Essays Books

Book SynopsisWhere the Stress Falls is divided into three sections: the first, ''Reading'', includes ardent pieces on writers from Sontag''s own private canon - Machado de Assis, Barthes, W. G. Sebald, Borges, Tsvetaeva and Elizabeth Hardwick. In the second, ''Seeing'', she shares her passions for film, dance, photography, painting, opera and theatre. And in the final section, ''There and Here'', Sontag explores her own commitments to the work (and activism) of conscience and to the vocation of the writer.Trade Review'[The essays] invariably also leave one with the urgent desire to read the book or see the painting, play, dance she describes. Her passion evokes that urgency...' Bookforum

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Book SynopsisPliny the Elder produced in his Natural History a vast compendium of Roman knowledge. Topics included are the mathematics and metrology of the universe; world geography and ethnography; human anthropology and physiology; zoology; botany, agriculture, and horticulture; medicine; minerals, fine arts, and gemstones.

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Book SynopsisIn his epic The Civil War, Lucan (AD 39–65) carries us from Caesar’s fateful crossing of the Rubicon, through the Battle of Pharsalus, Pompey’s death, and Cato’s leadership in Africa, to Caesar victorious in Egypt. The poem is also called Pharsalia.

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Book SynopsisPausanias, one of the Roman world's great travelers, sketches in Description of Greece the history, geography, landmarks, legends, and religious cults of all the important Greek cities. He shares his enthusiasm for great sites, describing them with care and an accuracy confirmed by comparison with monuments that still stand today.

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Book SynopsisFROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WHAT I LOVED AND A WOMAN LOOKING AT MEN LOOKING AT WOMEN''Richly intelligent insights on every page'' Financial Times''A rare kind of quiet intellectual confidence'' Sunday TelegraphIn these fascinating, lively and engaging essays, Siri Hustvedt shows what lies behind her fiction: an abiding curiosity about who we are and how we got that way. Covering a wide range of subjects, from the nature of desire to false memories and the paintings of Goya, she draws on her own life and on the insights provided by both the arts and sciences to deepen our understanding of what it means to be human - to live, think and look.''There is something refreshingly straightforward about her style. It has the confidence born of complex but well digested thoughts'' ObserverPRAISE FOR SIRI HUSTVEDT:''Hustvedt is that rare artist, a writer oTrade ReviewHer erudition, the sharp clarity of her thinking, the variety of her sources and the supple ways in which she weaves them into personal narrative, coupled with her fearlessness in the face of those aspects of the human condition which are of necessity ambiguous, infuse her work with a rare kind of quiet intellectual confidence...I'll be returning to these essays. * Melanie McGrath, Sunday Telegraph *richly intelligent insights on every page * George Pendle, Financial Times *Siri Hustvedt is best known as a novelist and her novels have received a deserved acclaim. But to my mind, she is even more to be admired as an essayist...there is something refreshingly straightforward about her style. It has the confidence born of complex but well digested thoughts and thus lacks the tendency to obfuscate that is the hallmark of the inferior thinker's style. * Salley Vikcers, Observer *...she is an inspiring guide to territory where both the humanities and the sciences can throw light on the ways in which we construct meaning in our lives. * Nick Rennison, Sunday Times, Culture *Hustvedt addresses a broad public without dumbing down her material... At once stimulating and warm-hearted, with sentences of drop-dead beauty and acuity on nearly every page. * Kirkus *Hustvedt's deep interest in art, psychology, and neuroscience shape her brilliantly insightful novels as well as her virtuoso essays...Mystery, fact, intelligence, and enchantment flourish here. * Booklist *exquisitely eloquent...You'll be by turns inspired, provoked, educated and enchanted. Her writing is scientifically precise and poetically elegant, and this intense compilation merits careful attention. It's a book you can return to time and time again. * Beatrice Hodgkin, Easy Living *These essays offer thoughts on locating morality in the brain, the origins of desire and who we are when we sleep...I suggest you take this book to your favourite corner, turn off the phone and allow yourself to be reminded of the pure pleasure of using your mind. * Clare Longrigg, Psychologies *

