Literary + Art + Music

Build your brain and blitz through the canon with Literature in 30 Seconds of Less!, a collection of illuminating synopses of the great works.

Bursting with illuminating synopses of humanity’s great works, you no longer have to lower your gaze when the conversation turns to the classics. Instead, you’ll be able to dazzle any dinner party, keeping everyone entirely unaware that English class was code for naptime throughout your time in school. But it’s not just about impressing others. Each of these small windows is a perfect opportunity to fuel your imagination and discover the books that speak to your soul.

The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words is an illustrated dictionary of the 300+ most specific words in the English language, along with their definitions, roots, and (hilarious) usage quotes!

Have you ever been lying in your bed, surrounded by crumbs and wrappers, feasting on your fifth pop tart and thought, “I wish there was a word for this”? Well, there is! Accubationis - the practice of eating and drinking while lying down. The English language is populated by many words that have a regular place in everyday conversation, and The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words celebrates these words by featuring definitions, origins and usage, and coupling illustrations. Words include:

Badling (noun) - a group of ducks.
Crapulence (noun) - sickness resulting from eating too much.
Guddle (verb) - fishing only with your hands.
Kaiju (noun) - A film genre characterized by giant, terrifying monsters.
Slugabed (noun) - A lazy person who stays in bed late.
Wegotism (noun) - The excessive use of the word ‘we’.

With more than 300 insanely specific words, you’d think that you would know a few of them, right? Well, think again! We’re willing to wager that you don’t know a single one of these words! Unless, of course, you have a special interest in the smell of horse urine (the word for that particular odor is jumentuous). The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words not only captures these words through equally specific illustrations, it also tells you what they mean! And like so many great reference books before it, it is organized in alphabetical order, from aglet to zopissa.

Readers will close this book a little bit smarter than they were when they picked it up! 

The Illustrated Compendium of Essential Modern Slang is an illustrated dictionary of the zaniest jargon, including everything from ankle-biter to zazzy! Complete with definitions, roots, and absurd usage quotes, these 300+ words are sure to make you go, “What does that mean?”

What do your grandmother, your math teacher, your soccer coach, and your booger of a brother all have in common? They all have used slang at some point in their lives! Whether they were getting “jiggy” with it in the ’90s or raving about the “cat’s pajamas” in the ’ 20s, everyone has experienced the joy that comes with these coded exchanges. In this illustrated volume, we’ll take a walk down memory lane, exploring the best, worst, and most lit terms that have ever graced the pages of the English dictionary. 

Need an example? We’ve got plenty—300+ to be exact!—including:

Canary (noun): a female singer, the likes of which you might find “chirping” along at the front of the jazzy musical group that your mom hired for your bat mitzvah.
Greaser (noun): a tough guy who is as slick as the hair products that he soaks his fro’ in. 
Tubular (adjective): breathtaking, like the wave the dad who said it is probably cruising on.
Bounce (verb): to leave quickly and suddenly before anyone can hear you use the word bounce.
Tea (noun): The hot goss that your friend’s been holding onto, like a literal cup of burning tea she’s waiting to toss in your face when the time is right.

The Illustrated Compendium of Essential Modern Slang is jam-packed with “dope” slang words, their origin stories, hilarious usage quotes, and a pronunciation guide so you can properly enunciate that funny word that no one understands. From millennial jargon to Gen Z lingo, this comprehensive collection of modern slang is sure to make you go cray (in a good way).

Take a stroll through some of the most influential pieces of literature of all time with Read the Classics. 

From Aristotle and Plato to Kerouac and Tolstoy, don’t just read the classics, learn why they hold such a time-honored place in the literary cannon. Each literary masterpiece is broken down into its key components by informative essays sure to pique your interest. The latest edition in the Curio series, this pocket-sized book is perfect for referencing on the go. Whether you’re a college student or a student of life, you’ve never looked at the classics like this before. 

Chase your inspiration alongside inspiring quotes from English author Virginia Woolf.

Become inspired by quotes from one of the most influential feminist authors of the 20th century. The perfect gift for anyone delving into the secrets of the subconscious or tying together threads of daily life into elaborate masterpieces. Embossed with Virginia Woolf’s looping signature, a smooth, simulated-moleskin binding gives this notebook a cover even Mrs. Dalloway would approve of. Whether penning stream of consciousness fiction or your grocery list, this notebook is full of enough quotes to keep you writing long into the night.

