Essays Books

Book Synopsis*THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*''This book might just change your life'' Sunday Times''Wise, wonderful, moving and brilliant... will leave your heart in a much better place'' StylistAfter years of feeling that love was always out of reach, journalist Natasha Lunn set out to understand how relationships work and evolve over a lifetime. She turned to authors and experts to learn about their experiences, as well as drawing on her own, asking: How do we find love? How do we sustain it? And how do we survive when we lose it?In Conversations on Love she began to find the answers:Philippa Perry on falling in love slowlyDolly Alderton on vulnerabilityStephen Grosz on accepting changeCandice Carty-Williams on friendshipLisa Taddeo on the loneliness of lossDiana Evans on parenthoodEmily Nagoski on the science of sexAlain de Botton on the psychology of being aloneEsther Perel on unrealistic expectationsRoxane Gay on redefining romanceand many more...''This book is a love letter to love in all its forms. It will make you see that love is truly the main point of life. To connect, to grow and to learn more deeply about ourselves through the people that populate the tapestry of our time here. Either for a reason, season or a lifetime. Daisy Edgar-Jones, star of Normal People''A gorgeous, richly layered book about all forms of love. You can pick it up and turn to any page - literally any - and find a gem to soothe and fortify your soul'' Pandora Sykes, Sunday Times bestselling author of ''How Do We Know We''re Doing It Right?''''Hopeful and uplifting... this deep dive into the human heart will expand and enrich your perspective on love'' Evening Standard''I underlined passages on almost every page of this wide-ranging, tender-hearted book'' The Times, Books of the Year''Uplifting... You''ll laugh, cry and recommend it to your friends'' Refinery29''Wonderful'' Julia Samuel, bestselling author of GRIEF WORKS and THIS TOO SHALL PASS ''This eclectic and heartwarming collection explores love in all its forms, from romantic and parental love to friendship and loss'' Observer''Conversations on Love made me laugh, shed tears, think deeply. I want every person I love to read this book'' Dr Kathryn Mannix, Sunday Times bestselling author of WITH THE END IN MINDTrade ReviewThis eclectic and heartwarming collection explores love in all its forms, from romantic and parental love to friendship and loss. Interspersed with short but often deeply revealing interviews are Lunn's own experiences - of marriage and miscarriage, of being mother and daughter, wife and friend - which she portrays with sensitivity and candour. * Observer *This book might just change your life. Lunn is a diligent, purposeful guide to this most ineffable of subjects... these testimonies become a call to connect more imaginatively, expansively and courageously * Sunday Times *This deep dive into the human heart will expand and enrich your perspective on love... In recent years we've seen an explosion of content exploring relationships and sex, from Lisa Taddeo's bestseller Three Women to Esther Perel's podcast Where Should We Begin? If you're wondering whether Lunn can bring anything new to the table, the answer is a resounding yes. Balanced, hopeful and uplifting, Conversations on Love is full of tiny eureka moments * Evening Standard *A gorgeous, richly layered book about all forms of love. You can pick it up and turn to any page - literally any - and find a gem to soothe and fortify your soul -- Pandora Sykes, Sunday Times bestselling author of HOW DO WE KNOW WE'RE DOING IT RIGHT?Conversations on Love is a glorious celebration of human vulnerability and connection. It has made me laugh, shed tears, think deeply. I want every person I love to read this book -- Dr Kathryn Mannix, Sunday Times bestselling author of WITH THE END IN MINDEnthralling, profound... The power of this book lies in its willingness to engage with love in the broadest sense: not merely the romantic kind, to which so many other books on relationships confine themselves. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't benefit from reading this transformative book * The Bookseller *Sometimes you read a book that just makes you want to take the author's hands, look them in the eye and say thank you. This is that book. I needed to read it, you need to read it, everyone needs to read it -- Stacey Halls, bestselling author of THE FAMILIARSWarm and wide-ranging and wise, a wonderful companion and guide -- Cressida Connolly, author of AFTER THE PARTYOne reading of this book is not enough. Conversations on Love is inspiring, insightful, comforting and hopeful in equal measure. Every page makes you think about why we feel the way we do and gently nudges you towards self compassion. -- Rosie Green, author of HOW TO HEAL A BROKEN HEARTI've never felt such growth after reading a book - I felt seen, challenged, understood, provoked and soothed. It's such a touching reminder about the love that really is all around us, and the importance of tending to it. Conversations in Love is a study that I'll come back to again and again. -- Laura Jane Williams, author of THE LOVE SQUARE and OUR STOPNatasha Lunn is the most thoughtful interviewer I have ever encountered, with a heart as big as her brain, and these conversations are endlessly inspiring, restorative, surprising and delicious. Love is too often taken for granted: here it shines under rigorous analysis to create a manifesto of how and why we feel, and a must-read for anyone who has a heart! -- Emma Jane Unsworth, author of ANIMALSBreathtaking in its scope and breadth, Natasha Lunn combines the boundless curiosity of a researcher, the passion of a formidable writer, and the erudition of a deeply reflective thinker. She's daring and kind, and a joy to read. Conversations on Love offers us vital guidance for navigating all relationships -- Charlotte Fox Weber, founder of The School of Life PsychotherapyThis is a book that people need to read about love in its many complex, challenging, sacred and profane forms -- Jean Hannah Edelstein, author of This Really Isn't About YouThis beautiful book is essential reading. I wish I could send this book back in time and read it to every past version of myself, to teach her all the hopeful and expansive possibilities of love. I know my future self will rely on it every day. Lunn's thoughtful interviews with brilliant subjects illuminate new ways of thinking about friendship, romance, attachment and loss. Beautifully written and so acutely observed, this book is a gift -- Lucia Osborne-Crawley, author of I Choose Elena & My Body Keeps Your SecretsThis book is moving and lyrical, but more than anything it captures how love colours and transforms loss, and makes the reader feel that the memory of love is sustains in itself -- Baroness Julia NeubergerRarely has a non-fiction book made me feel so seen, but also given me so much hope about love. Conversations on Love is an incredible book - not only is it so beautifully written but the full gamut of love is represented from families to romance to parenthood to friendship -- Poorna Bell, author of STRONGERA sure-fire contender for multiple buys and gifting to pals . . . It will honestly change how you think about love, in romantic relationships or otherwise, and has the power to overhaul your life in all manner of positive ways * Living Etc *Thought-provoking, wise and reassuring * Good Housekeeping *Conversations on Love will change your perspective of connection, love, friendship, grief, and everything in between. It's the most important book I've read this year, and it may have changed the way I approach relationships forever * Her.ie *This essential read could change your perspective on relationships, offering reassurance and hope * CultureWhisper *