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Book SynopsisTrade Reviewplenty here to savour ... Tacitus was not just a fine writer, he was also a senior Roman politician. * Max Davidson, The Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThe second century A.D. traveller''s guide to buildings, tombs, and statues including mythological, religious, and historical background of sites from Delphi to OlympiaTable of ContentsGuide to Greece 1: Central GreeceList of FiguresList of Maps and PlansAcknowledgmentsCorrectionsIntroductionBook I: AtticaBook II: Corinth and the ArgolidBook III: AchaiaBook IV: BoiotiaBook V: PhokisAppendix: The Successors of Alexander and their WarsSelect BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA second volume of fascinating interviews from one of the world's best loved literary magazinesSince The Paris Review was founded in 1953, it has given us invaluable conversations with the greatest writers of our age, vivid self-portraits that are themselves works of finely-crafted literature. From Faulkner's determination that a great novel takes 'ninety-nine percent talent . . . ninety-nine percent discipline . . . ninety-nine percent work', to Gabriel Márquez's observation that 'in the first paragraph you solve most of the problems with your book', The Paris Review has elicited revelatory and revealing thoughts from our most accomplished novelists, poets and playwrights. With an introduction by Orhan Pamuk, this volume brings together another rich, varied crop of literary voices, comprising: Graham Greene, James Thurber, William Faulkner, Robert Lowell, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Eudora Welty, John Gardner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Philip Larkin, James Baldwin, William Gaddis, Harold Bloom, Toni Morrison, Alice Munro, Peter Carey and Stephen King. 'A colossal literary event' as Gary Shteyngart put it, The Paris Review Interviews vol. 2 is a treasury of wisdom from the world's literary masters.Trade ReviewFor writing nerds, this is nirvana. -- Colin Waters * * Sunday Herald * *Anyone with the slightest pretension a literary life needs to read this collection. * * The London Paper * *this second collection of the magazine's interviews with writers is rich in delight. -- Steven Poole * * The Guardian * *Wonderful collection dealing with the "how" of writing. -- Martin Tierney * * The Herald * *...much like its predecessor is a bull's-eye...this is a bible both for readers and writers, the insider gossip for those who are truly passionate about their prose. -- Francesca Segal * * Observer * *

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Book SynopsisJust like the best walks, The Joy of Walking takes you on a journey with lots to surprise and enjoy along the way. Through the best of classic writing, this inspiring anthology shows how the simple act of walking goes to the heart of life itself.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics, this edition is edited and introduced by Suzy Cripps.Whether walking through awe-inspiring countryside or weaving your way through crowds in the hustle and bustle of great cities, we take thousands of steps a day. Finding meaning in movement can be difficult in today’s frenetic world. This may seem like a modern problem, but putting one foot in front of the other is something that authors have been writing about for centuries. Some like Gaskell, Wordsworth and Whitman extol the virtues of walking in the countryside, be it on one’s own connecting with nature or as the means to really good conversation with friends. Others like Dickens and E. M. Forster explore the thrill and dangers of moving about the city, by day or by night. In The Joy of Walking you’ll find a wealth of essays, poetry and fiction celebrating and exploring the joy of walking.

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Book SynopsisAward-winning author Lorrie Moore has been writing criticism for over thirty years - and her forensically intelligent, witty and engaging essays are collected here for the first time.

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Book SynopsisThis book is hilarious and that bitch made me laugh out loud.Chelsea HandlerA chaotically joyous collection of essays from one of the original influencers and the internet''s sweetheart, Bretman The Baddest Rock.Hilarious and earnest, this collection of essays, how-tos and never-before-seen photos goes far beyond what we know of Bretman Rock from social media. Who is Bretman Rock Sacayanan behind the screen and how did he become the original superstar influencer and today's beloved best friend of the internet?You''re That Bitch welcomes you into Bretman Rock''s worldfrom how his childhood in the Philippines, his family, Filipino culture, and being a first-generation immigrant helped shape him into who he is today. Peek into how Bretman became a social media sensation at the precocious age of 14, balancing living a glamorous jet-setting lifestyle on weekends while still serving lunch at his school's cafeteria, running as a varsity track-star, and making honor roll during the week. With Trade Review“Bretman Rock is one of the most original, influential voices on social media. This book is hilarious and that bitch made me laugh out loud.” — Chelsea Handler

