From wild and wacky to knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud fun, these humorous tales represent some of the best of recent seasons of the hit public radio series Selected Shorts. Comedian Wyatt Cenac gives a killer performance of Simon Rich’s hilarious tale of woe from the point of view of a condom in a young man’s wallet. Alec Baldwin gives a delightful over-the-top performance of James Thurber’s wonderfully silly classic tale of the day everybody in a small Ohio town thought the dam broke. Joe ...

Includes the story “The Monkey”—now a major motion picture!The #1 New York Times bestseller—a mesmerizing treasury of short stories by Stephen King.An eerie-looking child’s toy harbors an unimaginable evil. A supermarket is unexpectedly the place where humanity makes its last stand against destruction. A trip to the attic becomes a journey to hell. An idyllic lake conceals a bottomless terror. And a desert island is the scene of th...

Includes the story “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut”—set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, MaineThe #1 New York Times bestseller and winner of the Locus Award for Best Collection, Skeleton Crew is “Stephen King at his best” (The Denver Post)—a terrifying, mesmerizing collection of stories from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time.King is best known for his iconic, immersive long novels, but he...

Hold tight. We are going into a number of dark places, but I think I know the way. Just don't let go of my arm . . .Unrivalled master of suspense Stephen King takes the unsuspecting reader on a fantastic journey through the dark shadows of our innermost fears.Do the dead sing?In this bumper collection of chilling tales, which includes the brilliant story adapted into the acclaimed movie The Mist, we meet: a woman who has never crossed The Reach, th...

By turns funny, moving, romantic and surreal, and filled with unexpected twists and turns, each of the tales on this lineup has a magical element.Andrew Lam's "The Palmist", performed by James Naughton. A chance encounter on a bus between a fortune-teller and a teenage boy.W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw", performed by John Lithgow. A wonderful ghost story about a trinket with terrible powers.Saki's "The Occasional Garden", performed by Daniel Gerroll. If ...

Laughter and wedding bells ring as Jan Karon takes her millions of fans back in time to the most cherished event in Mitford!Mitford's Lord's Chapel seats barely two hundred souls, yet millions of Jan Karon's fans will be there for the most joyful event in years: the wedding of Father Tim Kavanagh and Cynthia Coppersmith. Here at last is A Common Life, and the long-awaited answers to these deeply probing questions: Will Father Tim fall apart when he...

Count 'em–a dozen carrot topped, freckle-faced kids. Dad, a jovial optimist, successful inventor and efficiency expert is fond of doing his work at home. Mom, a psychologist, is busy putting everything she knows into practice.Listen along and discover the strange things that happen when Dad's experiments run awry…how Frank Jr. gets left behind at a roadside restaurant…how the whole clan has their tonsils out en masse…experience a first date with Dad in the backseat, or treeing a pe...

The earthy humor and the powerful emotional impact that set McMurtry's Terms of Endearment apart from other novels now rise to brilliant new heights with The Evening Star.McMurtry takes us deep into the heart of Texas, and deep into the heart of one of the most memorable characters of our time, Aurora Greenway—along with her family, friends, and lovers—in a tale of affectionate wit, bittersweet tenderness, and the unexpected turns that life can ta...

Help your children develop moral character with this updated, 30th anniversary edition of the perennial classic The Book of Virtues.Almost 3 million copies of the Book of Virtues have been sold since it was published in 1993. It is one of the most popular moral primers ever written, an inspiring anthology that helps children understand and develop character—and helps parents teach it to them. Thirty years ago, readers thought that the tim...

"Masterful...A big story about human connection and emotional survival" - Los Angeles TimesThe first book ever chosen by Oprah's Book ClubFew first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful story—a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nig...

In this collection of heartfelt and involving vignettes, Anne Rivers Siddons, the beloved best-selling author of Downtown, Hill Towns, and Colony, offers a stirring and insightful look at our everyday world and how one woman has chosen to live in it. Moving from memories of her gentle grandfather to her uncanny ability to attract stray animals, Siddons' intimate stories of her family are graced with the same poetic lilt and vibrant detail that have so wonderfully...

Sara Linton, medical examiner in the small town of Heartsdale, is called out to an apparent suicide on the local college campus. The mutilated body provides little in the way of clues - and the college authorities are keen to avoid a scandal - but for Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, things don't add up.Two more suspicious suicides follow, and a young woman is brutally attacked. For Sara, the violence strikes far too close to home. And as Jeffrey pursues the sadistic killer,...