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Book SynopsisPuffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this legendary edition of The Odyssey. After ten years of war, Odysseus turns his back on Troy and sets sail for home. But his voyage takes another ten years and he must face many dangers - Polyphemus the greedy one-eyed giant, Scylla the six-headed sea monster and even the wrath of the gods themselves - before he is reunited with his wife and son.

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Book Synopsis''The feeling that the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world ... this prospect frightens me much more than bombs''On the 70th anniversary of George Orwell''s death, a new collection of his brilliant essays written during the Second World WarFascism and Democracy collects five brilliant examples of Orwell''s writing during the darkest days of World War Two. Grappling with the principles of democracy and the potential of reform, the meaning of literature and free speech in times of violence, and the sustainability of objective truth, Orwell offers a compelling portrayal of a nation where norms and ideals can no longer be taken for granted. Like the best of Orwell''s writing, these essays also serve as timeless reminders of the fragility of freedom.

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Book SynopsisFrom the self-described ''black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet'', these soaring, urgent essays on the power of women, poetry and anger are filled with darkness and light. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York''s underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

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Book SynopsisJoan Didion's hugely influential collection of essays which defines, for many, the America which rose from the ashes of the Sixties.We tell ourselves stories in order to live. The princess is caged in the consulate. The man with the candy will lead the children into the sea. In this now legendary journey into the hinterland of the American psyche, Didion searches for stories as the Sixties implode. She waits for Jim Morrison to show up, visits the Black Panthers in prison, parties with Janis Joplin and buys dresses with Charles Manson's girls. She and her reader emerge, cauterized, from this devastating tour of that age of self discovery into the harsh light of the morning after.Trade Review'All the essays manifest not only her intelligence but an instinct for details that continue to emit pulsations in the reader's memory, and a style that is spare, subtly musical in its phrasing, and exact. Add to this her highly vulnerable sense of herself, and the result is a voice like no other in contemporary journalism.'NEW YORK TIMES 'Demonstrates an uncanny ability to capture the insidious and pervasive infections of mind and spirit that have led to both the corruption of government and business, and the withering of the individual.'CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 'Everything Didion writes has a land's end edginess to it – a hyperattentive eye on the dramas found at the outskirts of the human condition. She writes as someone who has come through great shudders of the earth with a fundamental understanding that everything is subject to instantaneous and complete revision.'VILLAGE VOICE 'She is the best chronicler California has'VOGUE 'Simply an original and unexpected writer who is never banal'NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