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Book SynopsisA sharp and provocative new essay collection from the award-winning author of Freedom and The CorrectionsIn The End of the End of the Earth, which gathers essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, Jonathan Franzen returns with renewed vigour to the themes both human and literary that have long preoccupied him. Whether exploring his complex relationship with his uncle, recounting his young adulthood in New York, or offering an illuminating look at the global seabird crisis, these pieces contain all the wit and disabused realism that we've come to expect from Franzen.Taken together, these essays trace the progress of a unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature and with some of the most important issues of our day, made more pressing by the current political milieu. The End of the End of the Earth is remarkable, provocative and necessary.Trade Review Praise for The End of the End of the Earth: ‘… by refusing to hope for the impossible, Franzen, improbably, manages to produce a volume that feels, if not hopeful, then at least not hopeless. There’s nothing he can do – there’s probably nothing any of us can do – to avert or even alleviate the coming catastrophe. But for now, he’s here and he’s alive, and over the course of these essays he offers us a series of partial, tentative answers to the question he poses himself at the beginning: “ How do we find meaning in our actions when the world seems to be coming to an end?” Guardian ‘Can be read, in part, as a welcome alternative to the current, dominant American political tone of one-note belligerence’ Observer ‘Franzen shows himself to be the kind of unacademic critic who recognises and does not disapprove of the Common Reader’s natural tendency to feel for the characters the author has brought into being’ Scotsman Praise for Jonathan Franzen: ‘A literary genius for our time’ Guardian ‘Arguably America’s greatest living novelist’ Daily Telegraph ‘Franzen is that rare bird: a literary novelist of the highest distinction who has also become one of the bestsellers of the age’ Evening Standard ‘Franzen’s words crackle with wit humour and wisdom’ Shortlist

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Book SynopsisAn 365-day anthology of readings from one of the most influential writers of all time, George MacDonald, compiled by CS Lewis himself.MacDonald was a major Christian writer of the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries. He influenced nearly everyone who was a major twentieth century writer (including Lewis Carroll, WH Auden, JRR Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, and CS Lewis. Not only was he a pioneer in the fantasy fiction genre, laying the path for people like Tolkien to write Lord of the Rings, but also a major Christian thinker, which influenced Lewis profoundly.Lewis, in fact, wrote that MacDonald was his master', and said I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself.'These words will challenge and uplift you, and illuminate the faith which underpins all of CS Lewis's popular and enduring writing.Trade Review‘I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself.’- C.S. Lewis on George MacDonald

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Book SynopsisJohn Jeremiah Sullivan is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and the southern editor of The Paris Review. He writes for GQ, Harper's Magazine, and Oxford American, and is the author of Blood Horses and Pulphead. Sullivan lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.Trade ReviewThe ghost of Mark Twain is evoked in this outstanding collection of essays * Sunday Times *Pulphead is a big, fat, frequently exhilarating collection * Guardian *Pulphead has a ramshackle loquacity, a down-home hyper-eloquence and an off-the-wallishness that is quite distinct - and highly addictive -- Goeff DyerThe best, and most important collection of magazine writing since David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again * New York Times Book Review *From prehistoric caves to Axl Rose's oxygen chamber, Sullivan's generous, witty voice lights up every page -- Joe Dunthorne

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Book SynopsisHe becomes everyman's guide to everything exciting in the history of ideas' New York Review of BooksIsaiah Berlin was one of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century, and one of the finest writers. The Proper Study Of Mankind selects some of his best essays in which his insights both illuminate the past and offer a key to the burning issues of today.The full (and enormous) range of his work is represented here, from the exposition of his most distinctive doctrine - pluralism - to studies of Machiavelli, Tolstoy, Churchill and Roosevelt. In these pages he encapsulates the principal movements that characterise the modern age: romanticism, historicism, Fascism, relativism, irrationalism and nationalism. His ideas are always tied to the people who conceived them, so that abstractions are brought alive. EDITED BY HENRY HARDY AND ROGER HAUSHEER AND WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY ANDREW MARRTrade ReviewHe speaks with such infectious energy that he sweeps us up and carries us with him into territory that had seemed inaccessible. He becomes everyman's guide to everything exciting in the history of ideas * New York Review of Books *A restatement of liberalism in a form by which the world could live * Observer *His uniqueness can be very well sampled in this admirable selection... Large as it is, it can serve only to stimulate the appetite * Evening Standard *The pleasure in reading Berlin lies in the clarity of the argument, in the laying out of his monumental sentences and paragraphs each of which is complete in itself while part of the greater and seemingly irrefutable whole which is gradually and massively revealed * Observer *

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Book SynopsisIn the four and a half centuries since Machiavelli’s death, no single and unanimously accepted interpretation of his ideas has succeeded in imposing itself upon the lively debate over the meaning of his works. Yet there has never been any doubt about the fundamental importance of Machiavelli’s contribution to Western political theory.The Portable Machiavelli brings together the complete texts of The Prince, Belfagor, and Castruccio Castracani, newly translated by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa especially for this volume. In addition, the editors include an abridged version of The Discourses; a play, The Mandrake Root, in its entirety; seven private letters; and selections from The Art of War and The History of Florence.Table of ContentsThe Portable Machiavelli - Edited and Translated by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa Introduction: An Essay on MachiavelliNote and AcknowlegmentsMachiavelli: A Selective Bibliography of Translations, Editions and CriticismsThe Private LettersThe PrinceThe Discourses (abridged)A Fable: Belfagor, The Devil Who Took a WifeThe Mandrake RootFrom The Art of WarThe Life of Castruccio Castracani of LuccaFrom The History of Florence

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Book SynopsisWhen President Habyarimana's jet was shot down in April 1994, Rwanda erupted into a hundred-day orgy of killing which left up to a million dead. Fergal Keane travelled through the country as the genocide was continuing, and his powerful analysis reveals the terrible truth behind the headlines.A tender, angry account As well as being a scathing indictment Keane says the genocide inflicted on the Tutsis was planned well in advance by Hutu leaders this is a graphic view of news-gathering in extremis. It deserves to become a classic' Independent.

