stories that have already been told, page by page, I'm showing her it's time we write our own book. Nobody ever said the journey of falling in love would be easy, just that it would be worth it.

Meeting a gorgeous guy in a rideshare headed to Lollapalooza is not how Mari expected her Chicago summer to start. She doesn't believe in dating...but TJ may just change her mind. Can an electric, weekend romance turn into more than just a summer fling? When Mari hails a Ryde to a music festival, the last thing she expects is for the car to pick up a gorgeous guy along the way. Mari doesn't believe in dating—it can only end with a broken heart. Besides, she's only staying at her dad's house in Chicago for the weekend. How close can you get to a guy in three days? TJ wants to study art in college, but his family's expectations cast a long shadow over his dreams. When he meets Mari in the back of a rideshare, he feels alive for the first time in a long time. Mari and TJ enter the festival together and share an electric moment but get separated in a crowd with seemingly no way to find each other. When fate reunites them (with a little help from a viral hashtag), they'll have to decide: was it love at first sight, or the start of nothing more than a weekend fling?

The creator of the "Mystery Method" introduced in Neil Strauss's best-selling The Game imparts salacious techniques for picking up and seducing women, in a guide that also shares extreme stories from Mystery's life. TV tie-in.

Pickup artist Hank Shapiro makes his living confiscating for "deletion" books by older authors in a world that has run out of room for them.

The world’s greatest pickup artist is back! After the bestselling exposé The Game pulled back the curtain on Mystery and his culture of professional pickup artists, he became an international phenomenon. Unfortunately, while it’s no secret that Mystery’s ideas are wildly effective, women have started to catch on. They’ve seen the show and heard the routines—so now it’s time for the next level of game! With techniques honed over fifteen years of trial, error, and ultimate triumph, and following his hit VH1 reality series, the celebrated sensei is back with his latest living-large exploits and a new and improved playbook for the twenty-first-century playboy. As the book begins, Mystery and his crew have withdrawn to their swank Miami mansion to plot their next move. When a new student comes to stay at the house, Mystery draws him deep into the pickup-artist lifestyle and shows him an intimate portrait of the master of seduction. Mystery lays out a complete system of game, and unveils his latest (and fully field-tested) strategies and techniques. The Pickup Artist includes • a list of all the triggers that create—and destroy—attraction • a new way to approach strangers and start a conversation: microcalibrated openers • Mystery’s most powerful humor technique, the Absurd—so you’ll never run out of things to say again • a full chapter on physical escalation (touching, kissing, “making a move”) • the solution to inner-game issues, for when you’re not confident enough • and much, much more Whether he’s holding court with eager disciples in South Beach, hanging out with his crew of fellow super-seducers in Las Vegas, or partying it up in the Hollywood Hills, Mystery is never far from where the action is—and never fails to get a piece of it. Now it’s your turn. Read The Pickup Artist and get into the game.