Essays Books

Book SynopsisThe climate crisis is here. Our chance to stop it has come and gone, but this doesn't have to mean the world is ending.If you care about the planet, and about the people and animals who live on it, there are two ways to think about this. You can keep on hoping that catastrophe is preventable, and feel ever more frustrated or enraged by the world's inaction. Or you can accept that disaster is coming, and begin to rethink what it means to have hope.'The honesty and realism of Jonathan Franzen's writings on climate have been widely denounced and just as widely celebrated. Here, in his definitive statement on the subject, Franzen confronts the world's failure to avert destabilising climate change and takes up the question: Now what?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

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Book SynopsisA hero of mine, a moral as well as literary giant' Simon SchamaAmos Oz, the internationally acclaimed author of A Tale of Love and Darkness and Judas, grew up in war-torn Jerusalem, where as a boy he witnessed first-hand the poisonous consequences of fanaticism. In How To Cure a Fanatic Amos Oz analyses the historical roots of violence and confronts truths about the extremism nurtured throughout society. By bringing us face to face with fanaticism he suggests ways in which we can all respond. From the author of A Tale of Love and Darkness and Man Booker International Prize shortlisted Judas.He was the conscience of Israel' Roger Cohen, New York TimesTrade ReviewA short, clear-sighted and unsentimental masterpiece about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- Mark Damazer * New Statesman *This is a book designed to be taken out into the world... Patient, cogent and an exquisite thinker, Oz is a rare blast of sanity and intelligence. Read, learn and take heart * Guardian *A bloodless victory over fanaticism * The Times *Nobody has chronicled modern Israel more faithfully than Amos Oz, and these bleak vignettes of village life in a country riddled with anxiety find him at his unsparing best -- Sally Cousins * Sunday Telegraph *Amos Oz is the voice of sanity coming out of confusion -- Nadine Gordimer

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Book SynopsisFirst and foremost an outcry against injustice and inhumanity, Unto this Last is also a closely argued assault on the science of political economy, which dominated the Victorian period. Ruskin was a profoundly conservative man who looked back to the Middle Ages as a Utopia, yet his ideas had a considerable influence on the British socialist movement. And in making his powerful moral and aesthetic case against the dangers of unhindered industrialization he was strangely prophetic. This volume shows the astounding range and depth of Ruskin''s work, and in an illuminating introduction the editor reveals the consistency of Ruskin''s philosophy and his adamant belief that questions of economics, art and science could not be separated from questions of morality. In Ruskin''s words, ''There is no Wealth but Life.''Table of ContentsEdited with an Introduction and Notes by Clive WilmerIntroductionChronologyFurther ReadingThe King of the Golden RiverFrom The Stones of Venice, Volume IIThe Nature of GothicFrom The Two PathsThe Work of Iron, in Nature, Art, and PolicyFrom Modern Painters, Volume VThe Two BoyhoodsUnto This LastPrefaceEssay I: The Roots of HonourEssay II: The Veins of WealthEssay III: Qui Judicatis TerramEssay IV: Ad ValoremFrom The Crown of Wild OliveTrafficFrom Sesame and LiliesOf Kings' TreasuriesFrom Fors ClavigeraLetter 7: CharitasLetter 10: The Baron's GateNotes

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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 SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of the most dazzling luminaries of contemporary American fiction * Sunday Times *A prose magician, Mr Wallace was capable of writing . . . about subjects from tennis to politics to lobsters, from the horrors of drug withdrawal to the small terrors of life aboard a luxury cruise ship, with humour and fervour and verve -- Michiko Kakutani * The New York Times *A heady reminder of why we got hooked in the first place * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisAcclaimed author of On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored and On KindnessA collection of literary essays like no other - exploring the deep connections between literature and psychoanalysis - from Britain''s leading psychoanalyst.For Adam Phillips - as for Freud and many of his followers - poetry and poets have always held an essential place, as both precursors and unofficial collaborators in the psychoanalytic project. But the same has never held true in reverse. What, Phillips wonders, at the start of this deeply engaging book, has psychoanalysis meant for writers? And what can writing do for psychoanalysis?Phillips explores these questions through an exhilarating series of encounters with - and vivid readings of - writers he has loved, from Byron and Barthes to Shakespeare and Sebald. And in the process he demonstrates, through his own unique style, how literature and psychoanalysis can speak to and of each other.''Adam PTrade ReviewPublisher's description. Adam Phillips explores the relationship between psychoanalysis and writing in a thrillingly erudite sequence of essays. From Byron to Barthes and Shakespeare to Sebald, Phillips demonstrates how literature and psychoanalysis are closely interlinked, sharing many ideas, theories and narratives. * Penguin *

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Book SynopsisOutspoken writings by the founder of modern nursing record fundamentals in the needs of the sick that must be provided in all nursing. Covers such timeless topics as ventilation, noise, food, bed and bedding, light, cleanliness, and observation of the sick. Still the finest book on nursing. Co-Evolution Quarterly.

