Essays Books
Faber & Faber Meaty
Book Synopsis**QUIETLY HOSTILE - THE HILARIOUS NEW BOOK FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR - IS AVAILABE TO PRE-ORDER NOW**ONE OF STYLIST''S BEST NEW BOOKS FOR 2020This is an unforgettable book.' Roxane Gay Meditations on the terror of love; tips for getting your disgusting meat carcass ready for some new, hot sex; a frank self-evaluation upon the occasion of one's 30th birthday; and, finally, the answer to the question on everyone's minds: Would dying alone really be so terrible? Blogger and comedian Samantha Irby covers it all with wit and honesty and serves it with a side of Instagram frittata.
£9.49
Faber & Faber Notes on the Death of Culture
Book Synopsis'The most approachable and exhilarating Latin American writer of our times.' Robert McCrum, ObserverIn the past, culture was a kind of vital consciousness that constantly rejuvenated and revivified everyday reality.
£13.49
Harvard University Press Moralia I
Book SynopsisPlutarch (ca. AD 45120) wrote on many subjects. His extant works other than the Parallel Lives are varied, about sixty in number, and known as the Moralia (Moral Essays). They reflect his philosophy about living a good life, and provide a treasury of information concerning Greco-Roman society, traditions, ideals, ethics, and religion.Trade ReviewThis miscellany of essays makes Plutarch the Montaigne or Hazlitt of antiquity. He is best known for his Lives, a series of parallel biographies of heroic exemplification describing the great men of Greece and Rome. But the Moralia are as rich, and even more diverse, containing much to instruct and entertain. Written in Greek during the course of Plutarch’s life—he flourished about 100 CE—they had an enormous influence on western culture until a century or two ago. Some are classics in every sense of the word… This is agreeable and civilised stuff, refreshingly contemporaneous despite having been matured for two thousand years in the casks of literature. -- A. C. Grayling * Financial Times *
£999.99
Harvard University Press Attic Nights Volume I
Book SynopsisAulus Gellius in Attic Nights (Gellius began to write these pieces during stays in Athens) composed a collection of short chapters about notable events, words and questions of literary style, lives of historical figures, legal points, and philosophical issues that served as instructive light reading for cultivated Romans.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Select Papyri Volume I
Book SynopsisGreek papyri relating to private and public business in Egypt from before 300 BC to the eighth century AD inform us about administration; social and economic conditions in Egypt; Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine law. They also offer glimpses of ordinary life.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Roman Antiquities Volume II
Book SynopsisThe main aim of Roman Antiquities, which began to appear in 7 BC, was to reconcile Greeks to Roman rule. Of the twenty books (from the earliest times to 264 BC) we have the first nine complete; most of 10 and 11; extracts; and an epitome of the whole.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Roman Antiquities Volume III
Book SynopsisThe main aim of Roman Antiquities, which began to appear in 7 BC, was to reconcile Greeks to Roman rule. Of the twenty books (from the earliest times to 264 BC) we have the first nine complete; most of 10 and 11; extracts; and an epitome of the whole.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Diseases 3. Internal Affections. Regimen in Acute
Book SynopsisOf the roughly seventy treatises in the Hippocratic Collection, many are not by Hippocrates (said to have been born in Cos in or before 460 BC), but they are essential sources of information about the practice of medicine in antiquity and about Greek theories concerning the human body, and he was undeniably the Father of Medicine.Trade ReviewPaul Potter...has brought to his task his considerable philological skills. He has done much more than produce excellent--that is, accurate and readable-- translations. Not only has he engaged in extensive study of the manuscript traditions of all six treatises...but he has also examined and collated the available extant manuscripts of the other three treatises, thus producing a critical text for each. -- Darrel W. Amundsen * Bulletin of Historical Medicine *
£23.70
Harvard University Press The Learned Banqueters Volume IV Books 810.420e
Book SynopsisA series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work provides quotations from works now lost, and preserves information about wide range of information about Greek culture.Trade ReviewOne of the main advantages of Olson's new edition is that it is reader-friendly. When The Learned Banqueters quotes from a known author, Olson follows the text of, and gives the reference to, the best modern edition, making it easy for the reader to look up the citation in its original context...Olson's translation is largely excellent, and captures the spirit of the different authors quoted. -- Helen Morales * Times Literary Supplement *
