Essays Life

In this unique and thoughtful collection, a young funeral director—also known as “the internet’s favorite mortician” (CNBC)—explores various aspects of death, offering heartfelt and practical insights into how we determine what matters most while we are alive. This evocative book is...

Comedian and author of Birdie & Harlow @thedailytay shares an honest and hilarious essay collection on parenting young children, navigating social anxiety, and being a millennial woman. ""It's just a busy season,"" we say to ourselves after a chaotic morning (that we've had every day for the...

The dramatic untold story of Eugénie de Montijo, the woman who created haute couture, fought for women’s rights, opened France’s schools to girls and ruled the country as its last empress, yet today remains almost unknown. Although a nineteenth-century woman, her almost twenty-first-century...

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A vibrant portrait of four college friends—Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, and Mary Midgley—who formed a new philosophical tradition while Oxford's men were away fighting World War II. The history of European philosophy...

A marvelous new essay collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Somebody's Fool and The Destiny Thief Life and Art—these are the twin subjects considered in Richard Russo’s twelve masterful new essays—how they inform each other and how the stories we tell ourselves about both...

Of a Happy Life is an essay written by Seneca around the year 58 AD. It was intended for his older brother Gallio, to whom Seneca also dedicated his dialogue entitled De Ira (On Anger). It is divided into 28 chapters that present the moral thoughts of Seneca at their most mature. Seneca explains that the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of reason - reason meant not only using logic, but also understanding the processes of nature.

Back in print after two decades, the story of Hollywood’s most exclusive hotel and its star-studded guest list Raymond Sarlot bought the Chateau Marmont in 1975, but what was originally a business purchase became a love affair as he delved into the hotel’s incredible history. From its perch...

A “hilarious” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of essays, articles, observations—and even some country-music lyrics—that offer a rare overview of the eclectic sensibility of an American original “[Tom] Robbins is fearless, original, mind-expanding, and funny as hell...

A riveting investigation of the utopian experiments attempting to resist the unrelenting demands of late-stage capitalism—only to end up living comfortably alongside it What do post‑work politics, the cult of crypto, clubbing, and polyamory have in common? All have spawned thriving...

Embrace adventures both big and small and pursue your wild ideas with this “profoundly inspiring and laugh-out-loud funny” (Jaimal Yogis, author of The Fear Project) guidebook from seasoned adventurer and podcaster Shelby Stanger. Will to Wild is an instruction manual to adventure. Your...

'An oracle' DOLLY ALDERTON 'Articulate[s] a universal, feminine wisdom with such ferocity it feels like she's slapping the reader around the face' OBSERVER 'Equal parts self-lacerating, tender and witty' GLAMOUR 'Furious, sharp, funny, honest' iPAPER On the Waterstones Best Books of 2025 List...

The first biography of the epic life of one of the most important, enigmatic and private artists of the 20th century. Drawn from almost 40 years of conversations with the artist, letters and papers, it is a major work written by a well-known British art critic. Lucian Freud (1922-2011) is one...

New Yorker writer and author of The Library Book takes readers on a series of remarkable journeys in this uniquely witty, sophisticated, and far-flung travel book. In this irresistible collection of adventures far and near, Orlean conducts a tour of the world via its subcultures, from the heart...

From Susan Orlean—acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book—Rin Tin Tin is “an unforgettable book about the mutual devotion between one man and one dog” (The Wall Street Journal). He believed the dog was immortal. So begins Susan Orlean’s...

Born and raised in idyllic Sullivan's Island, Susan Hayes navigated through her turbulent childhood with humor, spunk, and characteristic Southern sass. But years later, she is a conflicted woman with an unfaithful husband, a sometimes resentful teenage daughter, and a heart that aches with painful, poignant memories. And as Susan faces her uncertain future, she realizes that she must go back to her past. To the beachfront house where her sister welcomes her with open arms.

The slippery online ecosystem is the perfect breeding ground for identities: true, false, and in between. The Internet shorthand IRL - "in real life" - now seems naïve. We no longer question the reality of online experiences but the reality of selfhood in the digital age. In The Secret Life, the essayist and novelist Andrew O'Hagan issues three bulletins from the porous border between cyberspace and IRL.

From Paul Shaffer, lifelong music junkie, hipster, and longtime leader of David Letterman's band, comes a candid, endearing, hilarious, and star-studded memoir of a life in-and love of-show business.How does a kid go from a remote Canadian town at the tip of Lake Superior to the bright lights of...

This program is read by the author. From New York Times bestselling author, and Family Guy writer Gary Janetti comes Start Without Me, a collection of hilarious, laugh out loud, true life stories about the small moments that add up to a big life. Gary Janetti is bothered. By a lot of things. And...

Uttara Rao, Janaki Paranjape, Arvind Shah, K. Subba Rao and Sumitra Iyer first cross each other’s paths at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1999. Coming from vividly different backgrounds, the five soon became friends. As they navigate relationships, careers and life, they vow to...

A tribute to a great man, an important and interesting writer, an inspiring teacher, and a friend some will not likely find again. Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper wrote a memorable biography about their pal, C.S. Lewis. "...We have sought to tell his story as best we could, to lay before...