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Book Synopsis**DREAM COUNT, the searing, exquisite new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is out now!**A devastating essay on loss and the people we love from the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.''Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You learn how much grief is about language, the failure of language and the grasping for language''On 10 June 2020, the scholar James Nwoye Adichie died suddenly in Nigeria.In this tender and powerful essay, expanded from the original New Yorker text, his daughter, a self-confessed daddy''s girl, remembers her beloved father. Notes on Grief is at once a tribute to a long life of grace and wisdom, the story of a daughter''s fierce love for a parent, and a revealing examination of the layers of loss and the nature of grief.''A work of dignity and of unravelling' GUARDIANAn exquisite howl of pain' TELEGRAPHTrade Review Praise for Notes on Grief ‘Both emotional and austere, a work of dignity and of unravelling’ Guardian ‘With raw eloquence, Adichie’s observations have, simultaneously, an academic detachment and an inescapable anguish at being “in the centre of this churning” with “porous edges that there is no way through” … Notes on Grief is both achingly personal and stunningly familiar to anyone who has felt that scattering’ Independent ‘An exquisite howl of pain written in the aftermath, last year, of the unexpected death of her father’ Telegraph ‘Notes on Grief is a moving account of a daughter’s sorrow and it is also a love letter to the one who has gone. … She is saying don’t go and she is saying goodbye and she is also saying sorry’ Observer ‘In 30 short sections, Notes on Grief lays a path by which we might mourn our individual traumas among the aggregate suffering of this harrowing time.’ New York Times ‘Feels raw, even for a book about grief … It is no salve for her own grief, but Adichie’s brave observance of her own pain, will be a gift to those also suffering their first year of loss in these strange times’ iNews ‘When you send a great writer into the valley of the dead, the reportage is better quality. In 1961 CS Lewis wrote A Grief Observed of the year after the death of his wife; in 2005 Joan Didion wrote The Year of Magical Thinking about the same time span after the death of her husband. Into this tradition falls Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie … For fans of the famously private Adichie – this is fascinatingly intimate. It is also delivered in the most readable, tender bites for any of the many of us whose attention has been shot by the harrowing of this past year’ The Times

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Book SynopsisA new expanded edition of Tolkien's most famous, and most important essay, which defined his conception of fantasy as a literary form, and which led to the writing of The Lord of the Rings. Accompanied by a critical study of the history and writing of the text.J.R.R. Tolkien''s On Fairy-stories is his most-studied and most-quoted essay, an exemplary personal statement of his views on the role of imagination in literature, and an intellectual tour de force vital for understanding Tolkien''s achievement in the writing of The Lord of the Rings.On Fairy-stories comprises about 18,000 words. What is little-known is that when Tolkien expanded the essay in 1943, he wrote many more pages of his views that were originally condensed into or cut from the published version. An estimate is difficult, but these unpublished passages perhaps amount to half again as much writing as the essay itself. These passages contain important elaborations of his views on other writers, and their publication repreTrade Review‘This book must be read… it goes far to explain the nature of Tolkien’s art and justify his success’ The Cambridge Review

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Book Synopsis**DREAM COUNT, the searing, exquisite new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is out now!**A personal and powerful essay from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.I would like to ask that we begin to dream about and plan for a different world. A fairer world. A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves. And this is how to start: we must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently'What does feminism mean today?In this personal, eloquently argued essay adapted from her much-admired Tedx talk of the same name Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author's exploration of what it means to be a woman now an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.The book I''d press into the hands of girls and boys, as an inspiration for a future''INDEPENDENTTrade Review‘The book I'd press into the hands of girls and boys, as an inspiration for a future "world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves"’ Books of the Year, Independent ‘One and a half million YouTube viewings later, this small but perfectly formed talk has become an equally small but perfectly formed book, thanks to Fourth Estate. The perfect size in fact for handbags, pockets and Christmas stockings. There really is no excuse not to buy several’ Harpers Bazaar Praise for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘A writer with a great deal to say’ The Times 'Here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers.’ Chinua Achebe ‘Adiche [has] virtuosity, boundless empathy and searing social acuity’ Dave Eggers ‘Adichie is terrific on human interactions … Adichie’s writing always has an elegant shimmer to it … Wise, entertaining and unendingly perceptive’ Independent on Sunday ‘[Adichie] is recording the history of her country. She is fortunate – and we, her readers, are even luckier.' Edmund White