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Book SynopsisONE OF THE WHITE REVIEW''S BEST BOOKS OF 2019Elizabeth Hardwick''s iconic essay collection Seduction and Betrayal is a radical portrait of women and literature, reissued with a new introduction by Deborah Levy.''Hardwick''s sentences are burned in my brain.'' - Susan SontagSidelined. Betrayed. Killed off. Elizabeth Hardwick dissects the history of women and literature. In her most virtuoso work of criticism, she explores the lives of the Brontës, Woolf, Eliot and Plath; the fate of literary wives such as Zelda Fitzgerald and Jane Carlyle; and the destinies of fictional heroines from Richardson''s Clarissa to Ibsen''s Nora. With fierce empathy and biting wit, Hardwick mines their childhoods, families, and personalities to probe the costs of sex, love, and marriage. Shattering the barrier between writing and life, she asks who is the seducer and who the seduced; who the victim and who the vi

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Book SynopsisAuthor of the Booker-longlisted novel Second Place'Cements her reputation as one of the most fierce and elegant chroniclers of how we live now.' Stephanie Merritt, ObserverCoventry is a collection of essays about choices, womanhood and art.

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Book SynopsisBY THE WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR JOURNALISM 2023*Includes additional material*A powerful collection of journalism on race, racism and black life and death from one of the nation's leading political voices.Outstanding.' BERNARDINE EVARISTOSharp and grounded.' NEW STATESMANCompelling.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENTTimeless.' AFUA HIRSCHHumane.' JOHN LEGENDImpressive.' JEREMY CORBYNFor the last three decades, Gary Younge has sat ringside with the most significant personalities to impact the black diaspora and been on the frontline of historic events. He has witnessed the possibilities of change and the power of systems to thwart those aspirations. Dispatches from the Diaspora is an unrivalled body of work from a unique perspective that compels you to imagine a world in which you might thrive, for which there is no evidence. And then fight for it.'

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the NBCC Award for Criticism ‘Nothing about Jenny Diski is conventional. Diski does not do linear, or normal, or boring ... highly intelligent, furiously funny’ Sunday Times 'Funny, heartbreaking, insightful and wise' Emilia Clarke ‘She expanded notions about what nonfiction, as an art form, could do and could be’ New Yorker Jenny Diski was a fearless writer, for whom no subject was too difficult, even her own cancer diagnosis. Her columns in the London Review of Books – selected here by her editor and friend Mary-Kay Wilmers, on subjects as various as death, motherhood, sexual politics and the joys of solitude – have been described as ‘virtuoso performances’, and ‘small masterpieces’. From Highgate Cemetery to the interior of a psychiatric hospital, from Tottenham Court Road to the icebergs of Antarctica, Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told? is a collective interrogation of the universal experience from a very particular psyche: original, opinionated – and mordantly funny.Trade ReviewOne of the most electrifying memoirists of her generation ... A superb volume of autobiographical fragments * Daily Telegraph *One of the most inventive writers of her generation * Independent *She is savagely good company * Daily Telegraph *Diski is one of the language's great, if under-appreciated, stylists * Guardian *The appeal of Diski’s essays was the appeal of Diski herself … brilliant, irritable, mordant, and humane * Paris Review *

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Book Synopsis'Where are we to begin? How are we to bring order into this multitudinous chaos and so get the deepest and widest pleasure from what we read?'Published for the first time as a standalone volume, Virginia Woolf's short, impassioned essay, How Should One Read a Book? celebrates the enduring importance of great literature. In this timeless manifesto on the written word, rediscover the joy of reading and the power of a good book to change the world.One of the most significant modernist writers of the 20th Century, Virginia Woolf and her visionary essays are as relevant today as they were nearly one hundred years ago.Features a new introduction by Sheila Heti.

