A Popular Books
A Biography & Facts
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is a (pronounced AY), plural aes. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey ⟨a⟩ and single-storey ⟨ɑ⟩. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, a is the indefinite article, with the alternative form an. Name In English, the name of the letter is the long A sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest known ancestor of "A" is aleph—the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, also written 'aleph—where it represented a glottal stop [ʔ], as Phoenician only used consonantal letters. In turn, the ancestor of aleph may have been a pictogram of an ox head in proto-Sinaitic script influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphs, styled as a triangular head with two horns extended. When the ancient Greeks adopted the alphabet, they had no use for a letter representing a glottal stop—so they adapted sign to represent the vowel /a/, calling the letter by the similar name alpha. In the earliest Greek inscriptions dating to the 8th century BC following the Greek Dark Ages, the letter rests upon its side. However, in the later Greek alphabet it generally resembles the modern capital form—though many local varieties can be distinguished by the shortening of one leg, or by the angle at which the cross line is set. The Etruscans brought the Greek alphabet to the Italian Peninsula, and left the form of alpha unchanged. When the Romans adopted the Etruscan alphabet to write Latin, the resulting form used in the Latin script would come to be used to write many other languages, including English. Typographic variants During Roman times, there were many variant forms of the letter A. First was the monumental or lapidary style, which was used when inscribing on stone or other more permanent media. There was also a cursive style used for everyday or utilitarian writing, which was done on more perishable surfaces. Due to the perishable nature of these surfaces, there are not as many examples of this style as there are of the monumental, but there are still many surviving examples of different types of cursive, such as majuscule cursive, minuscule cursive, and semi-cursive minuscule. Variants also existed that were intermediate between the monumental and cursive styles. The known variants include the early semi-uncial, the uncial, and the later semi-uncial. At the end of the Roman Empire (5th century AD), several variants of the cursive minuscule developed through Western Europe. Among these were the semi-cursive minuscule of Italy, the Merovingian script in France, the Visigothic script in Spain, and the Insular or Anglo-Irish semi-uncial or Anglo-Saxon majuscule of Great Britain. By the ninth century, the Caroline script, which was very similar to the present-day form, was the principal form used in book-making, before the advent of the printing press. This form was derived through a combining of prior forms. 15th-century Italy saw the formation of the two main variants that are known today. These variants, the Italic and Roman forms, were derived from the Caroline Script version. The Italic form ⟨ɑ⟩, also called script a, is often used in handwriting; it consists of a circle with a vertical stroke on its right. In the hands of medieval Irish and English writers, this form gradually developed from a 5th-century form resembling the Greek letter tau ⟨τ⟩. The Roman form ⟨a⟩ is found in most printed material, and consists of a small loop with an arc over it. Both derive from the majuscule form ⟨A⟩. In Greek handwriting, it was common to join the left leg and horizontal stroke into a single loop, as demonstrated by the uncial version shown. Many fonts then made the right leg vertical. In some of these, the serif that began the right leg stroke developed into an arc, resulting in the printed form, while in others it was dropped, resulting in the modern handwritten form. Graphic designers refer to the Italic and Roman forms as single-decker a and double decker a respectively. Italic type is commonly used to mark emphasis or more generally to distinguish one part of a text from the rest set in Roman type. There are some other cases aside from italic type where script a ⟨ɑ⟩, also called Latin alpha, is used in contrast with Latin ⟨a⟩, such as in the International Phonetic Alphabet. Use in writing systems English In modern English orthography, the letter ⟨a⟩ represents at least seven different vowel sounds, here represented using the vowels of Received Pronunciation, with effects of ⟨r⟩ ignored and mergers in General American mentioned where relevant: the near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/ as in pad the open back unrounded vowel /ɑː/ as in father—merged with /ɒ/ as /ɑ/ in General American—which is closer to its original Latin and Greek sound the open back rounded vowel /ɒ/ (merged with /ɑː/ as /ɑ/ in General American) in was and what the open-mid back rounded vowel /ɔː/ in water the diphthong /eɪ/ as in ace and major, usually when ⟨a⟩ is followed by one, or occasionally two, consonants and then another vowel letter—this results from Middle English lengthening followed by the Great Vowel Shift a schwa /ə/ in many unstressed syllables, as in about, comma, solar The double ⟨aa⟩ sequence does not occur in native English words, but is found in some words derived from foreign languages such as Aaron and aardvark. However, ⟨a⟩ occurs in many common digraphs, all with their own sound or sounds, particularly ⟨ai⟩, ⟨au⟩, ⟨aw⟩, ⟨ay⟩, ⟨ea⟩ and ⟨oa⟩. ⟨a⟩ is the third-most-commonly used letter in English after ⟨e⟩ and ⟨t⟩, as well as in French; it is the second most common in Spanish, and the most common in Portuguese. ⟨a⟩ represents approximately 8.2% of letters as used in English texts; the figure is around 7.6% in French 11.5% in Spanish, and 14.6% in Portuguese. Other languages In most languages that use the Latin alphabet, ⟨a⟩ denotes an open unrounded vowel, such as /a/, /ä/, or /ɑ/. An exception is Saanich, in which ⟨a⟩—and the glyph ⟨Á⟩—stands for a close-mid front unrounded vowel /e/. Other systems In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨a⟩ is used for the open front unrounded vowel, ⟨ä⟩ is used for the open central unrounded vowel, and ⟨ɑ⟩ is used for the open back unrounded vowel. In X-SAMPA, ⟨a⟩ is used for the open front unrounded vowel and ⟨A⟩ is used for the open back unrounded vowel. Other uses When using base-16 notation, ⟨A⟩ is conventionally used as the numeral corresponding to the number 10 in decimal. .... Discover the A popular books. Find the top 100 most popular A books.
