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! 

Let your pen fly across the page in this sophisticated notebook, featuring Ernest Hemingway’s most inspiring words.

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” – Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Ernest Hemingway often could be found jotting in a notebook in cafés, starting drafts in pencil before spending hours typing up his notes. No matter what your writing process is, the Ernest Hemingway Notebook is the perfect place to begin. Perfect for any creative mind or aspiring writer, The Ernest Hemingway Notebook is filled with quotes and excerpts from the celebrated writer to encourage and inspire you as you record your daily musings. 

The Ernest Hemingway 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 Hemingway’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 Hemingway adds another creative personality to the mix.

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.

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!

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!

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.