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Book Synopsis'Ought to become a classic. It is an enshrinement of [Meades's] intense baroque and catholic cleverness' Roger Lewis, The Times'One of the foremost prose stylists of his age in any register . . . Probably we don’t deserve Meades, a man who apparently has never composed a dull paragraph' Steven Poole, Guardian'There are more gems in this wonderful book than I could cram into a dozen of these columns' Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph'Such a useful and important critic . . . He is very much on the reader’s side, bringing his full wit to bear on every single thing he writes' Nicholas Lezard, SpectatorThis landmark publication collects three decades of writing from one of the most original, provocative and consistently entertaining voices of our time. Anyone who cares about language and culture should have this book in their life.Thirty years ago, Jonathan Meades published a volume of reportorial journalism, essays, criticism, squibs and fictions called Peter Knows What Dick Likes. The critic James Wood was moved to write: ‘When journalism is like this, journalism and literature become one.’Pedro and Ricky Come Again is every bit as rich and catholic as its predecessor. It is bigger, darker, funnier and just as impervious to taste and manners. It bristles with wit and pin-sharp eloquence, whether Meades is contemplating northernness in a German forest or hymning the virtues of slang.From the indefensibility of nationalism and the ubiquitous abuse of the word ‘iconic’, to John Lennon’s shopping lists and the wine they call Black Tower, the work assembled here demonstrates Meades's unparalleled range and erudition, with pieces on cities, artists, sex, England, France, concrete, faith, politics, food, history and much, much more.Trade Review 'Ought to become a classic. It is an enshrinement of [Meades's] intense baroque and catholic cleverness' Roger Lewis, The Times 'One of the foremost prose stylists of his age in any register . . . Probably we don’t deserve Meades, a man who apparently has never composed a dull paragraph' Steven Poole, Guardian 'There are more gems in this wonderful book than I could cram into a dozen of these columns' Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph 'As Meades puts it, who wants friendliness from books or from buildings? . . . Meades has sought to make a book shaped like his beloved Blenheim Palace: brutalist, arrogant; a moving finger' Frances Wilson, TLS 'Such a useful and important critic . . . There is not a sentence here that is not armoured with intelligence, and very few, if any, that are not, in their way, a delight to read' Nicholas Lezard, Spectator 'Meades has the panache and fearlessness to pull it all off' Literary Review 'The consistency in quality and style are remarkable . . . It’s writing that has a pop; essaying that puts its pint glass down with a slam, then offers you another. Positively curt and classy' Irish Times 'This vast compendium has something to inform, amuse, shock or repulse on nearly every page' Paul Finch, Architects' Journal 'Gargantuan and whip-smart . . . Meades emerges as a fiercely independent thinker and a formidable intellect. His acerbic style carries the day, and readers bored of dry criticism will relish these piquant ripostes' Publishers Weekly

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Book Synopsis'Too good... You should read her and not look away' Anne Enright, Guardian 'The stories are essays, the essays are stories. Even when they are not literally true, they contain the kind of truth that great fiction thrives on' The Times 'Literature's best kept secret' Independent Weaving a complex tapestry drawn from interviews, anecdotes, moments from Beard's own life, and sheer imagination, these extraordinary pieces embody the hospitality of spectacular writing: they are spaces you fall into and are reluctant to leave. From the intimate drama of everyday life - school crushes, dog clinics, divorce - to the terror and excitement of a fox lurking by a campsite or a murderer in your home, Beard flawlessly distils what it means to live deeply as we hurtle through wonder and grief, love and heartbreak. Bringing together pieces from Beard's first collection, The Boys of My Youth, and Festival Days, which was published two decades later, The Collected Works showcases Jo Ann Beard's impressive breadth, quiet brilliance, and timeless prose.Trade ReviewA writer always at the top of her game ... she brings to bear a poet's precision, a novelist's empathy and an essayist's concentrated thought -- Mia Levitin * Irish Times *Violence and death are balanced by hard-won, transcendent joy in Beard's remarkable stories * Spectator *The stories are essays, the essays are stories. Even when they are not literally true, they contain the kind of truth that great fiction thrives on ... the collected works here make me - as a reader - delirious with admiration and - as a writer - furious with envy -- John Self * The Times *Beard has a distinctive, arresting voice, whether she is evoking the frustrations of early childhood, describing desolately beautiful landscapes, or comparing notes with friends about breaking marriages * Sunday Times *As controlled and convincing as art * Times Literary Supplement *Jo Ann Beard's work impresses me no end. Funny without being sitcomish, self-aware without being self-absorbed, scrupulous without being fussy, emotional without being sentimental, pointed without being cruel - I could go on and on with these distinctions, all in Beard's favour, but instead I'll just say that she is a fantastic writer, an Athena born fully formed out of her own painstaking head -- Jeffrey Eugenides, author of The Virgin SuicidesBeard's curiosity and amazement are contagious * Financial Times *Jo Ann Beard is a remarkably modest writer, a kind of literary celebrity ... readers who become fans of her work view it with the kind of amazement associated with human and literal stars -- Mary GaitskillJo Ann Beard is a formidable talent. Her writing is darkly moving, full of audacious narrative surprises, and, at times, unexpectedly - almost unbearably - suspenseful -- Geoff DyerA towering talent ... Perhaps instead of an essayist we should think of her as a poet-naturalist, wedding intuition and observation, and forming from this union something unaccountably yet undeniably real * New York Times Book Review *Brilliant, like nobody else -- Elizabeth McCrackenReading Jo Ann Beard is like setting out on a walk with a curious and intelligent friend who is determined to show you how seemingly unrelated things share a secret kinship -- Adrienne BrodeurGenerous, beautifully observed, compassionate and, at times, genuinely funny -- A L KennedyBeard's power comes from phrasings and insights that aren't just screaming for likes. Few writers are so wise and self-effacing and emotionally honest all in one breath... she effects an intimacy that makes us want to sit on the rug and listen -- Sara Lippmann * Washington Post *[Beard's] books are worth the wait. A master of sensory details, she also writes with humor, melancholy and a love of animals that never borders on saccharine... In her work, even everyday moments gleam with significance -- Michele Filgate * Los Angeles Times *A master of creative nonfiction, Beard explores life's most salient moments through facts that she sometimes fractures -- Amy Sutherland * Boston Globe *Intimate, intelligent, intense - and ultimately comforting * People Magazine *Charged with fine detail... Beard is so good at what she does... In Beard's book, writing works like compound interest, each experience building on the last, which built on the one before -- Ellen Akins * Minneapolis Star-Tribune *This writer has blown my mind. The Boys of My Youth and Cheri feature some of the finest writing I've read in many a moon. Obsessed -- Adelle Stripe, author of Ten Thousand Apologies