Feed the adventurer in you with Origins of a Journey, more than 120 stories of history’s most famous travellers and their finest adventures.

Inside each of us lives an explorer who yearns to visit the great unknown. Feed the adventurer in you with Origins of a Journey, more than 120 stories of history’s most famous travellers and their finest adventures. These are the tales behind the history’s bravest pioneers, bringing you from the ocean’s black depths to the top of Mount Everest. Harriet Tubman ferries fugitive slaves along the Underground Railroad—not once, not twice, but 19 times. Teddy Roosevelt risks life, limb, and sanity as he charts the Amazon’s River of Doubt. Buoyed by the voice of God, Joan of Arc travels to Vaucouleurs to petition Charles for a chance to fight for France. Charles Darwin notices several different finch species while touring the Galápagos Islands, fundamentally changing how we understand life. Spanning from 500 BC to today, Origins of a Journey teaches us that there is always value in an adventure, no matter how small—or doomed—it may be.

The Illustrated Histories of Everyday Expressions uncovers the fascinating, humorous, and often unbelievable origin stories behind the English language’s most common sayings!

Nobody thinks twice about sayings like “bite the bullet” and “the cat’s out of the bag.” But the strange and wonderful origins of these expressions are far from arbitrary: They are rooted in forgotten history. Within this book, you will discover idioms like:

- Why we say an unwell person is “under the weather.” It goes back to when sickly sailors and seafarers had to rest below deck!
- How come sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle is called “riding shotgun."  In the Wild West, passengers had a crucial job: packing heat and preventing highway robberies! 
- What’s up with the phrase, “cat got your tongue.” Here’s a hint: It doesn’t have anything to do with cats! 

With over 100 pieces of original artwork, The Illustrated Histories of Everyday Expressions is as beautiful as it is entertaining and informative. Read up on this fascinating history of the English language’s 64 most popular idioms, and you will know what it really means when you say “pass with flying colors,” “bury the hatchet,” and “rest on your laurels”! 

"Doucet takes a refreshingly genre-free approach, careening from heady dub reggae to pastoral folk-rock, from unreal disco workouts to mind-bending electronica. His enthusiasm is such that you'll be stopping on every page to track down the songs being discussed." -- Aquarium Drunkard

Let go of your musical biases and dive into the deep cuts that are what music is really about with You’ve Never Heard Your Favorite Song. From underground musicians to passed-over classics, your favorite song is out there waiting for you, you just need to go find it. Relearn what makes a song great and set those played out pop tunes on the back burner once and for all. The latest edition in the Curio series, this pocket-sized book is perfect for referencing on the go. So get reading to find out why you might not even know your favorite song yet, and why you should keep your musical mind open.

"You've Never Heard Your Favorite Song holds an immeasurable amount of unfettered love, passion and knowledge about what I've long considered to be one of the world's only truly universal languages: music." -- Portland Press Herald

Equal parts useful and esoteric, the collection of facts in How to Talk Like You Know What You’re Talking About clears your path to sounding like the smartest person in any room you find yourself in.

Your path to sounding like the smartest person in the room is clear thanks to How to Talk Like You Know What You’re Talking About. Equal parts useful and esoteric, a collection of facts related to intriguing topics such as Stanley Kubrick, the cause of World War I, and the theory of relativity makes you a must-have on the guest list for any gathering. Expertise has never been so effortless, as a few easy-to-digest talking points are all that stand between you and a well-rounded intellect.

“If you’ve wondered how your favorite masterpieces got their starts, the itch can now be scratched.”—Foreword Review’s Matt Sutherland
“Grogan’s research is meticulous and empirical…a lively peek into literary genius.”—Kirkus

For readers and writers alike, Origins of a Story is the inspiring collection of 202 amazing true stories behind the inspiration for the world’s greatest literature!