£23.70
ABC Books Best Wishes
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Hachette Australia The Gospel According to Paul
Book SynopsisMy fellow irrelevant Australians. Never, in the history of our democracy, has Australian political life been in such a parlous state. There are people living in this country who have never seen true political leadership, having been governed in recent times by the dullest, most sanctimonious, hypocritical choir of patsies. This book will give them a woefully overdue idea of what a real leader looks like.Leadership is not like a can of Popeye''s spinach - you have to earn it. And earn it I did. And I am going to tell you how. In The Gospel According to Paul, writer and satirist Jonathan Biggins draws on his award-winning play to harness the eviscerating wit, wisdom and confidence of Keating, showing us the evolution of Paul John Keating, from Bankstown to the Lodge and beyond. Almost the autobiography Keating said he would never write, it is a timely reminder of the political leadership we are sorely missing.
£13.49
Running Press,U.S. But Have You Read the Book
Book SynopsisFor film buffs and literature lovers alike, Turner Classic Movies presents an essential guide to 52 cinema classics and the literary works that served as their inspiration. I love that movie!But have you read the book?Within these pages, Turner Classic Movies offers an endlessly fascinating look at 52 beloved screen adaptations and the great reads that inspired them. Some films, like Clueless-Amy Heckerling''s interpretation of Jane Austen''s Emma-diverge wildly from the original source material, while others, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest, shift the point of view to craft a different experience within the same story. Author Kristen Lopez explores just what makes these works classics of both the page and screen, and why each made for an exceptional adaptation-whether faithful to the book or exemplifying cinematic creative license. Other featured works include:Children of Men The Color Purple
£15.29
New Directions Publishing Corporation The Wisdom of the Heart
Book SynopsisAn essential collection of writings, bursting with Henry Miller’s exhilarating candor and wisdomTrade Review"I think he’s the greatest American writer." -- Bob Dylan"Here is an artist who re-establishes the potency of illusion by gaping out at the open wounds, by courting the stern, psychological reality which man seeks to avoid through recourse to the oblique symbolism of art." -- Anaïs Nin"There is an eager vitality and exuberance to the writing which is exhilarating; a rush of spirit into the world as though all the sparkling wines have been uncorked at once; we watchfully hear the language skip, whoop and wheel across Miller’s page." -- William H. Gass - The New York Times Book Review
£12.34
New Directions Publishing Corporation Spontaneous Particulars
Book SynopsisOriginally a cloth coedition with the Christine Burgin Gallery, this rapturous hymn to discoveries and archives is now a paperbackTrade Review"Memorably fierce: with her long career in view today, her comment on Dickinson, in 1985, applies to Howe herself: ‘A great poet, carrying the antique imagination of her fathers, requires of each reader to leap from a place of certain signification, to a new situation, undiscovered and sovereign. She carries intelligence of the past into future of our thought by reverence and revolt." -- Langdon Hammer - The New York Review of Books"Susan Howe has often referred to herself as a ‘library cormorant’ but her extraordinary telepathy of archives is the very opposite of passive absorption: each page constructs its own ghostly skein to be woven into what becomes an increasingly mysterious figure in the carpet What begins as an archival study becomes nothing less than mesmerism." -- Marjorie Perloff
£999.99
Basic Books The Art of War
Book SynopsisWritten over 2000 years ago, Sun-tzu's "Art of War" embodies the Eastern tradition of strategy. This translation, written in simple language, is intended to be of equal value to both military historians and students of business strategy.Trade ReviewRobert L. O'Connell, author of Arms and Men: A History of Warm Weapons, and Aggression "A tour de force. Sawyer puts this most famous of the classic Chinese military writings into context and shows that Sun-tzu was not just a solitary genius, but the product of a remarkably rich martial culture." Robin D.S. Yates, Burlington Northern Professor of Asian Studies, Dartmouth College "I am convinced that this translation...will prove to be the definitive edition for many years to come." Arther Ferrill, author of The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great "Fills a serious gap for anyone interested in the history of ancient warfare...a fascinating book."