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Book SynopsisConsidered by many to be the iconic French memoirist’s defining work, The Years is a narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present, cultural habits, language, photos, books, songs, radio, television, advertising and news headlines. Annie Ernaux invents a form that is subjective and impersonal, private and collective, and a new genre – the collective autobiography – in order to capture the passing of time. At the confluence of autofiction and sociology, The Years is ‘a Remembrance of Things Past for our age of media domination and consumerism’ (New York Times), a monumental account of twentieth-century French history as refracted through the life of one woman.Trade Review‘The Years is a revolution, not only in the art of autobiography but in art itself. Annie Ernaux’s book blends memories, dreams, facts and meditations into a unique evocation of the times in which we lived, and live.’ — John Banville, author of The Sea‘One of the best books you will ever read.’ — Deborah Levy, author of Hot Milk‘The author of one of the most important œuvres in French literature, Annie Ernaux’s work is as powerful as it is devastating, as subtle as it is seething.’ — Édouard Louis, author of The End of Eddy‘Ravishing and almost oracular with insight, Ernaux’s prose performs an extraordinary dance between collective and intimate, “big” history and private experience. The Years is a philosophical meditation paced as a rollercoaster ride through the decades. How we spend ourselves too quickly, how we reach for meaning but evade it, how to live, how to remember – these are Ernaux’s themes. I am desperate for more.’ — Kapka Kassabova, author of Border‘I admire the form she invented, mixing autobiography, history, sociology. The anxious interrogations on her defection, moving as she did from the dominated to the dominant classes. Her loyalty to her people, her fidelity to herself. The progressive depersonalisation of her work, culminating in the disappearance of the “I” in The Years, a book I must have read three or four times since its publication, even more impressed each time by its precision, its sweep and – I can’t think of any other word – its majesty. One of the few indisputably great books of contemporary literature.’ — Emmanuel Carrère, author of The Kingdom‘The technique is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. She illuminates a person through the culture that poured through her; it’s about time and being situated in a certain place in history and how time and place make a person. It’s incredible.’ — Sheila Heti, author of Pure Colour‘I find her work extraordinary.’ — Eimear McBride, author of Strange Hotel

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Book SynopsisAhmed Alnaouq (Author) Ahmed Alnaouq grew up in Gaza where he earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature from al-Azher University. Ahmed was the inspiration for, and original project manager of, We Are Not Numbers. He later won the UK's prestigious Chevening scholarship and earned a master's degree in international journalism from Leeds University. He also serves as advocacy and outreach officer for the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Ahmed's writings have been published by the Gulf News, New Arab, and other websites. He is currently based in London.Pam Bailey (Author) Pam Bailey is a freelance journalist and social-justice activist. She lived and worked in the Gaza Strip immediately following the 2008/9 Israeli assault. Today, she is a communications consultant and writer/editor for nonprofits such as ImpACT International for Human Rights Policies. She has also founded More Than Our Crimes, a nonprofit initiative focused on assuring second chances for individuals convicted of violent crimes in the United States. She is based in Washington DC.

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Book Synopsis"The seven 'essays' by J.R.R. Tolkien assembled in this paperback were with one exception delivered as general lectures on particular occasions; and while they mostly arose out of Tolkien's work in medieval literature, they are accessible to all. Two of them are concerned with Beowulf, including the well-known lecture whose title is taken for this book, and one with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, given to the University of Glasgow in 1953. Also included in this volume is the lecture English and Welsh; the Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford in 1959; and a paper on invented languages delivered in 1931, with exemplification from poems in the Elvish tongues. Most famous of all is On Fairy-stories, a discussion of the nature of fairy-tales and fantasy, which gives insight into Tolkien's approach to the whole genre. The pieces in this collection cover a period of nearly thirty years, beginning six years before the publication of The Hobbit, with a unique 'academic' lecture on