Did you know Lennie from Of Mice and Men was based on a real person? Or how about that Charlotte’s Web was based on an actual spider and her egg that E. B. White would carry from Maine to New York on business trips?  Origins of a Story profiles 202 famous literary masterpieces and explores how each story got its start. Spanning works from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, this book is the first of its kind. Get glimpses of the reality behind these fictional stories, and learn about the individual creative process for each writer. Origins of a Story will not only leave you with a different perspective into your favorite works of fiction, but it will also have you inspired to take your everyday life and craft it into a literary masterpiece!

With newly revised packaging and pages, this notebook, featuring musician’s quotes and words of advice on manuscript pages, is sure to inspire some beautiful music!

Now there is one home for all your creative musings – all of the songs you carry around in your head (or on random scraps of paper) will fit nicely in this flexi-bound musician’s journal, created by a musican for a musician. Use it to bring clarity to your ideas and substance to your vision. Fill your notebook with your greatest licks, motifs, and completed songs. Track chords and riffs and draw inspiration from a collection of quotes by artists who insipre. Now there’s a home for your creative thoughts.

The Illustrated Histories of Everyday Inventions uncovers the fascinating, humorous, and often unbelievable origins behind the world’s most overlooked innovations!

Nobody knows the backstories behind our most taken-for-granted inventions, like credit cards, egg cartons, windshield wipers, and breakfast sandwiches! But the strange and wonderful origins of these inventions are far from ordinary: They are rooted in forgotten history. Inside this hardcover book, discover the extraordinary true stories of:

the TOASTER — actually the best thing before sliced bread  
the PASSPORT — the original Facebook  
the TOOTHBRUSH — so much more than bamboo + hog bristles 
the PIZZA SAVER — no pie left behind since 1985  
SLICED BREAD — at first, no one wanted it 
and MANY, MANY MORE of history’s most influential discoveries! 

Organized chronologically from 75,000 B.C. to today and illustrated with more than 200 pieces of original artwork, The Illustrated Histories of Everyday Inventions is as beautiful as it is entertaining and informative. Discover who invented BATHING, why some of the first-ever BEDS were naturally mosquito-repellant, how president Theodore Roosevelt’s encounter with a black bear inspired the TEDDY BEAR, and why SELFIE STICKS might be older than you think!

Behold the 300 Ugliest Words in the English Language!

J. R. R. Tolkien once said that cellar door is the most beautiful phrase in the English language; since then it has received quite a bit of attention from poets and linguists. But what of the ugly words? This delightfully humorous volume celebrates the words that make people gag and cover their ears. Too long have these atrocious utterances gone unrecognized, nay, shunned from society. No longer! The Illustrated Compendium of Ugly English Words pays homage to the 300 worst words in existence, such as:

Amazeballs (noun): The public’s opinion on this word can be perfectly encapsulated by a recent Slate article titled “Who coined amazeballs and why do they hate humanity?” 
Chunky (adjective): Chunky (meaning “lumpy”) is a word so vile, it can make even the most pleasant image sound disgusting. Let’s try. Chunky flower. Chunky chocolate milk. Chunky Jonathan Van Ness. See?
Moist (adjective): Slightly or moderately wet; damp; the linguistic equivalent of stepping in a lukewarm puddle in socks and feeling the water ooze between your toes with every step thereafter.
Rural (adjective):  Meaning “of the countryside,” rural’s definition is not actually gross. Its foulness stems more from its pronunciation, which forces the speaker to make a noise akin to the grunt of a zombie. 
Worm (noun): Any type of burrowing, elongated invertebrate with a soft, limbless body. (Is that a description of a real creature or a monster from a nightmare video game? Hard to say.)

What makes these words ugly? It’s the nature of the word’s meaning, the pre-existing association the reader has with the word, or the sound and look of the word—or all three! The Illustrated Compendium of Ugly English Words catalogues the ugliness from A to Z, along with each word’s pronunciation guide, definition, and origin, plus quotes demonstrating usage. Illustrations on nearly every page of this hardcover make it both a hilarious reference book and the ideal gift for anyone who can’t stand the sound of words like acrid, panties, gubernatorial, ointment, and squirt.

More than anything, though, this compendium can be used as a reminder that, despite all of our differences, deep down we all share the same hopes, the same dreams, and the same primal hatred for the terms that make us go, “Ugh, why would you even say that?!” 

Proceed at your own risk! 

