Wandering in Circles: Venichka’s Journey of Redemption in “Moskva-Petushki” examines the definition of redemption in Venedikt Erofeev’s Moskva-Petushki. By placing Erofeev’s poema in conversation with other travel narratives from Russia and the West, the book explores the meaning of redemption across societies and cultures, and how Erofeev creates a commentary on the possibility of redemption in a broken political and social system. Through this comparative approach to Moskva-Petushki, this work offers a new reading of the text as a journey of failed social and personal redemption.

How far would you walk for happiness?After living in Japan for over half a decade Todd Wassel finds himself at a crossroads in life and caught between worlds. Out of work, out of love, and drowning in debt, Todd is convinced that there should be a purpose to life, but nothing has worked out up to now. Desperate, he launches a last-ditch effort to understanding what a meaningful life really is by walking the grueling 750-mile, 88-temple Buddhist pilgrimage on Japan's remote island of Shikoku, again. In search of himself and a Japan he thought was lost, Walking in Circles, lovingly retells Todd's sometimes outrageous, painful, and suspense filled journey. Todd is joined on the path by an eccentric group of characters, naked Yakuza trying to shake him down, a wandering ascetic searching for enlightenment while hiding from the Freemasons, and a Buddhist Monk who hates America but loves beef jerky.Walking in Circles is more than a humorous travel memoir of personal transformation. Todd crafts an intimate portrait of a changing Japan and a nation in search of meaning. What he finds changes his life forever.Are you prepared to find enlightenment on the backroads of Japan?

Inspired by a startling midwinter dream of ancient hills and prehistoric shrines, the author builds her own stone circle in the wilderness and begins a journal of exploration into the nature of cyclical time, the sacred power of everyday, and the meaning of the eternal feminine. From the Art of Gardening to the Zen of Housepainting, Walking in Circles is a quiet chronicle of midlife passage and homegrown ways, reminding us that our lives are lived in moments, in the thoughts, memories, and rituals spun out in daily life. It is a book about time, the time of our lives, the remembered time we keep in our bodies and minds, the ticking time we use to measure out our days, and the hauntingly timeless time of dreams and moons and ancient stones. Comments from Readers: This book is incredible! Its great reading. I loved it and it made me remember a lot of things about my own life and rekindled a desire to read. I especially enjoyed its vivid descriptiveness and tempo. - T.M. (jazz musician, Chicago) How amazing and awesome when the truth of a life contains such wisdom. Your imagery is often breathtaking. Sensitive and thought provoking with unending layers of revelation. A brave experiment. - J.S. (poet, Chicago, IL) To say I liked your book would be a vast understatement; to say I loved it would be to leave so many important things left unsaid, like how it speaks to me and takes me to the place where I need to be. Thank you. If I could write, it would be what I would like to say and how I would like to say it. I read it straight through, stopping only to sleep. - A.S. (businesswoman, Denver, CO) Im only 53 pages into it, but I had to stop to write and tell you- its great! The language is fresh, evocative, and poetic. Great work, beautiful storytelling. - M.R. (psychotherapist, Chicago, IL) Your writing is beautiful, lyrical. I love it. Youve got a great book here. - M.T. (college admissions counselor, Montpelier, VT) Before I had a chance to get to your manuscript, something unusual happened. My husband, who rarely reads and never stays up past ten, picked it up and read late into the night, finally finishing at the breakfast table with the words, Wow! Youve got to read this book! So I was psyched. The book is wonderful. Deep, rich, and vivid. - B.A.C. (therapist, Lake Forest, IL) A friend sent your book up a few weeks ago and Im writing to tell you how much I enjoyed it. It was like being engaged in a long conversation with an old friend. All through the book I kept saying Yes! Yes! Now another friend is reading it and she says youve inspired her to begin writing a journal, and after that Bonnie will read it you already have a little fan club up here in Baraga County. - M.D. (artist, Baraga, MI)

A collection of 60 poems.

An autobiography by the influential ecologist and philosopher covering her life from her childhood in a rural area of western New York State to her marriage, travels, involvement in environmental activism, and spiritual journey through Buddhist faith and practices.

A breathtaking, suspenseful story of one man’s obsessive search to find the truth of another man’s downfall, from the author of The King Is Always Above the People, which was longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction. Nelson’s life is not turning out the way he hoped. His girlfriend is sleeping with another man, his brother has left their South American country, leaving Nelson to care for their widowed mother, and his acting career can’t seem to get off the ground. That is, until he lands a starring role in a touring revival of The Idiot President, a legendary play by Nelson’s hero, Henry Nunez, leader of the storied guerrilla theater troupe Diciembre. And that’s when the real trouble begins. The tour takes Nelson out of the shelter of the city and across a landscape he’s never seen, which still bears the scars of the civil war. With each performance, Nelson grows closer to his fellow actors, becoming hopelessly entangled in their complicated lives, until, during one memorable performance, a long-buried betrayal surfaces to force the troupe into chaos. Nelson’s fate is slowly revealed through the investigation of the narrator, a young man obsessed with Nelson’s story—and perhaps closer to it than he lets on. In sharp, vivid, and beautiful prose, Alarcón delivers a compulsively readable narrative and a provocative meditation on fate, identity, and the large consequences that can result from even our smallest choices.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair). When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.