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Jackie Collins at her home in Beverly Hills, California in 1995.

Before there was 'Sex and the City' or 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' Jackie Collins was delivering unapologetically raunchy tales of glamour and seduction with a treasure trove of erotic novels.

Kristy Puchko
Authors Khaled Hosseini (left), Ralph Ellison (top center), Octavia E. Butler (bottom center), and Toni Morrison (right).

As recent graduates start exploring the job market, they should take comfort in the fact that these noteworthy authors—featured in Mental Floss’s new book, 'The Curious Reader: A Literary Miscellany of Novels and Novelists,' out now—took a sometimes windi

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Erin McCarthy

Daniel Keyes’s 'Flowers for Algernon' is a poignant science-fiction novella that has won critical acclaim and popularity around the globe.

Kristy Puchko




Photo by Erin McCarthy

Bette Greene’s 1973 debut novel, about a 12-year-old Jewish girl in rural Arkansas who befriends a German prisoner of war in the early 1940s, was embraced by critics and readers alike, and it’s still a mainstay on school reading lists.

April Snellings




You might be surprised to find out that the author of Harriet the Spy called her protagonist “a nasty little girl who keeps a notebook on all of her friends.”

Here are a few facts about author Louise Fitzhugh's 1964 novel 'Harriet the Spy' that we scribbled in our notebook. (DO NOT share with anyone.)

Stacy Conradt
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Today, 'Maniac Magee' is a beloved modern classic and a fixture on school reading lists—but when Jerry Spinelli initially turned in the manuscript, he didn’t think he was onto anything special.

April Snellings








Amazon

If you want to further explore the breadth and depth of Asian cuisine and culture during AAPI Heritage Month, these 10 cookbooks from a range of authors aim to enlighten.

Sarah Kim
Gallery Books via Amazon

'Flowers in the Attic,' V.C. Andrews's debut novel, was a Gothic gateway for many a young romance reader. And the numerous reviews that deemed the incestuous plot scandalous and shocking only enticed readers more.

Stacy Conradt








Your favorite authors got support, words of wisdom, and sometimes tough love from their moms.

Ahead of Mother’s Day, read up on the women who provided support, inspiration, words of wisdom, and tough love to some of your favorite novelists, as seen in Mental Floss’s new book, 'The Curious Reader: A Literary Miscellany of Novels & Novelists,' out M

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Anton Smirnov/iStock via Getty Images

Clocking in at 1.3 million words and 9.6 million characters, Marcel Proust's novel 'In Search of Lost Time' is the world's longest book, according to Guinness World Records.

Michele Debczak