Bestselling author Jennifer Worick has put together an entertaining pocket-sized collection of book-related quotes, facts, and lists. From “Children’s Classics Fit for Adults” to “Scary Reads,” any reader will find something new to explore or revisit. This purse-size, leather-bound “little book” is a perfect companion for trips to the bookstore or library.

This little book of books is packed with quotes about classic titles and reading, book trivia, space for your own book notes, and dozens of lists, including:

- 10 Books from Home School You Should Revisit
- Love Hurts
- Dystopian Reads
- Guilty Pleasures
- The Sporting Life
- Short Stories
- Tragic-Comic Reads

Filled with the remarkable wit and humor of America's favorite storyteller, A Mark Twain Christmas gives readers insight into Twain's life through little known stories about how he and his family celebrated this treasured holiday. 

“If my boot should leave a stain on the marble…leave it there always in memory of my visit…and let it remind you to be a good little girl.” When Market Twain penned this enchanting letter from “Your loving Santa Claus” to his daughter Susy in 1875, a holiday tradition was born inside the Twain family home. And while Twain is celebrated as the sharpest satirist in American letters, he always had a soft spot for Christmas.
 
A Mark Twain Christmas is in turns charming, heartwarming, and heartbreaking, and it ultimately reaffirms the magic of the Christmas spirit. Looking in on three holiday seasons with Twain, we learn more about the man than we ever knew before, and we discover fascinations from gifted elephants to burglar letters to Santa’s bootprints. But most of all, we regain an understanding of what is most important in our own lives, and that is the greatest gift of the Christmas season. 

Put pen to paper within the pages of this gorgeously designed notebook full of writing-related inspiration from Mark Twain himself, and let your own creativity flow!

Mark Twain was an avid note-taker, recording his book ideas, character names, anecdotes, and other notes in custom-made notebooks. Perfect for any creative mind or aspiring writer, the Mark Twain Notebook is filled with quotes and witticisms from the celebrated writer himself, as well as facimile reproductions of his own scribbles, to encourage and inspire you as you record your daily musings. 

Scribble, brainstorm, or sketch your own big ideas alongside the most inspiring words of Alexander Hamilton in this elegantly designed Signature Notebook.

“There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty that makes human nature rise above itself in acts of bravery and heroism.” —Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton is arguably one of the most inspiring—if not the most significant—of our Founding Fathers, and today, Hamilton’s legacy of brilliance still rewards us all. His defense and advocacy of the Constitution continue to shape our political discourse, and his profound impact on our then-fledging nation was accomplished largely through the power of his written word. Now you can put pen to paper in your very own Alexander Hamilton Signature Notebook, and let his words encourage and inspire you as you record your daily musings.

The Alexander Hamilton Notebook is part of the Signature Notebook series, all of which are filled with inspirational quotes for dreamers, thinkers, and writers of all ages, alongside striking, rarely seen images throughout. This beautiful, pocket-sized notebook features a moleskin-like binding, cream paper stock, and an elegant ribbon page marker, so you can always pick up where you left off...and Hamilton's removable portrait wraps around the foil-stamped front cover, which is debossed with his signature. The Signature Notebook series features some of the most prominent figures in our society, from William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, to JFK and Michelle Obama--and Alexander Hamilton adds another inspirational personality to the mix.

Explosive political novel exposing the cynical inner workings of conservative talk radio from one of America’s leading talk-radio hosts and political commentators.

Stan Powers finds himself at a crossroads. Poised to take the last step in his unlikely ascent to the top of conservative talk radio, his conscience may not let him. Set amid the backdrop of “the most important presidential election of our lifetime,” Powers – as the most influential voice in Tampa’s hotly contested I-4 Corridor – holds the key to Florida, and therefore the Oval Office. His on-air attacks singlehandedly put an abrupt end to the top candidates’ main competitors in the primaries, and now he is in the singular position to influence who wins the highest elected office in the world. Will he continue playing the game according to his cynical advisors, or listen to his own conscience and drop an even bigger bomb than expected? With a story that could have been ripped from the headlines, deeply developed characters and interconnected plotlines, and one of the most shocking and rewarding denouements you’ll ever experience, this is the perfect political thriller for today’s America.