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Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

North America

• USA
• Canada

• 

  The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  Refreshing, quietly philosophical fiction from the occasionally bleak Cormac McCarthy. The Border Trilogy tells the story of two young boys from the Mexican border and their gradual coming of age in this silent, searing, rocky landscape.

• 

  Coastal California by Lonely Planet

  Price: £14.99    Add to Basket

  A backpacker's guide to the coast, including approximately 30 pages on Los Angeles and 40 pages on San Francisco. Good for basic practical information but lacking on cultural and historical detail.

• 

  Washington DC by Eyewitness

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  A walking, sightseer's guide with plenty of colour photographs, bird's eye graphics of sights and attractions and cultural background information. Less useful as a practical guide for the traveller on a budget.

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  Hateship, friendship, courtship, loveship, marriage by Alice Munro

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  One of the most exciting contemporary short story writers, Canadian Alice Munro writes with deadly accuracy and occasional cruelty. Contains the story The Bear Came Over the Mountain about a woman with Alzheimer's, which was made into a film with Julie Christie. Highly recommended.

• 

  Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn by Paul Watkins

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  The coast of New England: beautiful but savage, where storms can whip up out of nowhere, and the wrecks can wash up on the beach. James Pfeiffer, a young collage dropout, is baptised into the grueling world of the trawler boats, where he discovers the thrill and terror of life at sea.

  Paul Watkins's gripping novel tells the brutal story of life on the trawlers, the danger, the comradeship and the secrets buried deep beneath the surface.

  'Watkins combines the open-eyed wonder of a boy being baptised into a man's maritime world ... with the sea-hunter's mysticism of Moby Dick' - Observer.

• 

  A Dance of Folly and Pleasure by O. Henry

  Price: £8.00    Add to Basket

  Step into the boarding houses and furnished rooms of New York City, or take a stroll around the park. Observe the tumult and glitter of Broadway on a Saturday night, and browse the silken stockings in Manhattan’s most exclusive store. Hop onto the Coney Island ferry to join the lovesick shop-girl, the drunken down-and-out and the secret millionaire in the city's dance of folly and pleasure.

  O. Henry is now regarded as one of the pre-eminent masters of the short story form, as the eponymous award created after his death testifies. A bank teller, embezzler, jailbird and finally an author, he died in 1910 with a catalogue of 600 stories to his name.
  Click here to read the first story.
  

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  Social Animal by David Brooks

  Price: £14.99    Add to Basket

  An enticing, entertaining explanation of how and why humans function. The author explores the unconscious mind and its influence on emotion, intuition, bias and longing.

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  The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  In the late nineties Bill Bryson undertook a 14,000 mile journey across his rejected home land. With wit and sensitivity, he brings to life the culture of small town America. One of the funniest and most acutely observed of all of Bryson's books.

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  Frost / Nixon by Sir David Frost

  Price: £11.99    Add to Basket

  Sir David Frost's behind-the-scenes account of his pursuit of Richard Nixon. A thrilling moment in American history.

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  The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  A thrilling, rigorous and astonishing account of the events leading to the destruction of the twin towers. Was selected by The Economist as the Book of the Year.

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  The New York MapGuide by Penguin

  Price: £5.99    Add to Basket

  An excellent, brief guide to New York containing clear maps marked with sites and attractions, detailed plans of the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Gardens and notes on major museums, shopping and historical background. Highly recommended.

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  New York by Blue Guide

  Price: £14.95    Add to Basket

  Head and shoulders above the rest on cultural information, this guide includes a few recommendations for hotels and restaurants but it is primarily a tool for those who want to get the most out of sightseeing with architectural drawing, walking tours and plenty of background detail.

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  The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Part adventure story, part snapshot of New York through the eyes of two Jewish boys in the 1940s and 1950s and part insight into the world of comic books from the excellent Michael Chabon. If you liked Glen David Gold's Carter Beats the Devil, you'll love this.

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  The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe

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  The dramatic fall from grace of the smug, Wall Street banker Sherman McCoy when a night in the Bronx leaves him facing ruin. A gripping satire on 1980s New York with all its greed, superficiality and sleaze.

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  The New York Stories of Henry James by Henry James

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  A beautifully-presented collection of Henry James's nine New York stories, including the novella Washington Square, introduced by Colm Toibin. By bringing these stories together, we get a real sense of James watching from a distance and trying to make sense of the city.

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  Lives Like Loaded Guns by Lyndall Gordon

  Price: £20.00    Add to Basket

  Gordon takes the reader beyond the myths of a pale, old, poetess and brings to life a passionate and confident woman shaped by her extraodinarily turbulent family and their relationships.

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  Boston by Time Out

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  An excellent guide to the city with both cultural and historical information and practical details for the traveller on any budget.

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  Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann & Mark Halperin

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  A riveting narrative of the 2008 campaign trail, particularly fascinating on the behind-the-scenes relationship between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

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  Deer Hunting with Jesus by Joe Bageant

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Joe Bageant, a teacher and hippie who rebelled against his southern American origins, returns to Virginia to speak on behalf of the Red Necks. He doesn't mince his words, and this tirade at the fate of desperately poor Americans, "dumber than owl shit", who are exploited and manipulated by their own government, is fascinating, passionate and hilariously funny. Highly recommended.

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  Texas by Compass Guide

  Price: £17.99    Add to Basket

  A beautifully-presented guide for the mid to upper-range traveller with gorgeous colour photographs, well-written local information on the culture and history and wonderful touches including literary extracts from local authors.

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  New Mexico by Compass Guide

  Price: £15.99    Add to Basket

  A beautifully-presented cultural, literary and visual guide to New Mexico with practical recommendations for the mid to upper-range traveller. Worth every penny and a joy to read.

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  Oil! by Upton Sinclair

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A powerful, politically indignant novel about the oil boom years of California. A self-made oil tycoon, his son and a Pentecostal preacher come to blows over the treatment of oil workers.

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  Pocket San Francisco by Lonely Planet

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  This well-researched guide for budget exploration has highlights of the city, with plenty of affordable accommodation and nightlife listed. It briefly covers the major sites, museums, restaurants, and contains a few walking tours and a useful map.

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  San Francisco by Time Out

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  An excellent city guide for the traveller on any budget that really feels like it's been written by local residents. Includes recommendations for restaurants, hotels, nightlife and attractions; also contains clear, easy-to-use street plans.

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  A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  Ostensibly a memoir, at times hilarious and at others deeply poignant, in which Dave Egger's describes his parents death and how he raised his younger brother Toph in downtown San Francisco. He jumps between fact and fiction, narration and direct speech, pointed exclusion of detail and vomiting his thoughts onto the page, in true postmodern, whimsical style; like marmite you'll either love it or hate it.