£13.49
Seagull Books London Ltd Sketchbooks 19461949
Book SynopsisA new translation of one of the earliest volumes of Max Frisch's innovative notebooks. Throughout his life, the great Swiss playwright and novelist Max Frisch (1911-1991) kept a series of diaries, or sketchbooks, as they came to be known in English. First published in English translation in the 1970s, these sketchbooks played a major role in establishing Frisch as, according to the New York Times, the most innovative, varied and hard-to-categorize of all major contemporary authors. His diaries, said the Times, read like novels and his best novels are written like diaries. Now Seagull Books presents the first unabridged English translation of Sketchbooks, 1946-1949 in a new translation by Simon Pare. This edition reinstates material omitted from the 1977 edition, including a screenplay for an unmade film. In this first volume, which covers the years 1946 to 1949, Frisch chronicles the intellectual and material situation in postwar Europe from the vantage point of a citizen of a nTrade Review“The first, spanning 1946 to ’49, emerged by necessity, when Frisch’s design practice didn’t permit him the leisure to write at length. But with a second volume (1966 to ’71) and a posthumous third (written in the early 1980s), the sketchbook became his trademark form, and one that now, in our vogue for the private and motley, gives the once world-famous, now rather neglected Frisch a new life. Thanks to the independent Indian publisher Seagull, whose bold cosmopolitanism never ceases to impress, all three are now in print once more, the first two recently retranslated by Simon Pare, and the last translated for the first time by Mike Mitchell in 2013. The translations are limpid and engaging. . . . What’s revealed in these sketchbooks is just that patient good sense, an unflappable, unapologetic humanity—though marked by an ambivalent quietism, an old-world politeness, a concreteness and skepticism that can only be described as Swiss.” * Wall Street Journal *Table of Contents1946 Zurich, Cafe de la Terrasse Marion and the marionettes Cafe de la Terrasse Postscript to Marion (Marion and the angel) Cafe de la Terrasse Basel, March Marion and the ghost Munich, April Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image Between Nuremberg and Wurzburg The Andorran Jew Frankfurt, May On being a writer Harlaching, May On being a writer Travelling, May Cafe de la Terrasse On Marion Postscript to the journey On Marion (Marion at the exhibition) After a flight Politeness Cafe de la Terrasse On theatre (the frame) Cafe de la Terrasse On theatre (the forestage) In the newspaper (about the cashier) By the lake Count OEderland (seven scenes) Genoa, October Portofino Mare, October Cafe Delfino On the beach Reading (unfinished work) Portofino Monte Milan, October The Chinese Wall (dress rehearsal) Calendar story Cafe Odeon Pfannenstiel Draft letter 1947 On marionettes Davos Travelling To Maja Prague, March Prague Hradcin Prague Nuremberg, March At home Cafe de la Terrasse Pfannenstiel (Albin Zollinger) Marion and the angel Letzigraben, August Portofino, September On architecture Florence, October Travelling Siena, October Travelling Cafe Odeon (nihilism) Letzigraben Travelling Zurich, 9.11.1947 On the train Frankfurt, November On being a writer On the train Berlin, November Letzigraben Postscript (the Russian officer and the German woman) On lyric poetry Letzigraben Travelling 1948 Vienna, January Prague, January Reading (Carlo Levi) Cafe Odeon Burlesque Cafe Odeon Pfannenstiel Cafe Odeon Frankfurt, April On theatre (the theatrical) Berlin, April On being a writer Berlin, May Letzigraben Cafe Odeon Travelling Paris, July Autobiography Paris, July Letzigraben Brecht Prague, 23.8.1948 On being a writer Wroclaw, 24.8.-27.8.1948 Warsaw, 28.8.-3.9.1948 Letzigraben Postscript to the journey Actors Frankfurt, November Arabesque Hamburg, November Letzigraben Cafe Odeon Letzigraben 1949 New Year's Day (kindness) Zurich, 8.1. 1949 (Premiere of When the War was Over) Letzigraben (with Brecht) Reviews Basel, Carnival Stuttgart, 29.4.1949 Letzigraben Story Letzigraben Cafe Odeon Travelling The Harlequin, outline for a film Kampen, July Reminiscence Westerland Kampen, August Hamburg, September Travelling Jealousy Cafe Odeon More on jealousy Arles, October Sketch (Schinz) At the office Cafe Odeon
