{"title":"GEORGE SAUNDERS","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeorge Saunders\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of nine books, including the novel \u003ci\u003eLincoln in the Bardo,\u003c\/i\u003e which won the Man Booker Prize, and the story collections \u003ci\u003ePastoralia\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTenth of December,\u003c\/i\u003e which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has received fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 2006 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. In 2013 he was awarded the PEN\/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and was included in \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e’s list of the one hundred most influential people in the world. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"vigil","title":"Vigil","description":"\u003cb\u003e#1 \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER - \"A scorching portrait of modern America. And yet it also brings a sense of sense of hope, not only because [it] reminds us how powerful a great novel can be, but because of the sense . . . that a universal justice will prevail.\"--R. J. Palacio for \u003ci\u003eTime, \u003c\/i\u003e\"25 Books That Capture This American Moment\" \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA \"spectacular\" (\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e) novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eLincoln in the Bardo, \u003c\/i\u003e taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO in the twilight hours of his life as he is ferried from this world into the next \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Vibrant, fiendishly clever . . . \u003ci\u003eVigil \u003c\/i\u003eis pure Saunders: the death of empathy, he insists, is greatly exaggerated.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNot for the first time, Jill \"Doll\" Blaine finds herself hurtling toward earth, reconstituting as she falls, right down to her favorite black pumps. She plummets towards her newest charge, yet another soul she must usher into the afterlife, and lands headfirst in the circular drive of his ornate mansion. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eShe has performed this sacred duty 343 times since her own death. Her charges, as a rule, have been greatly comforted in their final moments. But this charge, she soon discovers, isn't like the others. The powerful K. J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold, epic life, and the world is better for it. Isn't it? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eVigil \u003c\/i\u003etransports us, careening, through the wild final evening of a complicated man. Visitors begin to arrive (worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead), clamoring for a reckoning. Birds swarm the dying man's room; a black calf grazes on the love seat; a man from a distant, drought-ravaged village materializes; two oil-business cronies from decades past show up with chilling plans for Boone's postdeath future. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith the wisdom, playfulness, and explosive imagination we've come to expect, George Saunders takes on the gravest issues of our time--the menace of corporate greed, the toll of capitalism, the environmental perils of progress--and, in the process, spins a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the thorny question of absolution.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53537207026030,"sku":"9780525509622","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_da3ec1db-bbd5-4046-810d-309a1a88e745.jpg?v=1774452685"},{"product_id":"a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain-in-which-four-russians-give-a-master-class-on-writing-reading-and-life","title":"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER - From the Booker Prize-winning author of\u003ci\u003e Lincoln in the Bardo \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Tenth of December\u003c\/i\u003e comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves--and our world today.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE PEN\/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD - ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post, \u003c\/i\u003e NPR, \u003ci\u003eTime, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMilwaukee Journal Sentinel, Town \u0026amp; Country, The Rumpus, Electric Lit, Thrillist, BookPage\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[A] worship song to writers and readers.\"--\u003ci\u003eOprah Daily, \u003c\/i\u003e \"Best Nonfiction Books of the Past Two Decades\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In \u003ci\u003eA Swim in a Pond in the Rain\u003c\/i\u003e, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn his introduction, Saunders writes, \"We're going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn't fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art--namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?\" He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Swim in a Pond in the Rain \u003c\/i\u003eis a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.","brand":"Random House Trade","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53537207779694,"sku":"9781984856036","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_a4a83896-9dba-40b3-b197-aa4d50eef5a8.jpg?v=1774452698"},{"product_id":"lincoln-in-the-bardo","title":"Lincoln in the Bardo","description":"\u003cb\u003e#1 \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER - WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE - A \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eNOTABLE BOOK \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe \"devastatingly moving\" (\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e) first novel from the author of \u003ci\u003eTenth of December\u003c\/i\u003e a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - One of \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years - One of \u003ci\u003ePaste\u003c\/i\u003e's Best Novels of the Decade \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eLincoln in the Bardo\u003c\/i\u003e] demonstrates that even the unspeakable--civil war, familial grief--can be named through a close, humanizing narrative voice.