Thoughtful and affirming, this collection of essays about the joys and struggles of being alone illuminates an experience that is rarely openly discussed. Includes essays from Lev Grossman, Jhumpa Lahiri, Lena Dunham, Jesmyn Ward, Yiyun Li, Anthony Doerr and others.

There are run-of-the-mill eccentric Californians, and then there's former detective Charlie Waldo. Waldo, a onetime LAPD superstar, now lives in solitude deep in the woods, pathologically committed to owning no more than one hundred possessions. He has left behind his career and his girlfriend, Lorena, to pay self-imposed penance for an awful misstep on an old murder case. But the old ghosts are about to come roaring back. There are plenty of difficult...

"From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a shocking and tender novel about a young woman's efforts to sustain a state of deep hibernation over the course of a year on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her...

When Ruby Raccoon wants to share a perfectly sunny day with her busy woodland friends, she discovers that perfect days can be spent all by yourself.

A memoir by an award-winning poet describes her retreats to a primitive mountain cabin to write in solitude and find answers to life's big questions, describing how a fire forced her to reconcile her conflicting needs for isolation and community.

"As the eldest child in a large family, Pauline struggles to find her niche, and she longs for peace and quiet -- a charming graphic novel. Pauline lives with her mother, father, little brother and sister, and there's a new baby on the way. Her friends tell her she's lucky to be the eldest -- she's the one who gets new clothes and can stay up late -- but Pauline isn't so sure. In her busy, crowded, noisy house, she never knows what she's supposed...

Tom Segura is known for his twisted takes and irreverent comedic voice, but after a few busy years of work and parenting, he just wants to hide from everything. A collection of hilarious tales to make anyone want some peace and quiet.

Spirituality is meant to bring about harmony and peace. But the diversity of our philosophies, beliefs, concepts, and views about the soul often leads to confusion. To reconcile the noise that clouds spirituality, Michael Singer combines accounts of his own life journey to enlightenment - from his years as a hippie-loner to his success as a computer program engineer and to his work in spiritual and humanitarian efforts - with lessons on how to put...

"A wise, passionate account of the pleasures of traveling solo In our increasingly frantic daily lives, many people are genuinely fearful of the prospect of solitude, but time alone can be both rich and restorative, especially when traveling. Through on-the-ground reporting and recounting the experiences of artists, writers, and innovators who cherished solitude, Stephanie Rosenbloom considers how being alone as a traveler--and even in one's own city--is...