Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling novelist Jane Smiley celebrates the noveland takes us on an exhilarating tour through one hundred of themin this seductive and immensely rewarding literary tribute.In her inimitable styleexuberant, candid, opinionatedSmiley explores the power of the novel, looking at its history and variety, its cultural impact, and just how it works its magic. She invites us behind the scenes of novel-writing, sharing her own habits and spilling the secrets of her craft. And she offers priceless advice to aspiring authors. As she works her way through one hundred novelsfrom classics such as the thousand-year-old Tale of Genji to recent fiction by Zadie Smith and Alice Munroshe infects us anew with the passion for reading that is the governing spirit of this gift to book lovers everywhere.From the Trade Paperback edition.