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER PICKED BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT, IRISH TIMES, SPECTATOR, TLS, NEW STATESMAN, MAIL ON SUNDAY, I PAPER, PROSPECT, REVEW31 AND EVENING STANDARD AS A BOOK OF 2021 'A masterclass from a warm and engagingly enthusiastic companion' Guardian Summer Reading Picks 2021 ‘This book is a delight, and it’s about delight too. How necessary, at our particular moment’ Tessa Hadley ________________ From the New York Times-bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves - and our world today. For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. In his introduction, Saunders writes, “We’re going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art—namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?” He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.Trade ReviewA wonderful book … This book is a delight … I love the warmth with which he writes about this teaching, and agree wholeheartedly … All this makes Saunders’s book very different from just another “how to” creative writing manual, or just another critical essay … One of the pleasures of this book is feeling his own thinking move backwards and forwards, between the writer dissecting practice and the reader entering in through the spell of the words, to dwell inside the story -- Tessa Hadley * Guardian *Saunders is such a wise and amiable teacher ... A page-turner -- Robert WebbLuminously perceptive * Guardian *A masterclass in how to be human ... unfailingly, often thrillingly illuminating … Published any time, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain would be a joyous reminder that fiction is “the most effective mode of mind-to-mind communication ever devised”. Published now, it feels like vital and civilising corrective to the pretend certainties of public life – and, increasingly, of our personal lives too * Telegraph *It will stay with you and transform how you read story by story, sentence by sentence * The Times, Best Paperbacks of 2022 *One of the most accurate and beautiful depictions of what it is like to be inside the mind of a writer that I’ve ever read * New York Times *The Russian greats truly shine in this account; but Saunders is the real star. His way of expressing himself is simultaneously supremely intellectual and jovially down-to-earth. It’s rare to read a book and love it so much that you think it’s simply perfect. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is that book -- Viv Groskop * Spectator *Joins a long tradition of using Russian literature as a guide to life … Practical and playful … it also probes exactly how narrative techniques make us more alert, attentive and sympathetic in reading books and the world around us * i news *By the end Saunders is wondering if there is indeed any point in writing at all. I won’t spoil his conclusion. Suffice to say, the hairs on the back of my neck were alert * The Times *Suffused with wry humour … Not an academic interpretation, but a reader’s companion. I was pleasurably absorbed from start to finish * Evening Standard *The Booker-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo considers the art of fiction through seven classic Russian short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol * Guardian, 2021 in Books *The combination of Saunders’s piercing mind and the Russian subjects being Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Gogol promises to be a highbrow treat for fans of literature, and a book offering deep insights into storytelling and how narrative functions * Independent, The books to look out for in 2021 *A literary masterclass * Evening Standard, A look ahead to the best new books in 2021 *But the real star of A Swim isn't Chekhov or Turgenev or Tolstoy or Gogol - it's Saunders himself ... This book will quite simply make you a better, more observant and more understanding reader * Big Issue *Part intro to Russian literature, part musings on craft, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is all pleasure * Financial Times *A worship song to writers and readers * O, The Oprah Magazine *His warmth, enthusiasm and homespun metaphors – all part of that “writerly charm” – banish any sense of the chilly, mechanistic Fiction Lab ... Gleefully overshoots its brief as a technical manual or how-to guide … A Swim in a Pond in the Rain generates more fun, more wit, more sympathetic sense, than we have any right to hope for from a 400-page critical study * Arts Desk *There should be more books like this -- Sameer Rahim * Prospect Podcast *A masterclass from a warm and engagingly enthusiastic companion * Guardian, 50 hottest new books everyone should read *A masterclass in short fiction by one of the finest teachers alive… It is a joyously civilised primer on how to write – and live – better * Daily Telegraph *Warm, playful and acutely perceptive -- Ian Leslie * New Statesman, Books of the Year *Not just astute, humane lit crit but an inspirational manifesto for the art of fiction -- Boyd Tonkin * Spectator, Books of the Year *A masterclass in writing … a real treat -- Naomi Alderman * Spectator, Books of the Year *[I] loved George Saunders’s A Swim in a Pond in the Rain … Genial, generous and illuminating ... He is a great teacher as well as a great practitioner, and makes you see more * Times Literary Supplement, Books of the Year 2021 *A tin of caviar sort of a book … Saunders guides, prods, nudges, urges you to disagree … It will stay with you and transform how you read story by story, sentence by sentence * Sunday Times, 24 best fiction books 2021 *Delightful as well as an engaging work-out for the brain. Just the thing for a New Year’s read * i paper *In clear, fresh, often humorous language, Saunders reveals the various sleights of hand involved in their construction, while never trying to flatten their essential genius. A gem -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *Joyful and playful, a book full of wisdom, one to drink in slowly * Independent (Online), The 20 Best Books of 2021 *An eagle-eyed breakdown of short stories by four great Russian writers * Prospect, Best books of 2021 *Saunders is warm and vivacious company, funny and even-handed and increasingly wise … This book is an enthralling delve into life and its narration – for people interested in how fiction works, it’s like breathing oxygen * Revew31, Books of the Year 2021 *

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Book SynopsisUrsula K Le Guin's essential writings on feminism and gender collected for the first time.Trade ReviewEssential reading -- Kelsey Chen * ArtReview *