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Book SynopsisWalter Benjamin is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic intellectual figures of this century. Not only was he a thinker who made an enormous impact with his critical and philosophical writings, he shattered disciplinary and stylistic conventions. This collection, introduced by Susan Sontag, contains the most representative and illuminating selection of his work over a twenty-year period, and thus does full justice to the richness and the multi-dimensional nature of his thought. Included in these pages are aphorisms and townscapes, esoteric meditation and reminiscences of childhood, and reflections on language, psychology, aesthetics and politics.Trade ReviewThe most important German aesthetician and literary critic of this century -- George SteinerBenjamin was one of the unclassifiable ones ... whose work neither fits the existing order nor introduces a new genre. -- Hannah ArendtBenjamin was the interlocutor of all the demons and angels of storytelling. And this is why he knew its endless secrets. Listen to him. -- John BergerA complex and brilliant writer * J. M. Coetzee *

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Book SynopsisFor four centuries, Logavina Street was a quiet residential road in a city known for its ethnic tolerance and cosmopolitan charm. Muslims, Christians, Serbs and Croats lived easily together, sharing an identity as Bosnians. Then the war tore their lives apart. Often without heat, water, food or electricity, they evaded daily sniper fire and witnessed horrific deaths. Neighbours and friends turned into deadly enemies. In this intimate eyewitness account, Barbara Demick weaves together the stories of ten families from Logavina Street, brilliantly illuminating one of the pivotal events of the twentieth century, and describes how, twenty years later, they are coping with the war's consequences. .

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Book SynopsisWoolf's fine character studies of several authors, among them Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who 'seems not a man, but a swarm, a cloud, a buzz of words, darting this way and that, clustering, quivering and hanging suspended'. He is, Woolf adds,so complex, so eccentric, that we 'become dazed in the labyrinth of what we call Coleridge'. He was incapable of adopting requisite social modes, of suppressing his obsessive urge to talk, of pandering to the expectations of others. Woolf tries to capture a 'clear picture' of Coleridge but this metaphor is skewed and what she really reveals is a voice - mad and beautiful - never to be heard again:Trade Review"The book explores the idea of the self in a very thought-provoking way and is a real treat for Woolf fans who like to analyze the more complex themes and ideas in her works.” —Virginia Woolf Blog “Underpinning all of the essays is the question of what it means to have a sense of self. A question that, in the age of the selfie, seems utterly topical.” —Julia Bell, Writers’ Hub, University College London “The essays...are sublime moments in intellectual history, while also being entertaining and accessible.” —Shiny New Books Table of ContentsIntroduction by Joanna Kavenna Note on the Text and Select Bibliography Modern Fiction Character in Fiction A Letter to a Young Poet How Should One Read a Book? The Man at the Gate Sara Coleridge William Hazlitt Professions for Women Evening over Sussex: Reflections in a Motor Car The Sun and the Fish Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid The Humane Art From A Writer's Diary Notes

