{"title":"George Saunders","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain-9780593243183b","title":"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eTHE \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/span\u003e BESTSELLER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePICKED BY THE \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eSUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT, IRISH TIMES, SPECTATOR, TLS, NEW STATESMAN\u003c\/span\u003e AND \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eEVENING STANDARD\u003c\/span\u003e AS A BOOK OF 2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e-bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eLincoln in the Bardo\u003c\/span\u003e and \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eTenth of December\u003c\/span\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\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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 \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eA Swim in a Pond in the Rain\u003c\/span\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eA Swim in a Pond in the Rain\u003c\/span\u003e is 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","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42817344634960,"sku":"9780593243183B","price":16.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780593243183-l.jpg?v=1785864639"},{"product_id":"tenth-of-december-9780812984255b","title":"Tenth of December","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\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 Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders's signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWriting 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n ","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42818405072976,"sku":"9780812984255B","price":10.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780812984255-l.jpg?v=1785871504"},{"product_id":"fox-8-a-story-9781984818027b","title":"Fox 8: A Story","description":"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo, a 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFox 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTold with his distinctive blend of humor and pathos, Fox 8 showcases the extraordinary imaginative talents of George Saunders, whom The New York Times called “the writer for our time.”","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42818670690384,"sku":"9781984818027B","price":7.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781984818027-l.jpg?v=1785872751"},{"product_id":"liberation-day-9780525509592b","title":"Liberation Day","description":"The “best short-story writer in English” (Time) 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n“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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\nTogether, 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","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42819022389328,"sku":"9780525509592B","price":12.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780525509592-l.jpg?v=1785874309"},{"product_id":"in-persuasion-nation-9781594482427b","title":"In Persuasion Nation","description":"Talking candy bars, baby geniuses, disappointed mothers, castrated dogs, interned teenagers, and moral fables - all in this hilarious and heartbreaking collection from an author hailed as the heir to Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon.","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42869065973840,"sku":"9781594482427B","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781594482427-l.jpg?v=1785876761"},{"product_id":"pastoralia-9781573228725b","title":"Pastoralia","description":"Hailed by Thomas Pynchon as \"graceful, dark, authentic, and funny,\" George Saunders now surpasses his New York Times Notable Book, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, with this bestselling collection of stories set against a warped, hilarious, and terrifyingly recognizable American landscape.","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42820295721040,"sku":"9781573228725B","price":10.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781573228725-l.jpg?v=1785879197"},{"product_id":"lincoln-in-the-bardo-9780812995343b","title":"Lincoln in the Bardo","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eDua Lipa's Service 95 Book Club Pick\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003eFebruary 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state - called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo - a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42820883218512,"sku":"9780812995343B","price":13.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780812995343-l.jpg?v=1785881484"},{"product_id":"a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain-in-which-four-russians-give-a-m-9781984856036b","title":"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life","description":"For 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\nIn 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003ci\u003eA Swim in a Pond in the Rain\u003c\/i\u003e is 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","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42820918673488,"sku":"9781984856036B","price":12.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781984856036-l.jpg?v=1785881628"},{"product_id":"civilwarland-in-bad-decline-9780812987683b","title":"CivilWarLand in Bad Decline","description":"Since its publication in 1996, George Saunders's debut collection has grown in esteem from a cherished cult classic to a masterpiece of the form, inspiring an entire generation of writers along the way. In six stories and a novella, Saunders hatches an unforgettable cast of characters, each struggling to survive in an increasingly haywire world. With a new introduction by Joshua Ferris and a new author's note by Saunders himself, this edition is essential reading for those seeking to discover or revisit a virtuosic, disturbingly prescient voice.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42822981419088,"sku":"9780812987683B","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780812987683-l.jpg?v=1785890360"},{"product_id":"the-very-persistent-gappers-of-frip-9780747576112b","title":"The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eA gapper is a bit of a 'burr' but it is a dangerous thing. When it attaches itself to the goats the goats become very unhappy and even stop giving milk. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eThere is nothing gappers like more than goats and nothing goats hate more than gappers. When gappers get your goats it means trouble. In one small town gappers are a real pest and it takes the ingenious approach of Capable to find a soution - if a solution exists at all.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42824301674576,"sku":"9780747576112B","price":5.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780747576112-l.jpg?v=1785895977"},{"product_id":"the-braindead-megaphone-9781594482564b","title":"The Braindead Megaphone","description":"George Saunders's first foray into nonfiction is comprised of essays on literature, travel, and politics. At the core of this unique collection are Saunders's travel essays based on his trips to seek out the mysteries of the \"Buddha Boy\" of Nepal; to attempt to indulge in the extravagant pleasures of Dubai; and to join the exploits of the minutemen at the Mexican border. Saunders expertly navigates the works of Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, and Esther Forbes, and leads the reader across the rocky political landscape of modern America. Emblazoned with his trademark wit and singular vision, Saunders's endeavor into the art of the essay is testament to his exceptional range and ability as a writer and thinker.","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42824633942096,"sku":"9781594482564B","price":8.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781594482564-l.jpg?v=1785897405"},{"product_id":"congratulations-by-the-way-some-thoughts-on-kindness-9780812996272b","title":"Congratulations, by the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness","description":"Three months after George Saunders gave a graduation address at Syracuse University, a transcript of that speech was posted on the website of \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times,\u003c\/i\u003e where its simple, uplifting message struck a deep chord. Within days, it had been shared more than one million times. Why? Because Saunders's words tap into a desire in all of us to lead kinder, more fulfilling lives. Powerful, funny, and wise, \u003ci\u003eCongratulations, by the way\u003c\/i\u003e is an inspiring message from one of today's most influential and original writers.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42870064185424,"sku":"9780812996272B","price":8.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780812996272-l.jpg?v=1785897405"},{"product_id":"the-brief-and-frightening-reign-of-phil-9781594481529b","title":"The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil","description":"Welcome to Inner Horner, a nation so small it can only accommodate one citizen at a time. But when Inner Horner suddenly shrinks, forcing three-quarters of the citizen in residence over the border into Outer Horner territory, the Outer Hornerites declare an Invasion in Progress, having fallen under the spell of the power-hungry and demagogic Phil. So begins his brief and very frightening reign. The novella is followed by In Persuasion Nation, a collection of stories by turns touching, funny and sad, and set in a warped, hilarious yet very recognisable American landscape.\n","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42824686829648,"sku":"9781594481529B","price":8.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781594481529-l.jpg?v=1785897632"},{"product_id":"liberation-day-stories-9780525509615b","title":"Liberation Day: Stories","description":"\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 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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42826136649808,"sku":"9780525509615B","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780525509615-l.jpg?v=1785904288"},{"product_id":"lincoln-in-the-bardo-9780812985405b","title":"Lincoln in the Bardo","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eDua Lipa's Service 95 Book Club Pick\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom 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?","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42826575118416,"sku":"9780812985405B","price":11.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780812985405-l.jpg?v=1785906549"},{"product_id":"lincoln-in-the-bardo-9780525509806b","title":"Lincoln in the Bardo","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eDua Lipa's Service 95 Book Club Pick\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003eFebruary 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state - called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo - a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":43030641573968,"sku":"9780525509806B","price":12.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/en-ca\/collections\/george-saunders.oembed","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}