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Book SynopsisBritain in the early eighteenth century: an introduction that is both informative and imaginative, reliable and entertaining. To the tradition of travel writing Daniel Defoe brings a lifetime''s experience as a businessman, soldier, economic journalist and spy, and his Tour (1724-6) is an invaluable source of social and economic history. But this book is far more than a beautifully written guide to Britain just before the industrial revolution, for Defoe possessed a wild, inventive streak that endows his work with astonishing energy and tension, and the Tour is his deeply imaginative response to a brave new economic world. By employing his skills as a chronicler, a polemicist and a creative writer keenly sensitive to the depredations of time, Defoe more than achieves his aim of rendering ''the present state'' of Britain.

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Book SynopsisOne of the key works in the nineteenth-century battle between science and ScriptureCharles Lyell's Principles of Geology (1830-33) sought to explain the geological state of the modern Earth by considering the long-term effects of observable natural phenomena. Written with clarity and a dazzling intellectual passion, it is both a seminal work of modern geology and a compelling precursor to Darwinism, exploring the evidence for radical changes in climate and geography across the ages and speculating on the progressive development of life. A profound influence on Darwin, Principles of Geology also captured the imagination of contemporaries such as Melville, Emerson, Tennyson and George Eliot, transforming science with its depiction of the powerful forces that shape the natural world.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics Table of ContentsEdited with an Introduction by James A. SecordNumbers in italics refer to chapters included only as summaries or in brief extractsList of IllustrationsIntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on This EditionVolume I (1830)1: Objects and Nature of Geology2-4: Historical Sketch of the Progress of Geology5: Theoretical Errors which have Retarded the Progress of Geology6: Assumed Discordance of the Ancient and Existing Causes of Change Controverted - Climate7: Climate, continued8: Climate, continued9. Theory of the Progressive Development of Organic Life10-17: Aqueous Causes18-22: Igneous Causes23-24: Earthquakes and their Effects25: Earthquakes, continued - Temple of Serapis26. Causes of Earthquakes and VolcanosVolume II (1832)1: Changes of the Organic World - Reality of Species2: Theory of the Transmutation of Species Untenable3: Limits of the Variability of Species4: Hybrids5-7: Geographical Distribution of Species8: Changes in the Animate World, which Tend to the Extinction of Species9: Changes in the Animate World, which Tend to the Extinction of Species, continued10: Changes in the Inorganic World, Tending to the Extinction of Species11: Whether the Extinction and Creation of Species Can Now be in Progress12: Modifications in Physical Geography Caused by Plants, the Inferior Animals, and Man13-16, 17: How the Remains of Man and his Works are becoming Fossil beneath the Waters18: Corals and Coral ReefsVolume III (1833)1: Methods of Theorizing in Geology2: General Arrangement of the Materials Composing the Earth's Crust3: Different Circumstances under which the Secondary and Tertiary Formations may have Originated4: Determination of the Relative Ages of Rocks5: Classification of Tertiary Formations in Chronological Order6-7: Newer Pliocene Formations - Sicily8: Rocks of the Same Age in Etna9: Origin of the Newer Pliocene Strata of Sicily10-26: Former Changes of the Earth's SurfaceConcluding RemarksGlossaryNotesBibliography of ReviewsIndex>

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Book SynopsisAfter the execution of Socrates in 399 BC, a number of his followers wrote dialogues featuring him as the protagonist and, in so doing, transformed the great philosopher into a legendary figure. Xenophon's portrait is the only one other than Plato's to survive, and while it offers a very personal interpretation of Socratic thought, it also reveals much about the man and his philosophical views. In 'Socrates' Defence' Xenophon defends his mentor against charges of arrogance made at his trial, while the 'Memoirs of Socrates' also starts with an impassioned plea for the rehabilitation of a wronged reputation. Along with 'The Estate-Manager', a practical economic treatise, and 'The Dinner-Party', a sparkling exploration of love, Xenophon's dialogues offer fascinating insights into the Socratic world and into the intellectual atmosphere and daily life of ancient Greece.Table of ContentsConversations of Socrates - Xenophon PrefaceIntroductionSocrates' DefenceIntroductionSocrates' DefenceMemoirs of SocratesIntroductionMemoirs of SocratesThe Dinner-PartyIntroductionThe Dinner-PartyThe Estate-ManagerIntroductionThe Estate-ManagerBibliographyIndex of Proper Names