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Book SynopsisThrough interviews conducted with surviving members of Soviet orchestras, through his reading of philosophers, psychoanalysts, and neurologists, Johnson paints a compelling picture of one man's music and its power to validate and sustain another man's life.Trade Review'How Shostakovich Changed My Mind' is one of the most powerful, honest, and profound revelations that exists on what it is that music means and does: it's just an essential document.' - Tom Service, Presenter, Music Matters; '... an intensely readable, highly personal analysis of the major works of a composer, who, Mr. Johnson decides, has recorded a collective experience for an all-inclusive listenership....All great music teeters the edge of madness. This troubled writer makes a convincing case that the music of Dmitri Shostakovich helped to save his mind. In life's crises, he suggests, each of us comes up against an internal siege of Leningrad, and music comes to your relief.' Norman Lebrecht, The Wall Street Journal; 'For Radio 3 presenter and journalist, Stephen Johnson, Shostakovich's music is nothing less than a matter of life and death. Johnson, a tireless and passionate advocate of the man and his works, explores how the fraught music of Shostakovich shepherded the Soviet Union through the dark times of Stalin and the Great Patriotic War - and also helped to pull Johnson, suffering from clinical depression, out of the suicidal depths of despair.' Classical Music Magazine;

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Book SynopsisFrantz Fanon wrote in 1961 that 'Decolonisation is always a violent phenomenon,' meaning that the violence of colonialism can only be counteracted in kind. As colonial legacies linger today, what are the ways in which we can disentangle literary translation from its roots in imperial violence? 24 writers and translators from across the world share their ideas and practices for disrupting and decolonising translation.“For the past few years, I’ve written and rewritten this line in journals and proposals: literary translation is a tool to make more vivid the relationships between Afro-descendent people in the Americas and around the world.” - Layla Benitez James

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Book SynopsisBook of Mutter is a tender and disquieting meditation on the ability of writing, photography, and memory to embrace shadows while in the throesand dead calmof grief. Neither memoir, essay, nor poetry, it is an uncategorisable text that draws upon a repertoire of genres to write into and against silence.

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Book SynopsisWhen Ana Maria Caballero's young son is diagnosed with epilepsy, her family collides with the reality of illness, but also with Western medicine. A Petit Mal follows the narrative arc of this blunt collision, one that plunges its readers into multiple alternative methods of healing and the spiritual implications therein. Caballero's boldly innovative book unfolds as a page-turner, one whose topics are especially relevant to audiences interested in wellness, not as yet another banner, but as a committed, practical approach to life.

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Book Synopsis20-something and uncertain about her future, Florentyna Leow is exhilarated when an old acquaintance offers her an opportunity for work and cohabitation in a little house in the hills of Kyoto. Florentyna begins a new job as a tour guide, taking tourists on elaborate and expensive trips around Kyoto's cultural hotspots. Amidst the busy tourist traps and overrun temples, Florentyna develops her own personal map of the city: a favourite smoky jazz kissa; a top-shelf katsuobushi loving cat; an elderly lady named Yamaguchi-san, who shares her sweets and gives Florentyna a Japanese name. Meanwhile, her relationship with her new companion develops an intensity as they live and work together. Their little kitchen, the epicenter of their shared life, overlooks a community garden dominated by a fruitful persimmon tree. Their relationship burns bright, but seasons change, the persimmon tree out back loses its fruit, and things grow strange between the two women.Trade Review"O would let Leow's writing take me anywhere, but in these pages Kyoto transpires to be a particularly meaningful and enchanted destination for her to transport her reader. Friendship, food, language, tour-guiding, and all the myriad kinds of love-whatever she's addressing in the moment, her fragrant, juice-filled prose is coated in a crispy-soft casing of wisdom, self awareness and compassion." - Polly Barton, author of Fifty Sounds; "This writing is so beautiful it makes you feel tipsy and warm like a sherry at Christmas." - Kathryn Williams, singer, songwriter and novelist (The Ormering Tide); "So atmospheric and transporting, I couldn’t wait to get back to it and keep reading." - Emily Itami, author of Fault Lines; "The book does not gush about Japan, which I appreciate, nor does it tear it down. She never holds back when it comes to her own emotions. But when it comes to the outside world in which she positions herself as an onlooker, she is generous, funny, blunt as she needs to be, mindful of where she stands. The persimmon tree. Just read how she writes about the persimmon tree. You will fall in love." - Yuki Tejima, @booknerdtokyo; "Leow's collection is a beautifully written exploration of friendship, making a city your home and heartbreak through food writing, travel, cultural and social explorations and elements of memoir. It should be too much for such a slim volume, but it works perfectly." - Sophie for Books, Burgers and Backpacks; "Leow has a way with words that carried me into each moment so evocatively that I devoured this short novel in one session: there is a lyricism to every description she delivers...The writing is beautiful, the language evocative and the experience of reading this one to remember. I definitely recommend getting hold of a copy" - Bookaholic Bex; "It took approximately one sentence for me to know this was going to be one of my favourite books of this year. Leow's storytelling is simply exquisite and I could envision the settings and moment so vividly in my mind that I barely wanted to put the book down to write this. It's a book that I want to both devour immediately but also savour slowly to try and appreciate the work Leow has put into it" - Rhi, @thewordslikedust