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisA fully illustrated, beautifully produced edition of Junichiro Tanizaki's wise and evocative essay on Japanese culture. ‘We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates… Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.’ This book is in fact a portal. Reading it, you will be led by Junichiro Tanizaki’s light touch into a mysterious and tranquil world of darkness and shadows, where gold flashes in the gloom and a deep stillness reigns. If you are accustomed to equate light with clarity, the faded with the worthless and the dim with the dreary, prepare for a courteous but powerful realignment of your ideas. In Praise of Shadows is a poetic paean to traditional Japanese aesthetics – in a free-ranging style that moves from architecture to No theatre, and from cookery to lighting, Tanizaki teaches us to see the beauty in tarnished metal, the sombre dignity in unglazed pottery, the primacy of organic materials that bear witness to the regular touch of human hands. It is also astonishingly prescient, offering a gentle warning against the quest for airbrushed perfection, and reminding us that too much light can pollute and obscure our natural world. In this special edition, the text is accompanied by specially selected images to complement Tanizaki’s reflections and further illustrate the pattern and beauty of shadows.Trade ReviewEssential reading -- David Adjaye, architectAn elegant essay on traditional Japanese aesthetics by the great novelist. A delight to read * Independent on Sunday *More like a poem than an essay * Building Design *Tanizaki suggests an attitude of appreciation and mindfulness, especially mindfulness of beauty, as central to life lived well -- AC GraylingThis has been an important book for my career. I’ve read it multiple times—it continues to be meaningful and I don't expect that will change. Shadows are more important than objects because they enter the realm of the mysterious. The white space is more important than the stroke of the pen. Shadows are the silent reason that objects are recognized; they give them shape. Shadows represent the soul of a place or object -- Tom Kundig, architect

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Book SynopsisA series of provocative discussions on everything from individual authors to contemporary religious thinking, Against Interpretation and Other Essays is the definitive collection of Susan Sontag''s best known and important works published in Penguin Modern Classics.Against Interpretation was Susan Sontag''s first collection of essays and made her name as one of the most incisive thinkers of our time. Sontag was among the first critics to write about the intersection between ''high'' and ''low'' art forms, and to give them equal value as valid topics, shown here in her epoch-making pieces ''Notes on Camp'' and ''Against Interpretation''. Here too are impassioned discussions of Sartre, Camus, Simone Weil, Godard, Beckett, Lévi-Strauss, science-fiction movies, psychoanalysis and contemporary religious thought. Originally published in 1966, this collection has never gone out of print and has been a major influence on generations of readers, and the field of cultural criticism, ever since. Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was born in Manhattan and studied at the universities of Chicago, Harvard and Oxford. She is the author of four novels - The Benefactor, Death Kit, The Volcano Lover and In America, which won the 2000 US National Book Award for fiction - a collection of stories, several plays, and six books of essays, among them Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors. Her books are translated into thirty-two languages. In 2001 she was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the body of her work, and in 2003 she received the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. If you enjoyed Against Interpretation and Other Essays, you might like Sontag''s On Photography, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''A dazzling intellectual performance'' Vogue''Sontag offers enough food for thought to satisfy the most intellectual of appetites'' The TimesTrade Review'A dazzling intellectual performance.' Vogue

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Book SynopsisJeanette Winterson CBE was born in Manchester. She published her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, at twenty-five. Over two decades later she revisited that material in her internationally bestselling memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?. Winterson has written thirteen novels for adults and two previous collections of short stories, as well as children's books, non-fiction and screenplays. She is Professor of New Writing at the University of Manchester. She lives in the Cotswolds in a wood and in Spitalfields, London.

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Book SynopsisThe Discourses/Fragments/Enchiridion''I must die. But must I die bawling?''Epictetus, a Greek Stoic and freed slave, ran a thriving philosophy school in Nicopolis in the early second century AD. His animated discussions were celebrated for their rhetorical wizardry and were written down by Arrian, his most famous pupil. The Discourses argue that happiness lies in learning to perceive exactly what is in our power to change and what is not, and in embracing our fate to live in harmony with god and nature. In this personal, practical guide to the ethics of Stoicism and moral self-improvement, Epictetus tackles questions of freedom and imprisonment, illness and fear, family, friendship and love.Translated and Edited with an Introduction by Robert DobbinTable of ContentsEpictetusIntroductionFurther ReadingNote on the TranslationThe DiscoursesFragmentsEnchiridionGlossary of NamesNotes

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind'Based on a lecture given at Cambridge and first published in 1929, A Room of One's Own' interweaves Woolf's personal experience as a female writer with themes ranging from Austen and Brontë to Shakespeare's gifted (and imaginary) sister. Three Guineas', Woolf's most impassioned polemic, came almost a decade later and broke new ground by challenging the very notions of war and masculinity.This volume combines two inspirational, witty and urbane essays from one of literature's pre-eminent voices; collectively they constitute a brilliant and lucid attack on sexual inequality.Trade Review‘Brilliant interweaving of personal experience, imaginative musing and political clarity’Kate Mosse ‘Achingly relevant’Natasha Walter, Guardian

