Serif Press

Something to read.

  • I Want It to Happen, by Samuel Hazo

    Order at Amazon.

    Samuel Hazo is a legend in the world of poetry, and now he brings us a novel put together with a poet’s care, each sentence honed and crafted until the craft is completely invisible.

    I Want It to Happen is a romance—but much more than just a romance. The plot is simple. When Halleluiah Quinn met Tonio Vargas, they knew this was forever. But when her doctor gives her a fifty-fifty chance of survival, Halleluiah has to learn just how much forever she can pack into right now. Two completely different styles of narration weave the tale and introduce us to characters who seem to live right in front of us.

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  • The Invention of Zero, by Mike Aquilina

    The Invention of Zero
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    You know Mike Aquilina from his TV shows on EWTN, from his bestselling books on the Church Fathers, from his podcasts, from his radio appearances. But do you know Mike Aquilina the poet? The Invention of Zero is a collection of splendidly humorous poems in a glittering variety of forms. If you thought about the structures of these poems, you would be dazzled by their technical brilliance. But you’ll probably be enjoying yourself too much to think about technique. This is poetry doing what poetry does best—making us laugh, making us think, making us feel and remember.

    Order The Invention of Zero at Amazon.

  • An Ancient Roman Bathroom Book

    The Various History of Aelian
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    A collection of stories, legends, and snappy comebacks preserved for us by one of the most entertaining companions among ancient writers. It’s a long and rambling conversation with an ancient Roman whose mind is full of trivia, and who knows how to make those trivia as interesting to us as they are to him.

    I am told there is a Law at Thebes, which commands Artificers, both Painters and Potters, to make the Figures as good as may be. This Law menaceth to those who mould or paint them not well a pecuniary mulct.

    Socrates being very old fell sick; and one asking him how he did, “Well, saith he, both waies: for if I live longer, I shall have more Emulators; if I die, more Praisers.”

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  • Good Books
    That Feel Good to Read

    See the complete collection of Serif Classics—good books in tastefully designed inexpensive editions meant to be a pleasure to read.

  • You’ll Want to Quote The Miscellaneous Chesterton

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    Chesterton was always Chesterton. No matter where he was writing or what the subject, his mind ranged over the whole universe of thought. These occasional pieces are as filled with his eccentric but provoking wisdom as any of his more famous writings, and they have this great advantage: you probably haven’t read them yet.

    A great drama of the past does not consist of one sincerity. A great drama consists often of twenty sincerities, all colliding with each other.

    A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching.

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  • Euripides and His Age: a Book About Everything

    Euripides and His Age
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    A book about Euripides? Yes, but it’s much more than that. Far from a dry academic study, this is one of the most riveting books you’ll ever read. With remarkable insight, Gilbert Murray traces the history of all our most important human ideas—democracy, patriotism, war, hate, forgiveness—and shows how Euripides filters them all through his towering genius. This is a book you’ll read again and again, a book you’ll quote to friends, a book you’ll keep with you for the rest of your life.

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  • The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart

    The Man in Lower Ten
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    A ruthless criminal who will stop at nothing to squash the evidence against him. A beautiful woman with a mysterious secret. A doomed express train. A murdered man in a sleeping compartment. An amateur detective up on all the latest inductive methods. And a hero who looks for all the world like a murderer.

    You can rely on these ingredients to produce first-rate entertainment, and you can rely on Mary Roberts Rinehart, the queen of American mystery writers, to make the best use of her ingredients.

    The Man in Lower Ten at Amazon.com.

  • A Great Saint, a Great Translation

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    The Douay Bible was Bishop Challoner’s most famous work: he revised the stilted language of the 1600s original to produce the beautiful and mem­orable English version beloved by gene­ra­tions of Catholics.

    Challoner applied the same genius for straight­forward dignity to his transla­tion of the most famous work of Christian litera­ture outside the Bible. In Challoner’s mem­orable prose, St. Augustine of Hippo comes alive on the page, speaking to us across the centuries.

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  • Anti-Pamela by Eliza Haywood

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    Young gentleman, have you found a perfectly innocent young lady who seems like your ideal choice for a wife? Let Mrs. Haywood show you what really goes on in the little vixen’s head.

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