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Book Synopsis''It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met...''Moonlight, sake, spring blossom, idle moments, a woman''s hair - these exquisite reflections on life''s fleeting pleasures by a thirteenth-century Japanese monk are delicately attuned to nature and the senses.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin''s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Yoshida Kenko (c. 1283-1352). Kenko''s work is included in Penguin Classics in <

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Book Synopsis‘I will write to avenge my people.’ It was as a young woman that Annie Ernaux first wrote these words in her diary, giving a name to her purpose in life as a writer. She returns to them in her stirring defence of literature and of political writing in her Nobel Lecture, delivered in Stockholm on 7 December 2022. To write of her own life, she asserts, is to ‘shatter the loneliness of experiences endured and repressed’; to mine individual experience is to find collective emancipation. Ernaux’s speech is a bold assertion of the capacity of writing to give people a sense of their own worth, and of one writer’s commitment to bearing witness to life, its joys and its injustices.Trade Review‘Ernaux has inherited de Beauvoir’s role of chronicler to a generation.’ — Margaret Drabble, New Statesman‘Her work attests to the ways in which an individual story is linked to shared histories and her documentation of personal oppression is part of a struggle for collective freedom.’ — Jessica Andrews, Elle UK

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Book SynopsisA deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John GreenThe Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.

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Book SynopsisA powerful meditation on ageing and familial love, I Remain in Darkness recounts Annie Ernaux's attempts to help her mother recover from Alzheimer's disease, and then, when that proves futile, to bear witness to the older woman's gradual decline and her own experience as a daughter losing a beloved parent. Haunting and devastatingly poignant, I Remain in Darkness showcases Ernaux's unique talent for evoking life's darkest and most bewildering episodes.Trade Review‘Acute and immediate, I Remain in Darkness is an unforgettable exploration of love, memory and the journey to loss.’ — Eimear McBride, author of Strange Hotel‘Ernaux writes of memory, of love, of loathing, of disgust, of tenderness; she writes about the frail, leaking, helpless, horrifying body, about the porous self. The narrative was always death. Writing was always an act of betrayal.’ — Nicci Gerrard, The Spectator‘Ernaux’s mother died of Alzheimer’s disease; like John Bayley’s memoir Elegy for Iris, Ernaux’s memoir catalogues the deterioration of a once powerful, almost totemic presence, a fall so cataclysmic that it cannot be analyzed or contextualized, only reported. In I Remain in Darkness (its title taken from the last coherent sentence her mother ever wrote) Ernaux abandons her search for a larger truth because, in the face of a loss as profound as that of her mother, all attempts to make sense of it have the feel of artifice.’ — Kathryn Harrison, New York Times Book Review‘A testament to the persistent, haunting, and melancholy quality of memory.’ — New York Times

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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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Book SynopsisW.G. Sebald was born in Wertach im Allgäu, Germany in 1944. He studied German language and literature in Freiburg, Switzerland and Manchester. In 1966 he took up a position as an assistant lecturer at the University of Manchester, and settled permanently in England in 1970. He was Professor of European Literature at the University of East Anglia, and the author of The Emigrants, which won a series of major awards, including the Berlin Literature Prize, the Heinrich Böll Prize, the Heinrich Heine Prize and the Joseph Breitbach Prize; The Rings of Saturn, and Vertigo. W.G. Sebald wrote in his native tongue, German, and worked closely with his translator, Michael Hulse, to translate his work into English. He died in December 2001.Michael Hulse has translated Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther and Jacob Wasserman's Caspar Hauser, as well as the contemporary German authors Luise Rinser, Botho Strauss and Elfriede Jelinek. He is also an award-Trade ReviewA novel of ideas with a difference: it is nothing but ideas. Framed around the narrator's long walks in East Anglia, Sebald shows how one man looks aslant at historical atrocity. Formally dexterous, fearlessly written (why shouldn't an essay be a novel?), and unremittingly arcane; by the end I was in tears -- Teju Cole * Guardian *A great, strange and moving work * James Wood, Guardian *The finest book of long-distance mental travel that I've ever read * Jonathan Raban, Times Literary Supplement *A desperate intensity of feeling is thrillingly counterpoised by the workings of a wonderfully learned and rigorous mind * Sunday Times *Sebald is surely a major European author...he reaches the heights of epiphanic beauty only encountered normally in the likes of Proust * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisMarshall McLuhan was a Canadian educator, philosopher and scholar - a professor of English Literature, a literary critic and a communications theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. McLuhan is known for coining the expressions 'the medium is the message' and the 'global village'.