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS - an essay on the joy of reading, for anyone who has ever loved a bookEvery book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves each participant enriched. Here Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt.From one of the most lyrical writers of our time comes a perfectly formed gem, a lyrical celebration of the transcendent power and humanity of the given book.Trade ReviewI'll read anything Macfarlane writes -- David Mitchell, author of 'Cloud Atlas'[Macfarlane] can unfurl a sentence with the breathless ease of a master angler, a writer whose ideas transcend the physical region he explores * New York Times Book Review *[Macfarlane] is a godfather of a cultural moment * Sunday Times on Landmarks *

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Book SynopsisFriedrich Nietzsche''s most accessible and influential philosophical work, misquoted, misrepresented, brilliantly original and enormously influentialNietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor. Nietzsche''s utterance ''God is dead'', his insistence that the meaning of life is to be found in purely human terms, and his doctrine of the Superman and the will to power were all later seized upon and unrecognisably twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission to authority, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic and free.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsPart 1 Zarathustra's discourses: of the three metamorphoses; of the chairs of virtue; of the afterworldsmen; of the despisers of the body; of joys and passions; of the pale criminal; of reading and writing; of the tree on the mountainside; of the preachers of death; of war and warriors; of the new idol; of the flies of the market-place; of chastity; of the friend; of the thousand and one goals; of love of one's neighbour; of the way of the creator; of old and young women; of the Adder's bite; of marriage and children; of voluntary death; of the bestowing virtue. Part 2: the child with the mirror; on the blissful islands; of the compassionate; of the priests; of the virtuous; of the rabble; of the tarantulas; of the famous philosophers; of the night song; the dance song; the funeral song; of self-overcoming; of the sublime men; of the land of culture; of immaculate perception; of scholars; of poets; of great events; the prophet; of redemption; of manly prudence; the stillest hour. Part 3: the wanderer; of the vision and the riddle; of involuntary bliss; before sunrise; of the virtue that makes small; on the mount of olives; of passing by; of the apostates; the home-coming; of the three evil things; of the spirit of gravity; of old and new law-tables; the convalescent; of the great longing; the second dance song; the seven seals (or - the song of Yes and Amen). Part 4: the honey offering; the cry of distress; conversation with the kings; the leech; the sorcerer; retired from service; the ugliest man; the voluntary beggar; the shadow; at noontide; the greeting; the last supper; of the higher man; the song of melancholy; of science; among the daughters of the desert; the awakening; the ass festival; the intoxicated song; the sign.

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Book SynopsisIn this short sequel to his acclaimed memoir, the legendary filmmaker and global cultural icon explores one of his favourite topics: the nature of truth. What if a lie is told to reveal some underlying truth? Are feelings that seem inappropriate, such as the hysteria following the death of a celebrity, any less real or true than the grief we feel over the death of a loved one? Even if the plot of an opera seems preposterous, can't it still express strong human emotions that ring true with the audience?At the heart of the book lies Werner Herzog's concept of ecstatic truth' a truth that is often hidden behind the facts and our conceptions of reality but can be gleaned through the poetic imagination, in art, literature and cinema, when we open ourselves up to an aesthetic experience. Written in Herzog's inimitable tyle, the stories, anecdotes and reflections take us from present-day deep fakes and the opportunities and perils of AI to Ancient Egyptian and Rome, where rulers resorted to lies and propaganda in the same way as governments do today; from Scott's and Amundson's race to the South Pole to alien abduction stories and the making of Herzog's own films. With its singular vision and unique voice, The Future of Truth is a compelling meditation on the relationship between fact and fiction, evidence and the imagination, by one of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic thinkers in the world today.

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Book SynopsisAfter the publication ofFassbinder Thousands of Mirrors, his long awaited first original book, cult critic Ian Penman returns withI Am Called Erik Satie I Like Everyone Else, a three-part study of the composer and pianist.

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Book SynopsisWhether puncturing the lies of politicians, wittily dissecting the English character or telling unpalatable truths about war, Orwell's timeless, uncompromising essays are more relevant, entertaining and essential than ever in today's era of spin.

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Book SynopsisVáclav Havel’s remarkable and rousing essay on the tyranny of apathy, with a new introduction by Timothy Snyder Cowed by life under Communist Party rule, a greengrocer hangs a placard in their shop window: Workers of the world, unite! Is it a sign of the grocer’s unerring ideology? Or a symbol of the lies we perform to protect ourselves? Written in 1978, Václav Havel’s meditation on political dissent – the rituals of its suppression, and the sparks that re-ignite it – would prove the guiding manifesto for uniting Solidarity movements across the Soviet Union. A portrait of activism in the face of falsehood and intimidation, The Power of the Powerless remains a rousing call against the allure of apathy.'Havel’s diagnosis of political pathologies has a special resonance in the age of Trump' Pankaj MishraTrade ReviewHavel’s diagnosis of political pathologies has a special resonance in the age of Trump -- Pankaj MishraFew voices did more to undermine the foundations of the Berlin Wall and the entire edifice of Soviet-imposed totalitarianism than this shy bourgeois, this sly, reticent, playwright and essayist -- David Remnick * New Yorker *In gentle, ironic but scathing prose, Havel's The Power of the Powerless exposed the lies and cowardice that made possible the communist grip on power * The Economist *In his now iconic 1978 essay, which circulated in underground editions in Czechoslovakia and was smuggled to other Warsaw Pact countries and to the West, Havel foresaw that the opposition could eventually prevail against the totalitarian state * The New York Times *