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Book SynopsisBoth Flesh and Not combines David Foster Wallace''s best-loved essays with work never before published in the UK.Beloved for his brilliantly discerning eye, his verbal elasticity and his uniquely generous imagination, David Foster Wallace was heralded by critics and fans as the voice of a generation. Collected in Both Flesh and Not are fifteen essays published for the first time in book form, including writing never published before in the UK.From ''Federer Both Flesh and Not'', considered by many to be his nonfiction masterpiece; to ''The (As it Were) Seminal Importance of Terminator 2,'' which deftly dissects James Cameron''s blockbuster; to ''Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young'', an examination of television''s effect on a new generation of writers, David Foster Wallace''s writing swoops from erudite literary discussion to open-hearted engagement with the most familiar of our twentieth-century cultural references.A celebr

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Book Synopsis''The only four things that interested me were: reading books, going to the movies, tap-dancing and drawing pictures. Then one day I started writing . . .'' Truman Capote began writing at the age of eight, and never looked back. A Capote Reader contains much of the author''s published work: his brilliant and prolific oeuvre of fiction, travel sketches, portraits, reportage and essays. It includes all twelve of his celebrated short stories, together with The Grass Harp and Breakfast at Tiffany''s. There are vivid sketches of places from Tangiers to Brooklyn, and fascinating insights into the lives of his contemporaries, from Jane Bowles and Cecil Beaton to Marilyn Monroe and Tennessee Williams. Generous space is devoted to reportage including ''The Muses Are Heard'', on his trip to Communist Europe in the 1950s with the cast of Porgy and Bess. In all, A Capote Reader demonstrates the chameleon talents of one of America''s most versatile and gifted writers.

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Book SynopsisItalo Calvino once said that he preferred to give false details about his biography since he felt that even the genuine data of a writer''s life shed no light on the creative work. But this volume of posthumously collected personal writings is the closest we will ever come to the autobiography of this most private of writers. The pieces collected here range from the early 1950s to his last interview, completed just before his sudden death in 1985. Apart from providing a glimpse into his own formative experiences and evolution as an author, Calvino''s autobiographical writings also examine the major events of twentieth-century history from a very personal viewpoint. This volume is full of ideas on literature and other writers, all conveyed with the author''s distinctive lightness and intelligence.Italo Calvino, one of Italy''s finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and ra

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Book SynopsisTwo of the most important Buddhist tracts from JapanA Penguin ClassicBoth of these works on life’s fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, but each represents a different worldview. In Essays in Idleness, his lively and sometimes ribald collection of anecdotes, advice, and observations, Kenko displays his fascination with earthly matters. In the short memoir Hojoki, or The Ten Foot Square Hut, however, Chomei recounts his decision to withdraw from worldly affairs and live as a hermit.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, aTrade Review[Essays in Idleness is] a most delightful book, and one that has served as a model of Japanese style and taste since the 17th century. These cameo-like vignettes reflect the importance of the little, fleeting futile things, and each essay is Kenko himself * Asian Student *

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Book SynopsisEric Gill''s opinionated manifesto on typography argues that ''a good piece of lettering is as beautiful a thing to see as any sculpture or painted picture''. This essay explores the place of typography in culture and is also a moral treatise celebrating the role of craftsmanship in an industrial age. Gill, a sculptor, engraver, printmaker and creator of many classic typefaces that can be seen around us today, fused art, history and polemic in a visionary work which has been hugely influential on modern graphic design.''Written with clarity, humility and a touch of humour . . . timeless and absorbing'' Paul Rand, The New York Times''His lettering was clear, confident and hugely influential on the development of modern type design. The world has now caught up with Gill'' GuardianHow do we see the world around us? This is one of a number of pivotal works by creative thinkers like John Berger and Susan Sontag whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision for ever.

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Book Synopsis''One has often wondered whether upon the whole earth there is anything so unintelligent, so unapt to perceive how the world is really going, as an ordinary young Englishman of our upper class.''Poet, education reformer, social theorist and passionate critic of Victorian England, Matthew Arnold condemned an industrial society in ''bondage to machinery'' and argued instead that the wonder and joy of culture - in particular the ''sweetness and light'' of classical civilization - were essential to human life. The other pieces here, on literary criticism, schools, France, journalism and democracy, form a powerful call to arms from a writer who believed that the English needed to be taught not what to think, but how to think. Edited with an introduction by P. J. Keating.