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Book SynopsisDiscover Henry David Thoreau’s two inspiring masterworks in one combined, exquisite edition from Union Square & Co.’s Signature Gilded Editions series! The stunning combinedWalden and “Civil Disobedience” special edition features sprayed edges, color end pages, a built-in ribbon bookmark, and embossed foil cover. The beautiful design and attention to detail set this special edition book apart, whether you’re reading for the first time or building a library of your favorite classic literature books.  “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” — “Economy,” Walden   “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” —“Civil Disobedience”   Henry David Thoreau reflects on life, politics, and society in these two inspiring masterworks: Walden and 'Civil Disobedience.' In 1845, Thoreau moved to a cabin that he built with his own hands along the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts. Shedding the trivial ties that he felt bound much of humanity, Thoreau drew both physical and mental inspiration from the land, and he pursued truth in the quiet of nature. In Walden, he explains how separating oneself from the world of men can fully awaken the sleeping self. Thoreau holds fast to the notion that you have not truly existed until you adopt such a lifestyle—and only then can you reenter society as an enlightened being. These simple but profound musings—as well as 'Civil Disobedience,' his protest of the government's interference with civil liberty—have inspired many to embrace his philosophy of individualism and his love of nature. More than a century and a half later, his message is timelier than ever.  

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Book SynopsisBetween 58 and 50BC Caesar conquered most of the area now covered by France, Belgium and Switzerland, and twice invaded Britain. This is the record of his campaigns.Caesar''s narrative offers insights into his military strategy & paints a fascinating picture of his encounters with the inhabitant of Gaul and Britain, as well as offering lively portraits of a number of key characters such as the rebel leaders and Gallic chieftains. This can also be read as a piece of political propaganda, as Caesar sets down his version of events for the Roman public, knowing that he faces civil war on his return to Rome.Table of ContentsThe Conquest of GaulIntroduction1. Roman politics in the late Republic2. Gaul and its inhabitants3. The course of the war4. Caesar the man5. Caesar as author6. Preface to second editionSuggestions for Further ReadingCaesar the Conquest of GaulBook I: The Expulsion of Intruders1. Repulse of the Helvetii (58 B.C.)2. Expulsion of Ariovistus from Gaul (58 B.C)Book II: The Conquest of the Belgic Tribes1. Collapse of the Belgic coalition (57 B.C.)2. Piecemeal conquest of the Belgic tirbes (57 B.C.)Book III: The First Rebellion1. Unsuccessful campaign in the Alps (57 B.C.)2. The fight on the Atlantic coast (56 B.C.)3. Victorious campaign in Aquitania (56 B.C.)4. Indecisive campaign against the Morini (56 B.C.)Book IV: Invasions of Germany and Britain1. Massacre of the Usipetes and Tenctheri (55 B.C.)2. The first crossing of the Rhine (55 B.C.)3. The first invasion of Britain (55 B.C.)Book V: The Second Rebellion1. The second invasion of Britain (54 B.C.)2. Destruction of Sabinus' army by the Eburones (54 B.C.)3. Attack by the Nervii on Cicero's winter camp (54 B.C.)4. Widespread revolts in northern and central Gaul (54-53 B.C.)Book VI: Operations Near the Rhine1. The Treveri routed (53 B.C.)2. The second crossing of the Rhine (53 B.C.)3. Customs and institutions of the Gauls4. Customs and institutions of the Germans5. Devastation of the country of the Eburones (53 B.C.)Book VII: The Rebellion of Vercingetorix1. The opening stage (52 B.C.)2. Siege and capture of Avaricum (52 B.C.)3. Roman reverse at Gergovia (52 B.C.)4. Vercingetorix's defeat in open warfare (52 B.C.)5. Siege and capture of Alesia (52 B.C.)Book VIII: The Final Rebellion1. Hirtius' preface2. Revolts of the Bituriges, Carnutes and Bellovaci (52-51 B.C.)3. The last encounters; capture of Uxellodunum (51 B.C.)4. Civil war impendsNotesAppendicesI. The TextII. The Roman ArmyIII. Chronological Outline of the Career of CaesarGlossary of Persons and PlacesIndex to MapsMaps:1. Northern Gaul2. Southern Gaul3. Principal tribes of South-east Britain4. The siege of Alesia

