Originally published in 1889, this work's protagonist Andrea Sperelli introduced the Italian culture to aestheticism and a taste for decadence. The young count seeks beauty, despises the bourgeois world, and rejects the basic rules of morality and social interaction. His corruption is evident in his sadistic superimposing of two women.

"The Child of Pleasure" is a prose novel by the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio and is very poetic. Written simultaneously with Wild's Dorian Gray, the story is very close in spirit to it. It tells of a young and beautiful dandy and seducer Andrea Sperelli. His numerous love affairs develop alongside his romance with the diabolic femme fatale Elena Muti. Like Dorian Gray, Andrea falls because of his sins. He finds the way out of the disaster thanks to his new affection for a pure and spiritual girl. But did he manage to forget Elena?

The Child of Pleasure (1889) is a novel by Gabriele D’Annunzio. The first in a series of three novels exploring the lives of the Italian bourgeoisie, The Child of Pleasure marked a shift in D’Annunzio’s early writing, which consisted of poems in the Symbolist tradition. Considered a central text of Italian Decadentism, the novel has earned comparisons to the work of Oscar Wilde and Joris-Karl Huysmans. “The next evening, he arrived at the palace a few minutes earlier than usual, with a wonderful gardenia in his button-hole and a vague uneasiness in his mind. His coupé had to stop in front of the entrance, the portico being occupied by another carriage, from which a lady was alighting. The liveries, the horses, the ceremonial which accompanied her arrival all proclaimed a great position. The Count caught a glimpse of a tall and graceful figure, a scintillation of diamonds in dark hair and a slender foot on the step.” From his home at the Palazzo Zuccari, Andrea Sperelli leads a life in pursuit of beauty, pleasure, and women. When an ex-lover returns to Rome following the breakdown of her marriage, he loses interest in his numerous affairs and longs to regain her love. But the past proves difficult to forget, the memories of betrayal and unhappiness no less painful after so many years apart. Wounded in a duel, Andrea is taken to a rural village to recuperate. There, he meets the beautiful Maria, who seems to promise a life of love and friendship. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Gabriele D’Annunzio’s The Child of Pleasure is a classic work of Italian literature reimagined for modern readers.

Starting with Bad Behavior in the 1980s, Mary Gaitskill has been writing about gender relations with searing, even prophetic honesty. In This Is Pleasure, she considers our present moment through the lens of a particular #MeToo incident. The effervescent, well-dressed Quin, a successful book editor and fixture on the New York arts scene, has been accused of repeated unforgivable transgressions toward women in his orbit. But are they unforgivable? And who has the right to forgive him? To Quin’s friend Margot, the wrongdoing is less clear. Alternating Quin’s and Margot’s voices and perspectives, Gaitskill creates a nuanced tragicomedy, one that reveals her characters as whole persons—hurtful and hurting, infuriating and touching, and always deeply recognizable. Gaitskill has said that fiction is the only way that she could approach this subject because it is too emotionally faceted to treat in the more rational essay form. Her compliment to her characters—and to her readers—is that they are unvarnished and real. Her belief in our ability to understand them, even when we don’t always admire them, is a gesture of humanity from one of our greatest contemporary writers.

Reading for pleasure urgently requires a higher profile to raise attainment and increase children’s engagement as self-motivated and socially interactive readers. Building Communities of Engaged Readers highlights the concept of ‘Reading Teachers’ who are not only knowledgeable about texts for children, but are aware of their own reading identities and prepared to share their enthusiasm and understanding of what being a reader means. Sharing the processes of reading with young readers is an innovative approach to developing new generations of readers. Examining the interplay between the ‘will and the skill’ to read, the book distinctively details a reading for pleasure pedagogy and demonstrates that reader engagement is strongly influenced by relationships between children, teachers, families and communities. Importantly it provides compelling evidence that reciprocal reading communities in school encompass: a shared concept of what it means to be a reader in the 21st century; considerable teacher and child knowledge of children’s literature and other texts; pedagogic practices which acknowledge and develop diverse reader identities; spontaneous ‘inside-text talk’ on the part of all members; a shift in the focus of control and new social spaces that encourage choice and children’s rights as readers. Written by experts in the literacy field and illustrated throughout with examples from the project schools, it is essential reading for all those concerned with improving young people’s enjoyment of and attainment in reading.

Seeking revenge against the noble family who betrayed him, bastard warlord Godric Montgomery abducts the woman he was once promised, making her his captive--body and soul. Original.

From the bestselling author of Shopgirl comes the tender story of a troubled man who finds love, and life, in the most unexpected place. Daniel resides in his Santa Monica apartment, living much of his life as a bystander: He watches from his window as the world goes by, and his only relationships seem to be with people who barely know he exists. He passes the time idly filling out contest applications, counting ceiling tiles, and estimating the wattage of light bulbs. It is through Daniel's growing attachment to Clarissa, and to Teddy, that he finally gains the courage to begin to engage the world outside, and in doing so, he discovers love, and life, in the most surprising places. Filled with his trademark humor, tenderness, and out and out hilarious wordplay, The Pleasure of My Company is a tour de force sure to delight all of Steve Martin's fans.