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Book SynopsisA unique history of the Beats, in the words of the movement''s most central member, Allen Ginsberg, based on a seminal series of his lecturesIn 1977, twenty years after the publication of his landmark poem ''Howl'', Allen Ginsberg decided it was time to teach a course on the literary history of the Beat Generation - partly to preserve his own memories of those years. The Best Minds of My Generation presents the best of these candid, intimate and illuminating lectures, revealing Kerouac, Burroughs and the rest of the Beats as Ginsberg knew them: friends, confidantes, literary mentors and fellow visionaries in a group who started a revolution.''Marvellous ... spellbinding ... preserving intact the story of the literary movement Ginsberg led, promoted and never ceased to embody'' The New York Times Book Review''An awesome exhaustive feat ... fascinatingly readable'' Sunday Times''Astonishingly intimate ... Full of penetrating insight and fascinating literary gossip, the book is a major contribution to the core Beat canon ... situates the Beats in cultural history in a way that no other exploration of their work does'' San Francisco Chronicle

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“For journalism students and other aspiring writers of nonfiction, it’s a treasure trove of inside advice, woven around 24 articles written during the 23 years she has been on the staff of the Tampa Bay Times. For anyone who loves the craft of writing and the magic of story, the anthology is a feast.” * Tampa Bay Times *"Tampa Bay Times reporter DeGregory debuts with a perceptive collection of 24 of her most popular pieces for the Times, each enhanced with commentary and annotations explaining how she reported them. . . . The entries testify to the rich panorama of human experience and the writing guidance is a boon. Aspiring journalists will want to check this out. " * Publishers Weekly *“I have been studying (and teaching) DeGregory’s stories for years. There is no one like her. In addition to being a showcase of her best work, this book is full of practical advice about how she’s able to pull off what seems impossible, over and over.” * Christopher Goffard, Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer for the Los Angeles Times *“DeGregory performs magic in this beautiful, heartfelt book of stories—and then teaches you how she did it. This is a book for anyone who loves reading, writing, or both.” * Mike Wilson, deputy sports editor for the New York Times *“I was barely a third of the way through ‘The Girl in the Window’ and Other True Tales and ready to swear on my stack of AP Stylebooks that I had never read a better collection of great journalism. And that’s only half of what this anthology by Tampa Bay Times writer Lane DeGregory is. The other half comprises annotations alongside each story by the Pulitzer winner (for the title story) about the insights, decisions, roadblocks, asides, and changes in direction that occurred to her along the way. . . . While it’s great reading for reporters and writers . . . it would be interesting to anyone who wants a view of what ‘the media’—when it means ‘journalism’—is doing.” * Press Club of Southwest Florida *Table of ContentsForeword by Beth Macy Introduction Part 1. Short Stories 1. Talk to Strangers Diving Headlong into Sunny Eden: A Young Couple Flees Winter 2. Get a Life Zeke the Labrador: An Intuitive Dog Saves His Owner 3. Explore Rituals Finding the Right Words: A Boy Buys His First Valentine Spotlight: Finding Ideas 4. Wonder, Who Would Ever? Meet the “THE” Guy: Flag-Bearer of the Rodeo 5. Establish Intimacy A Brothers’ Bond: Autism Ties Twins Together 6. Don’t Judge The Truth Is Flexible: Learning How to Panhandle from the Pros 7. CAST Around Gone in a Flash: A Garbage Truck Driver Walks into a Bar 8. Unravel the Mystery A Message from Roger: Long Ago, a Boy Put a Note in a Bottle 9. Carve Out the Elephant Davion’s Prayer: A Teenage Orphan Goes to Church to Find a Family Part 2. On Assignment 10. Explore News Briefs The Saint and the Sacrifice: She Was Devoted to Her Sister but Wanted Her Life Back 11. Ignore Important People Stormy Daniels: The President’s Porn Star 12. Find a Guide Pulse Nightclub: Aftermath of the Orlando Shooting Tests a Young Man’s Courage 13. Listen to the Quiet The Storm Chaser: Riding out a Hurricane with the Weatherman 14. Wait for It Fast-Forward: IndyCar Champion’s Widow Faces a Dilemma with Their Young Sons Spotlight: Reporting 15. Go Back The Long Fall of Phoebe Jonchuck: Her Dad Threw Her off a Bridge into Tampa Bay 16. Find the Helpers Twelve Hours in an Intensive Care Unit: During the Pandemic Part 3. Narratives 17. Make a Difference The Girl in the Window: Can Love and a New Family Save a Feral Child? 18. Inhabit Their Heads Every Day Is Payday: His First Real Check 19. Braid Narratives The Last House in Rosewood: No One Asked the Owner about Her Story Spotlight: Writing and Editing 20. Follow the Story A Walk in the Woods: Miss Teen America Finds Freedom, for a Day 21. Find the Bruise on the Apple The Old Daredevil: Evel Knievel Comes Back to Earth 22. Use Their Voices The Swan Project: For Troubled Girls, Etiquette Classes Open Another World 23. Walk a Mile in Their Shoes Mr. Newton: A 99-Year-Old Man Still Sweeps a Seafood Factory 24. Get Personal I Brake for Bobo: A Boy Loses His Stuffed ElephantAcknowledgments