Best Seller A Books of 2024
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The A Song of Ice and Fire Series
George R.R. MartinFor the first time, all five novels in the epic fantasy series that inspired HBO’s Game of Thrones are together in one eBook bundle. An immersive entertainment experience unlike an...
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A Study in Scarlet
Arthur Conan DoyleA Study in Scarlet is a detective mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing his new character of Sherlock Holmes, who later became one of the most famous literar...
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A Job From Hell
Jayde ScottEnter a world of forbidden love, rituals, dark magic and ancient enemies... Amber enters the paranormal world by chance when her brother sets her up with a summer job in Scot...
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A Dark Kiss of Rapture
Sylvia DayOf all the Fallen, Raze’s hungers are some of the darkest and most insatiable. His brazen seductions cost him his wings, leaving him soulless and immortal, the most dangerous of se...
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925 Ideas to Help You Save Money, Get Out of Debt and Retire A Millionaire So You Can Leave Your Mark on the World
Devin Thorpe925 Ideas to Help You Save Money, Get Out of Debt and Retire A Millionaire So You Can Leave Your Mark on the World from the author of the highly acclaimed book, Your Mark on the Wo...
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A Very Wimpy Kid
Lee IvoryIn the small town of Rocking Creek, the story of one boy's unforgettable summer is spelled out in a collection of his journal entries. The story follows Brandon, a boy that has bee...
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A Harmless Little Game
Meli RaineFour years ago I lost my virginity on live, streaming television. Too bad I wasn’t awake for it. The video went viral. Of course it would. A Senator’s daughter on camera? Wouldn’t ...
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Jeff KinneyBoys don't keep diariesor do they? The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate to. ...
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A Taste of Irrationality
Dr. Dan ArielySample chapters from Predictably Irrational and Upside of Irrationality. Predictably IrrationalWhy do our headaches persist after we take a onecent aspirin but disappear when we ta...
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A Little Bit of Everything For Dummies
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Twenty years ago the very first For Dummies book, DOS For Dummies, was published. From that first printing of that first book came a series unlike anything in the publishing world,...
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A Game of Thrones
George R.R. MartinNOW THE ACCLAIMED HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONESTHE MASTERPIECE THAT BECAME A CULTURAL PHENOMENON Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost o...
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A Stolen Life
Jaycee DugardIn the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I ...
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Become A Better Version of Yourself
Ben LeightonThis ebook contains golden nuggets on how to motivate, inspire and improve your current situation. It encompasses the holistic view of self improvement from mental& emotional w...
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A Gentleman in Moscow
Amor TowlesThe megabestseller with more than 2 million readerssoon to be a Showtime/Paramount+ series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander RostovFrom the #1 New York Timesbestselling aut...
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A Christmas Carol
Charles DickensThis Top Five Classics edition of Dickens’s immortal classic, A Christmas Carol, includes the original color illustrations by John Leech, as well as another 20 woodcut engravings b...
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A Court of Wings and Ruin
Sarah J. MaasThe epic third novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather informati...
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A Cold Dark Place
Toni AndersonRead this awardwinning novel from a New York Times bestselling author with over four thousand 5star reviews on Goodreads! FBI agent Mallory Rooney spent the last eighteen year...
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A Storm of Swords
George R.R. MartinTHE BOOK BEHIND THE THIRD SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES, AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO.Here is the third volume in George R. R. Martin’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes ...
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A Pocket Dictionary
William RichardsThis book is a WelshEnglish dictionary containing 27,296 word entries. Each Welsh word is given its parts of speech, English equivalence and description.
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky“A timeless story for every young person who needs to understand that they are not alone.” Judy Blume“Once in a while, a novel comes along that becomes a generational touchstone. T...
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A Dance with Dragons
George R.R. Martin#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK FIVE In the aftermath of a colossal battle, Daenerys Targaryen rules with her three dragons as queen of a c...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Charles DickensThe novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralised by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by th...
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A Court of Mist and Fury
Sarah J. MaasThe seductive and stunning #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Sarah J. Maas's spellbinding A Court of Thorns and Roses. Feyre has undergone more trials than one human wom...
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Fat Cat Finds a Home
Michelle SmithAfter ten years of love from her previous owner, poor Fat Cat finds herself alone and looking for a new home. Will she ever leave the adoption shelter? Even at ten years old, Fat C...
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper LeeVoted America's BestLoved Novel in PBS's The Great American ReadHarper Lee's Pulitzer Prizewinning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep Southand the heroism of one man in ...
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Hostile Witness, a Josie Bates Thriller
Rebecca ForsterWhen sixteenyearold Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, a California Supreme Court justice, her distraught mother turns to once infamous defense atto...
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A Clash of Kings
George R.R. MartinTHE BOOK BEHIND THE SECOND SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES, AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO. A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK TWO In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones, Geo...
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A Husband for Margaret
Ruth Ann NordinWhen Margaret Williams posted an ad for a husband, she expected Paul Connealy to arrive, but instead, his older brother, Joseph, came...and he brought four children with him.
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How to Start a Business
Jason Nazar & Rochelle BailisReady to start a business, but don't know where to begin? Let Jason Nazar, a CEO who grew his small startup into a profitable company with almost 50 employees, walk you through bui...
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A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. MaasThe sexy, actionpacked first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series from Sarah J. Maas. When nineteenyearold huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the...
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A Bride for Tom
Ruth Ann NordinTom Larson is having trouble finding a wife, and Jessica Reynolds decides to help him overcome his awkward and clumsy manners so he can attract women. (This has been updated to inc...
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A Feast for Crows
George R.R. MartinTHE BOOK BEHIND THE FOURTH SEASON OF THE ACCLAIMED HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONESFew books have captivated the imagination and won the devotion and praise of readers and critics everyw...