"All the Time in the World proffers a miscellany of customs, traditions, and pleasures people have pursued throughout the ages. An antidote to the contemporary cult of Getting Things Done, the book takes its cue from the medieval books of hours, which prescribed certain readings and contemplations for various parts of the day and year. Full of witty bon mots, interesting etymologies, and arresting anecdotes, the book encompasses an array of cultures...

Why do we decorate Christmas trees? Do all children receive gifts on the same day? Come find out as Monika Utnik-Strugala captures the smells, tastes, and unforgettable traditions about the most popular, exciting, contemplative, and unique Christmas customs and legends from around the world. Find out why celebrate Christmas on December 25th, who invented the first glass ornament, why people build nativity scenes, and more! A truly international collection...

Every encounter begins with a greeting. Air-kissing, handshakes, high-fives, nose-rubs, cheek-sniffing and foot-kissing, sticking out tongues, floor-spitting, applause, and face-slapping -- different cultures have developed innumerable ways of showing pleasure at someone's arrival. Humans have been greeting each other for thousands of years. It should be the most straightforward thing in the world, but this seemingly simple act is fraught with complications,...

When Daru Shezad is fired from his banking job he falls from the ranks of Pakistan's cell-phone-toting elite into a life of drugs and crime. But when a heist goes awry, Daru finds himself on trial for a murder he may or may not have committed. A portrait of contemporary Pakistan featuring an adulterous romance between two ultra-rich jet setters. He is a banker and she is the wife of his best friend, and she is escaping the constraints of marriage...

"Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was one of the nineteenth century's best-known writers, his name celebrated alongside those of Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson. Born in Greece and raised in Ireland, Hearn was a true prodigy and world traveler. He worked as a reporter in Cincinnati, New Orleans, and the West Indies before heading to Japan in 1890 on a commission from Harper's. There, he married a Japanese woman from a samurai family, changed his name...

Culling the best of his monthly column "Stuff I've Been Reading" in The Believer magazine, the bestselling author presents hilarious observations on a vast array of topics, and provides a wide-ranging reader list that serves as a reminder as to why we read.

"The Dog of the Marriage, Amy Hempel's fourth collection, is about sexual obsession, relationships gone awry, and the unsatisfied longings of everyday life." "In "Offertory," a modern-day Scheherazade entertains and manipulates her lover with stories of her sexual encounters with a married couple as a very young woman. In "Reference #388475848-5," a letter contesting a parking ticket becomes a beautiful and unnerving statement of faith. In "Jesus...

The violent lives of three sons are exposed when their father is murdered and each one attempts to come to terms with his guilt.