British comedian and actor Fry (currently appearing in Kenneth Branagh's Peter's Friends ) has written a witty first novel about the adventures of Adrian Healey, a British schoolboy and "the liar" of the title. Adrian is an amusing, if appalling, character, and readers will enjoy following him as he develops from a lovesick teenager wih a "pash" on fellow student Hugo Cartwright to a Cambridge undergraduate involved in international espionage. There are interludes along the way involving, among other things, sex, suicide, Piccadilly rent-boys, and a "lost" pornographic novel by Charles Dickens. This is a clever and entertaining novel that will appeal to Anglophiles with a twisted sense of humor.

When Stephen King originally wrote The Green Mile as a series of six novellas, he didn't even know how the story would turn out. And it turned out to be of his finest yarns, tapping into what he does best: character-driven storytelling. The setting is the small "death house" of a Southern prison in 1932. The Green Mile is the hall with a floor "the color of tired old limes" that leads to "Old Sparky" (the electric chair). The charming narrator is an old man, a prison guard, looking back on the events decades later.

This hefty sampler of King's shorter works, from all stages of the horror master's career, demonstrates the range of his abilities. Some of the stories here rank among his best, and "even the less successful ones are fun," PW observed.

This inspirational fable by Brazilian author and translator Coelho has been a runaway bestseller throughout Latin America and seems poised to achieve the same prominence here. The charming tale of Santiago, a shepherd boy, who dreams of seeing the world, is compelling in its own right, but gains resonance through the many lessons Santiago learns during his adventures. He journeys from Spain to Morocco in search of worldly success, and eventually to Egypt, where a fateful encounter with an alchemist brings him at last to self-understanding and spiritual enlightenment. The story has the comic charm, dramatic tension and psychological intensity of a fairy tale, but it's full of specific wisdom as well, about becoming self-empowered, overcoming depression, and believing in dreams. The cumulative effect is like hearing a wonderful bedtime story from an inspirational psychiatrist. Comparisons to The Little Prince are appropriate; this is a sweetly exotic tale for young and old alike.

After tales from the USA and Britain, Bill Bryson turns his roving eye to Australia, the only island that is also a continent and the only continent that is also a country. It is the driest, flattest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents. It has more things that can kill you in a very nasty way that anywhere else. Yet when Bill Bryson travelled to Australia he promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him? The people are cheerful, the cities safe and clean, the food is excellent, the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. He tries to find out why Aussies are so excited, digging up a past that reveals convicts, explorers, gold diggers and outlaws.

The beloved classic in a fresh new translation. A pilot stranded in the desert awakes one morning to see, standing before him, the most extraordinary little fellow. Please, asks the stranger, draw me a sheep. And the pilot realizes that when life's events are too difficult to understand, there is no choice but to succumb to their mysteries. He pulls out pencil and paper...And thus begins this wise and enchanting fable that, in teaching the secret of what is really important in life, has changed the world forever for its readers. Few books have been as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince.

FIRST THINGS FIRST is a revolutionary guide to managing your time by learning how to balance your life. Traditional time management suggests that working harder, smarter and faster will help you gain control of your life, and that increased control will bring peace and fulfilment. The authors of FIRST THINGS FIRST disagree. In the first real breakthrough in time management in years, Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill apply the insights of the 7 HABITS to the daily problems of people who must struggle with the ever increasing demands of work and home life. Rather than focusing on time and things, FIRST THINGS FIRST emphasises relationships and results. And instead of efficiency, this new approach emphasises effectiveness. Covey offers a principle-centred approach that will empower readers to define what is truly important, to accomplish worthwhile goals, and to lead rich, rewarding and balanced lives.