We all know that sequels can be a problem. Especially if your first novel happens to have been "Catch-22", breathtaking and one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century. Millions of copies sold and a phrase added to the language! The Big Read by the BBC ranked Catch-22 as number 11 on a web poll of the UK's best-loved book. The Observer listed Catch-22 as one of the 100 greatest... Read More
French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement Victor Marie Hugo was born in 1802 in Besançon in the eastern region of Franche-Comté. Hugo is considered to be one of the greatest and best-known French writers. He was at the forefront of the Romantic literary movement with his play Cromwell and drama Hernani. In 1831, Victor Hugo published his most famous novel, “The Hunchback of... Read More
Before Francis Scott Fitzgerald died at the age 44, he thought he was a failure. His obituaries described him as an obscure writer who never fulfilled his early promise. Twenty years later, Fitzgerald was universally recognized as one of the great literary figures of the century and The Great Gatsby was widely acclaimed as one of the greatest novels of the modern era. Tender Is the Night is the... Read More
John Ernst Steinbeck was an American author. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." During his writing career, he authored 27 books, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. Ironically he is more popular with critics abroad than in his own... Read More
John Champlin Gardner Jr. was an American novelist, essayist, literary critic and university professor. As a child, Gardner attended public school and worked on his father's farm, where, in April 1945, his younger brother Gilbert was killed in an accident with a cultipacker. Gardner, who was driving the tractor during the fatal accident, carried guilt for his brother's death throughout his life... Read More
James Patterson, in full James Brendan Patterson, Jr., is an American author, principally known for his thriller and suspense novels, whose prolific output and business savvy made him a ubiquitous presence on best-seller lists in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. By the early 1990s, Patterson had modified his approach to writing fiction, adopting a style characterized by unadorned prose,... Read More
Author Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. King is recognized as one of the most famous and successful horror writers of all time. His parents, Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King, split up when he was very young, and he and his brother David divided their time between Indiana and Connecticut for several years. King later moved back to Maine with his mother... Read More
Stephen King is a bestselling novelist who made his name in the horror and fantasy genres. By the early 1990s King’s books had sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, and his name had become synonymous with the genre of horror fiction. In Wolves of the Calla, Roland and his ka-tet, Eddie, Susannah, and Jake, are following the Path of the Beam in their quest to find the Dark Tower when they... Read More
Stephen King is a bestselling novelist who made his name in the horror and fantasy genres with books like Carrie and The Shining. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, King published a handful of short novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. After a lamentably uneventful 2012, Stephen King kicks off what looks to be an unusually huge year for fans of the master of modern pop horror with a smal... Read More
Stephen King was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. Having also published work under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, King's first horror novel, Carrie, was a huge success. Over the years, King has become known for titles that are both commercially successful and sometimes critically acclaimed. His books have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide and been adapted into numerous... Read More