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Book Synopsis''Genius ... bringing ardent intelligence to bear upon poetry, politics and autobiography'' Seamus HeaneyEssayist and poet Joseph Brodsky was one of the most penetrating voices of the twentieth century. This prize-winning collection of his diverse essays includes uniquely powerful appreciations of great writers: on Dostoevsky and the development of Russian prose, on Auden and Akhmatova, Cavafy, Montale and Mandelstam. These are contrasted with his reflections on larger themes of tyranny and evil, and subtle evocations of his childhood in Leningrad. Brodsky''s insightful appreciation of the intricacies of language, culture and identity connect these works, revealing his remarkable gifts as a prose writer.''Sparkles with intellect, and combines the precision of scholarship with the passion of the poet'' The TimesWinner of the Nobel Prize for LiteratureTrade Review'Sparkles with intellect, and combines the precision of scholarship with the passion of the poet' * The Times *'Genius ... bringing ardent intelligence to bear upon poetry, politics and autobiography' * Seamus Heaney *

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Book SynopsisControversy raged through England during the 1570-80s as Puritans denounced all manner of games & pastimes as a danger to public morals. Writers quickly turrned their attention to their own art and the first & most influential response came with Philip Sidney''s Defense. Here he set out to answer contemporary critics &, with reference to Classical models of criticism, formulated a manifesto for English literature. Also includes George Puttenham''s Art of English Poesy, Samuel Daniel''s Defence of Rhyme, & passages by writers such as Ben Jonson, Francis Bacon & George Gascoigne.

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Book SynopsisFrom New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, a memoir on her life as a writer, her childhood and the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory.In Where the Past Begins, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement Amy Tan is at her most intimate in revealing the truths and inspirations that underlie her extraordinary fiction.By delving into vivid memories of her traumatic childhood, confessions of self-doubt in her journals and heartbreaking letters to and from her mother, she gathers together evidence of all that made it both unlikely and inevitable that she would become a writer. Through spontaneous storytelling, she shows how a fluid fictional state of mind unleashed near-forgotten memories that became the emotional nucleus of her novels.Tan explores shocking truths uncovered by family memorabilia the real reason behind an I.Q. test she took at age six, why her parents lied about their education, mysteries surrounding her maternal grandmoTrade Review‘Tan writes about her parents with love and frustration and without sentimentality, and some of the book’s most effective sections are the ones that examine how her view of them was affected by discoveries made later in their lives or after their deaths. She also writes with great insight about her own creative process, and how it has been affected by everything from listening to music to chance encounters…This is a compelling exploration of both the personal and creative life of a fascinating woman’ Sunday Business Post ‘Remember Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother, the terrifying pushy-mother manifesto written by Chinese-American Amy Chua? Well, this book, by the other famous Chinese-American Amy, bestselling novelist Amy Tan, could be called Post-Battle Hymn Of The Damaged Daughter Of A Tiger Mother. Fascinating’ Daily Mail ‘It is a privilege to be given permission to rummage in any writer’s attic. Where The Past Begins yields treasure under the dust sheets… the introduction is breathtaking – all of Tan’s gifts, the ability to layer images, to command your attention, to shock you with a sudden slipping in of the knife are on display here’ Financial Times ‘She elaborates on the act of writing, the mechanics and results of her own imagination…Tan’s epiphanies and revelations often revive supressed memories…much of her questioning is focused on her mother’s life, parts of which may sound familiar to readers of Tan’s fiction’ Guardian ‘Richly varied, thought-provoking book. Where the Past Begins will surely gratify Tan’s many fans, and likely win her numerous new ones’ US Today Praise for Amy Tan: ‘Chinese-Americans are among the most dynamic, and socially cohesive, ethnic groups in the US … Tan is one of their leading voices’ Sunday Times ‘Tan is a prodigal with her talent. She weaves a dazzling web of unfamiliar colours, smells, tastes and landscapes’ Sunday Telegraph

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Book SynopsisThe world first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father.Kullervo son of Kalervo is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. Hapless Kullervo', as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny.Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and who tries three times to kill him when still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and guarded by the magical powers of the black dog, Musti. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruellest of fates.Tolkien wrote that The Story of Kullervo was the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own', and was a majTrade ReviewPraise for J.R.R. Tolkien:‘One marvels anew at the depth, breadth and persistence of J.R.R. Tolkien’s labour. No one sympathetic to his aims – the invention of a secondary universe – will want to miss this chance to be present at the creation.’Publishers Weekly

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