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Book Synopsis''So the club rose, the blood came down, and his bitterness and his anguish and his guilt were compounded''Drawing on Baldwin''s own experiences of prejudice in an America violently divided by race, these searing essays - Dark Days, The Price of the Ticket and The White Man''s Guilt - blend the intensely personal with the political to envisage a better world.Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York''s underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

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Book Synopsis'A pin-up and an oracle for millennial women.' Dolly AldertonIn her remarkable literary debut, Taylor (AKA Self Esteem) will explore the devolution of a woman.

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Book Synopsis***FEATURED ON BBC 2''s BETWEEN THE COVERS WITH SARA COX***The Faber Book of Reportage is John Carey''s remarkable collection of eyewitness accounts that draws on the voices and emotions of the people who experienced some of history''s most memorable events.''Stunning . . . There are descriptions in this book so fresh that they sear themselves into the imagination.''JEREMY PAXMAN''Fascinating - there's funny stuff, interesting stuff, loads of brilliant stuff really.''JO BRAND (on BBC 2''s Between the Covers)What was it like to be caught in the firestorm that destroyed Pompeii? To have dinner with Attila the Hun? To watch the charge of the Light Brigade? To see the Titanic slide beneath the waves? John Carey''s best-selling Faber Book of Reportage draws its eyewitness account from memoirs, travel books and newspapers. This is history with the varnish removed.

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Book SynopsisThe perennial classic: this intimate journal chronicling the Narnia author''s experience of grief after his wife''s death has consoled readers for half a century; this edition features responses from authors like Hilary Mantel, Francis Spufford, Rowan Williams, Jenna Bailey ...''An intimate, anguished account of a man grappling with the mysteries of faith and love ... Elegant and raw ... A powerful record of thought and emotion experienced in real time.'' Guardian ''Raw and modern ... This unsentimental, even bracing, account of one man's dialogue with despair becomes both compelling and consoling ... A contemporary classic.'' Observer''A source of great consolation ... Lewis deploys his genius for vivid imagery ... It is a relief for the reader to find that he or she is not alone in the intense loneliness or feelings of anguish that bereavement brings.'' Henry Marsh, The Times''Testimony from a sensitive and eloquent witness [on] The Human Condition'. It offers an interrogation of experience and a glimmer of hardwon hope. It allows one bewildered mind to reach out to another. Death is no barrier to that.'' Hilary Mantel''Here, sorrow and despair, the tiredness and numbness and petulance and nightmarishness of grief, all have their full, uncontrolled, experienced force ... [Such] radical openness ... Brilliant.'' Francis Spufford***No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.Narnia author C.S. Lewis had been married to his wife for four blissful years. When she died of cancer, he found himself alone, inconsolable in his grief. In this intimate journal, he chronicles the aftermath of the bereavement and mourning with blazing honesty. He grapples with a crisis of religious faith, navigating hope, rage, despair, and love - but eventually regains his bearings, finding his way back to life.A luminous modern classic, A Grief Observed has offered solace to countless readers for decades. This companion edition combines the original text with personal responses from Hilary Mantel, Rowan Williams, Francis Spufford, Maureen Freely, Kate Saunders, Jessica Martin and Jenna Bailey.***What readers are saying:''A truly great book - inspirational and untold help.'' ''Every human being, living or dead, understands what Lewis means ... One of the most valuable books ever written.'' ''Lewis, as always, sits down next to you and validates your grief like a true friend. He lets you rage, and cry, and even be furious with God, just as he did.''''If you are grieving an enormous loss, you may find comfort here ... A great mind and wonderful writer who understands your grief well enough to put words to it.''''His journal was also my journal as I worked through my own grief. Reading this book was actually comforting in that I knew that someone else understood my situation and offered insight and hope ... I highly recommend this book for anyone who has gone through the death of a loved one or who wants to comfort. ''This little book has had me in floods of tears [and] shows a real understanding of grief ... To read the words of this great man who shared and understood my pain and is a life affirming and faith affirming experience.''

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