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Book SynopsisFrom one of the most talented young writers around: a deliciously funny, scathing and furiously intelligent collection of essays on where we are right now

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Book SynopsisVolume 1 of 3-volume set containing complete English text of all 13 books of the Elements plus critical apparatus analyzing each definition, postulate, and proposition. Covers textual and linguistic matters; mathematical analyses of Euclid''s ideas; commentators; refutations, supports, extrapolations, reinterpretations, and historical notes. Vol. 1 includes Introduction, Books I and II of Elements, lines, angles, intersections, etc.

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Book SynopsisLooking back at the last 35 years of Vanity Fair features on women, by women, with an introduction by editor in chief, Radhika Jones.

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Book SynopsisTWICE WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTIONFROM THE WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTIONTHE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHORIn this collection of essays, the author of Demon Copperhead and The Lacuna brings to us (out of one of history''s darker moments) an extended love song to the world we still have. From its opening parable gleaned from recent news about a lost child saved in an astonishing way, the book moves on to consider a world of surprising and hopeful prospects ranging from an inventive conservation scheme in a remote jungle to the backyard flock of chickens tended by the author''s small daughter.Whether she is contemplating the Grand Canyon, her vegetable garden, motherhood, adolescence, genetic engineering, TV-watching, the history of civil rights, or the future of a nation founded on the best of all human impulses, these essays are grounded in the author''s belief that our largest problems have grownTrade Review'Kingsolver's passion and poise win you over. She gets at large issues through personal and botanical details' Ruth Padel, Financial Times

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Book SynopsisAlready a bestseller, this is a wonderfully entertaining collection of Alan Bennett''s prose writings. Writing Home brings together diaries, reminiscences and reviews to give us a unique and unforgettable portrait of one of England''s leading playwrights. As a memoir it covers the production of his very first play, Forty Years On, which starred John Gieldgud, as well as many other important productions. His television series ''Talking Heads'' has become a modern-day classic; as part of the 1960s revue ''Beyond the Fringe'' Bennett helped to kick-start the English satire revolution, and has since remained one of our leading dramatists, most recently with The History Boys at the National Theatre. At the heart of the book is The Lady in The Van, since adapted into a radio play featuring Dame Maggie Smith. It is the true account of Miss Mary Shepherd, a homeless tramp who took up residence in Bennett''s garden and stayed for fifteen years. This new e

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Book Synopsis'Order her book. That's an order.' Miranda Hart'Brimming with wit and honesty' Nina Stibbe'Fantastically entertaining' Marina Hyde'I absolutely bloody loved this book. Funny, relatable, easy to read, deep, shallow and everything in between.' Philippa PerryOne of Stylist's Best Memoirs for Summer 2021Multi-award-winning television writer and producer Georgia Pritchett knows a thing or two about anxiety.From worrying about the monsters under her bed as a child (Were they comfy enough?), to embracing womanhood, (One way of knowing you have crossed from girlhood to womanhood is that men stop furtively masturbating at you from bushes and start shouting things at you from cars. It's a beautiful moment) worry has accompanied her at every turn.This memoir is a joyful reflection on just how to live - and sometimes even thrive (sometimes not) - with anxiety.

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Book Synopsis'A book all should read, particularly white people.' Irish Times'A powerful - and varied - portrait of the Black British experience.' GuardianBLACK BRITISH LIVES MATTER is a clarion call for equality, from nineteen of the most prominent Black figures in Britain today. Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder introduce an essential collection of essays arguing how and why we need to fight for Black lives to matter - not just for Black people, but for British society as a whole. Writing across a wide range of subjects, and drawing on personal experience, all nineteen writers explore the unique contributions, perspectives and importance of Black Britons to the UK and beyond. It is both a celebration of Black British lives and an urgent, agenda-setting manifesto for change. Contributors include David Olusoga, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Kit de Waal, Dr Anne-Marie-Imafidon, Sir David Adjaye, Leroy Logan and Professor Kehinde Andrews.

