shipping deadlines ▼

INTERNATIONAL
Priority Mail Express International®: December 8

CANADA
Priority Mail®
: December 11
Priority Mail Express®: December 17

WEST OF MISSISSIPPI
Priority Mail®
: December 19
Priority Mail Express®: December 21

LOCAL
Priority Mail®
: December 21
Priority Mail Express®: December 23


holiday hours ▼

December 24: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
December 25: Closed
December 26: 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.

December 31: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
January 1: Closed


Welcome to the 2015 Politics and Prose Holiday Newsletter. As we have in past years, we’ve tried to select the best—and most beautiful—recent books, fiction and nonfiction, to help you with gift-giving.

It’s also traditional to emphasize how difficult making these choices has been—it’s not just a matter of so many books, but of so many truly wonderful books. This year there’s been an especially impressive outpouring of short fiction and memoirs, but you’ll find bookseller favorites on all subjects here. Enjoy!

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

Hanya Yanagihara, who made a wildly creative debut with The People in the Trees, beautifully navigates several perspectives in A Little Life (Doubleday, $30), narrating the lives of four men in New York City. A tight-knit crew in college, Malcolm, JB, Jude, and Willem stick together after graduation, and the story  chronicles their lives, complete with the pivotal moments and festering secrets, both shared and hidden, over decades of friendship. Yanagihara supplies little in the way of concrete physical descriptions and straightforward timelines, instead devoting many pages to expertly paced exposition that delivers powerful emotional punches. Most of these focus on Jude, who is the novel’s fulcrum; the other characters are defined by their relationship with this extraordinarily complicated figure. Yet the group itself has a complex dynamic, and the story traces stubbornness, rivalry, anxiety, and outright fear. Jude, however, has an especially traumatic story, and his emotional and physical scars affect the entire group. Even as the men grow into middle age, their relationships continue to evolve, expanding, shrinking—even spiraling out of control.

A Little Life: A Novel By Hanya Yanagihara Cover Image
$38.00
ISBN: 9780385539258
Availability: Not On Our Shelves—Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Doubleday - March 10th, 2015

A Little Life By Hanya Yanagihara Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780804172707
Availability: In Stock—Click for Locations
Published: Anchor - January 26th, 2016

Pages