\"--Amanda Gorman for \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e, \"25 Books That Capture This American Moment\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFebruary 1862. With the Civil War less than one year old, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies gravely ill. In a matter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy's body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story that breaks free of its realistic framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm, deploying a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices--living and dead, historical and invented--to ask a timeless question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNamed One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post, USA Today, \u003c\/i\u003eand Maureen Corrigan, NPR - One of \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e's Ten Best Novels of the Year - One of \u003ci\u003eO: The Oprah Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e's Best Books of the Year","brand":"Random House Trade","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53537207877998,"sku":"9780812985405","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_173b19a9-eafd-4bfa-a3d8-cd007e6e3d95.jpg?v=1774452699"},{"product_id":"tenth-of-december-stories","title":"Tenth of December: Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER -\u003c\/b\u003e NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST - \u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF \u003ci\u003eTIME'S\u003c\/i\u003e TEN BEST FICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE -\u003c\/b\u003e NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY \u003ci\u003eENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY\u003c\/i\u003e AND \u003ci\u003eBUZZFEED\u003c\/i\u003e - NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY \u003ci\u003eTHE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003ePeople, The New York Times Magazine, \u003c\/i\u003eNPR, \u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly, New York, The Telegraph, BuzzFeed, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, Shelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIncludes an extended conversation with David Sedaris \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and \u003ci\u003eTenth of December\u003c\/i\u003e is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In the taut opener, \"Victory Lap,\" a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In \"Home,\" a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is. A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill--the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of \u003ci\u003eTenth of December\u003c\/i\u003e are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders's signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in \u003ci\u003eTenth of December\u003c\/i\u003e--through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit--not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov's dictum that art should \"prepare us for tenderness.\"\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eGEORGE SAUNDERS WAS NAMED ONE OF THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD BY \u003ci\u003eTIME\u003c\/i\u003e MAGAZINE\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Random House Trade","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53537208435054,"sku":"9780812984255","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_d46ee043-7895-4752-9ff2-fe0dd12cd5a9.jpg?v=1774452711"},{"product_id":"liberation-day-stories","title":"Liberation Day: Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER - \"One of our most inventive purveyors of the form returns with pitch-perfect, genre-bending stories that stare into the abyss of our national character. . . . An exquisite work from a writer whose reach is galactic.\"--\u003ci\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eBooker Prize winner George Saunders returns with his first collection of short stories since the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eTenth of December.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR - ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Oprah Daily, \u003c\/i\u003eNPR, \u003ci\u003eTime, USA Today, The Guardian, Esquire, Newsweek, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe \"best short-story writer in English\" (\u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose--wickedly funny, unsentimental, and exquisitely tuned--Saunders continues to challenge and surprise: Here is a collection of prismatic, resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Love Letter\" is a tender missive from grandfather to grandson, in the midst of a dystopian political situation in the (not too distant, all too believable) future, that reminds us of our obligations to our ideals, ourselves, and one another. \"Ghoul\" is set in a Hell-themed section of an underground amusement park in Colorado and follows the exploits of a lonely, morally complex character named Brian, who comes to question everything he takes for granted about his reality. In \"Mother's Day,\" two women who loved the same man come to an existential reckoning in the middle of a hailstorm. In \"Elliott Spencer,\" our eighty-nine-year-old protagonist finds himself brainwashed, his memory \"scraped\"--a victim of a scheme in which poor, vulnerable people are reprogrammed and deployed as political protesters. And \"My House\"--in a mere seven pages--comes to terms with the haunting nature of unfulfilled dreams and the inevitability of decay. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTogether, these nine subversive, profound, and essential stories coalesce into a case for viewing the world with the same generosity and clear-eyed attention Saunders does, even in the most absurd of circumstances.","brand":"Random House Trade","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53537208729966,"sku":"9780525509615","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_ae0401f2-f2e0-44ae-9b08-3640864b0c2b.jpg?v=1774452716"},{"product_id":"pastoralia","title":"Pastoralia","description":"\u003cb\u003eA stunning collection including the story \"Sea Oak,\" from the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLincoln in the Bardo\u003c\/i\u003e and the story collection \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eTenth of December\u003c\/i\u003e, a 2013 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Hailed by Thomas Pynchon as \"graceful, dark, authentic, and funny,\" George Saunders gives us, in his inventive and beloved voice, this bestselling collection of stories set against a warped, hilarious, and terrifyingly recognizable American landscape.","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53537208828270,"sku":"9781573228725","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_737621e5-315f-4683-a339-25b5c09176a8.jpg?v=1774452718"},{"product_id":"fox-8-a-story","title":"Fox 8: A Story","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eLincoln in the Bardo, \u003c\/i\u003ea darkly comic short story about the unintended consequences unleashed by our quest to tame the natural world--featuring gorgeous black-and-white illustrations by Chelsea Cardinal.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Fox 8 has always been known as the daydreamer in his pack, the one his fellow foxes regard with a knowing snort and a roll of the eyes. That is, until he develops a unique skill: He teaches himself to speak \"Yuman\" by hiding in the bushes outside a house and listening to children's bedtime stories. The power of language fuels his abundant curiosity about people--even after \"danjer\" arrives in the form of a new shopping mall that cuts off his food supply, sending Fox 8 on a harrowing quest to help save his pack. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Told with his distinctive blend of humor and pathos, \u003ci\u003eFox 8\u003c\/i\u003e showcases the extraordinary imaginative talents of George Saunders, whom \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e called \"the writer for our time.\"","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53537209254254,"sku":"9781984818027","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_eee9cbee-906e-4c47-83e2-53d213add9cb.jpg?v=1774452725"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/collections\/26961.jpg?v=1784846015","url":"https:\/\/tenderbuttonsbooks.com\/collections\/george-saunders.oembed","provider":"Tender Buttons Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}