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Book Synopsis'A writing career which is the most consistently adventurous of any British dramatist.' ObserverRecording dizzying changes in culture and politics, this is a powerful compilation of prose and poetry by one of the distinctive thinkers of our time. The elegant essays range from a celebration of Mad Men to a diagnosis of the incoherence of Conservatism in the new century. The poems, in contrast, are private, tender meditations.'Always, there is a breadth and a caustic wit reminiscent of his idol Chekhov.' Spectator'David Hare's great quality has always been his refusal to accept the division between fact and imagination. His creative invention is fired by public realities and in turn he makes those realities feel deeply personal. That same quality is wonderfully at work in his essays and poems. Whether he is writing about Tony Blair or Joan Didion, whether he is writing out of love or rage, evoking the intimate moments of his own life or the great

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Book SynopsisOf more than seventy works by Varro (116–27 BC) we have only his treatise On Agriculture and part of his On the Latin Language, a work typical of its author’s interest not only in antiquarian matters but also in the collection of scientific facts, and containing much of very great value to the study of the Latin language.

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Book Synopsis''An extraordinarily diverse collection; pure Walker, fresh-eyed and sassy'' NEW YORK TIMESLiving by the Word is a memorable collection of essays, letters and journal extracts from Pulitzer Prize winner, Alice Walker.In her own immaculate prose, Alice Walker opens an intimate window to her world - whether it be her troubled relationship with her father, her upbringing amidst the poverty of rural Georgia, her daughter Rebecca, or simply her joy in choosing plants for her garden, planning the colours of her home, or relishing the taste of freshly picked vegetables. In other essays she explores themes such as the nature of dreams, justice, folklore and the role of ancestors. She details the story of Dessie Woods who was sent to jail for murdering her would-be rapist and highlights the role of racism and prejudice in the law''s treatment of black women.Finally we travel with her on her journey to China, to Bali, and a visit to Nine Miles - the

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Book SynopsisCarry the Bard with you wherever you go with this illustrated miniature hardcover gift of Shakespeare's sonnets. This is the perfect miniature gift for any poetry or drama history lover. Once it blooms, it changes everything. Love is uplifting, enlightening, transforming. In this timeless collection of more than 80 sonnets, William Shakespeare pays tribute to our most beautiful emotion. Read and share them with the one you love.RP Mini books measure approximately 2.5 inches by 3 inches tall, carefully bound for a great reading experience, and illustrated throughout. 

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Book SynopsisAnglo-English Attitudes brings together Geoff Dyer''s best journalism and other writing from 1984-99. There are studied meditations on photographers (Robert Capa, William Gedney, Cartier-Bresson), painters (Bonnard, Gauguin), musicians (Coltrane, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), and close critical engagements with writers including Camus, Michael Ondaatje and Martin Amis. Also here are idiosyncratic reflections on boxing, comics, Airfix models and Action Man, and often hilarious accounts of his ''misadventures''.Trade ReviewDyer's books are among the most fresh and eclectic in contemporary letters... Because he has fought to preserve his own voice and style, never allowing them to become flattened into cliche; because he writes about his enthusiasms, Dyer's has long been a name to look out for amid the gossip, prurient interviews and celebrity trash of modern newspapers. That he exists at all, in such ruthlessly materialistic times - unattached to any newspaper, always on the move - is a celebration in itself. This book, a tribute to his persistence and originality, deserves to have a long after-life -- Jason Cowley * * The Times * *One of the most rewarding books to emerge from Britain in the last twelve months, 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' alike * * Modern Painters * *Pick up this book and you will find something interesting on every page * * Independent * *For the sheer diversity of his passions, his career is already hard to beat -- Simon Garfield * * Financial Times * *

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Book SynopsisWith contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Robert Macfarlane, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling, Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak''This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book...''So begins the essay by Robert Macfarlane that inspired this collection. In this cornucopia of an anthology, you will find essays by some of the world''s most beloved novelists, nonfiction writers, essayists and poets. ''You will see books taking flight in flocks, migrating around the world, landing in people''s hearts and changing them for a day or a year or a lifetime. ''You will see books sparking wonder or anger; throwing open windows into other languages, other cultureTrade ReviewPerfect for book lovers. * RED MAGAZINE *

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Book SynopsisThis edited collection brings together twelve essays by leading and upcoming scholars, the aim of which is to contribute critically to conceptions of sustainability from the standpoint of environmental literary scholarship. The book will be of interest to scholars and advanced students in ecocriticism and related fields. -- .

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