Stay Awake

A murder she doesn’t remember committing. A killer she doesn’t remember meeting. Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that proves memory can be deadly. Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she’s dropped off at the door of her brownstone, a stranger answers—a stranger who claims to live in her apartment. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing. In its place is a bloodstained knife. Her hands are covered in scribbled messages, like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE. Two years ago, Liv was thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, she’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, similar to the message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget—permanently. A complex thriller that unfolds at a breakneck speed, Stay Awake will keep you up all night.

Jesus asked his followers to stay awake, which begs the question: stay awake to what? Staying Awake is a practical exploration of Christianity for people who want to show up for justice and stay in the movement. Complete with stories, worksheets, poetry, illustrations, and a commitment to centering queer people of color, this book is here to support you in staying awake: to God, to the evils of oppression, and the world’s coming liberation.

Sally is sleepy and ready to go to bed but her parents want her to stay up and play with them.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • San Francisco Chronicle Before the critically acclaimed novels Await Your Reply and You Remind Me of Me, Dan Chaon made a name for himself as a renowned writer of dazzling short stories. Now, in Stay Awake, Chaon returns to that form for the first time since his masterly Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award. In these haunting, suspenseful stories, lost, fragile, searching characters wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection—and find themselves in unexpected, dire, and sometimes unfathomable situations. A father’s life is upended by his son’s night terrors—and disturbing memories of the first wife and child he abandoned; a foster child receives a call from the past and begins to remember his birth mother, whose actions were unthinkable; a divorced woman experiences her own dark version of “empty-nest syndrome”; a young widower is unnerved by the sudden, inexplicable appearances of messages and notes—on dollar bills, inside a magazine, stapled to the side of a tree; and a college dropout begins to suspect that there’s something off, something sinister, in his late parents’ house. Dan Chaon’s stories feature scattered families, unfulfilled dreamers, anxious souls. They exist in a twilight realm—in a place by the window late at night when the streets are empty and the world appears to be quiet. But you are up, unable to sleep. So you stay awake. Praise for Stay Awake “Eerily beautiful . . . [Chaon] is the modern day John Cheever.”—Boston Sunday Globe “Powerful and disturbing . . . The shocks in this collection are many.”—The Washington Post “Chaon is able to create fully realized characters in mere pages. . . . This collection is further proof that Chaon is one of the best fiction writers working right now.”—Omaha World-Herald “There are not many fiction writers who can do what Dan Chaon can do. . . . [He is] a literary force.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Intense and suspenseful . . . a highly recommended work, not to be missed.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Mesmerizing . . . gripping, masterful fiction.”—The Plain Dealer “Superbly disquieting.”—The New York Times Book Review Don’t miss the exclusive conversation between Dan Chaon and Emma Straub at the back of the book.

At bedtime, Stella must find a way to make her toys fall asleep before she can go to sleep.

“Eerily beautiful . . . [Chaon] is the modern day John Cheever.”—Boston Sunday Globe “Powerful and disturbing . . . The shocks in this collection are many.”—The Washington Post These haunting, suspenseful stories by acclaimed author Dan Chaon feature scattered families, unfulfilled dreamers, anxious souls—lost, fragile, searching characters who wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection—and exist in a twilight realm, in a place by the window late at night when the streets are empty and the world appears to be quiet. But it is not, and neither are you. And since you cannot sleep, you stay awake. “Chaon is able to create fully realized characters in mere pages. . . . This collection is further proof that Chaon is one of the best fiction writers working right now.”—Omaha World-Herald “There are not many fiction writers who can do what Dan Chaon can do. . . . [He is] a literary force.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Intense and suspenseful . . . a highly recommended work, not to be missed.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Mesmerizing . . . gripping, masterful fiction.”—The Plain Dealer “Superbly disquieting.”—The New York Times Book Review Don’t miss the exclusive conversation between Dan Chaon and Emma Straub at the back of the book. Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

When Jake can't sleep his parents allow him to climb into bed with them. Now they can't sleep. Something must be done.

Want to stay awake late at night? Wish you could overtake sleep because you have to work or study? The day seems too long and boring, while your eyelids feel heavier and heavier? In this book, you will find several ideas, quite helpful against the occasional drowsiness, simple and yet powerful enough to defeat Hypnos - the God of Sleep! Stay Awake and be creative!