£20.89
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A View from the Stars
Book Synopsis''We're mysterious aliens in the crowd. We jump like fleas from future to past and back again, and float like clouds of gas between nebulae; in a flash, we can reach the edge of the universe, or tunnel into a quark, or swim within a star-core... We're as unassuming as fireflies, yet our numbers grow like grass in spring. We sci-fi fans are people from the future.'' Cixin Liu, from the essay ''Sci-Fi Fans''A View from the Stars features a range of short works from the past three decades of New York Times bestselling author Cixin Liu''s prolific career, putting his nonfiction essays and short stories side-by-side for the first time. This collection includes essays and interviews that shed light on Liu''s experiences as a reader, writer, and lover of science fiction throughout his life, as well as short fiction that gives glimpses into the evolution of his imaginative voice over the years.
£17.00
Edinburgh University Press The Collected Works of Kenneth White Volume 2
Book SynopsisThree collections of essays whose aim is to express the cartography and the experience of a live, open world.
£29.45
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC In My Garden
Book SynopsisChristopher Lloyd has been writing a weekly column in Country Life since 1963. His prose is exciting; his knowledge is vast; his ideas are provocative, and what is the true test of a writer who has transcended his medium, he makes you laugh out loud. This book intends to capture the essence of Christopher Lloyd and of his garden at Great Dixter.Trade Review'Christopher Lloyd ranks with Gertrude Jekyll and Vita Sackville-West as one of the major figures in 20th-century British gardening' The Times 'Exhilarating reading' Penelope Lively, Mail on Sunday 'Discursive, elegant, imaginative and informative' Daily Mail 'This is the man at his best: frank, provoking, erudite and, of course, very funny' Observer
£12.34
Workman Publishing 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A
Book Synopsis“The ultimate literary bucket list.” —The Washington Post “If there’s a heaven just for readers, this is it.” —O, The Oprah Magazine Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an extraordinary book that’s as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends. Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it’s not a proscriptive list of the “great works”—rather, it’s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage. Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop, stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures, too. Lists to help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View. And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and The Road next to Robert McCloskey and Make Way for Ducklings, Alice Walker next to Izaac Walton. There are nuts and bolts, too—best editions to read, other books by the author, “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations , and an interesting endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned—a life-changing list for a lifetime of reading.“948 pages later, you still want more!” —THE WASHINGTON POSTTrade Review“If there’s a heaven just for readers, this is it.” — O, The Oprah Magazine ?"Mustich's informed appraisals will drive readers to the books they've yet to read, and stimulate discussion of those they have." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review ?"A treasure chest for book lovers everywhere" —Library Journal, Starred Review ?"Every so often, a reference book appears that changes the landscape of its area of focus. In the case of reading and readers' advisory, this is one such book....lively, witty, insightful prose...It might be wise to invest in several copies of this wonderful meditation on life lived with and enhanced by the written word." —Booklist, Starred Review "All in all, the literate public—what novelist Robertson Davies dubbed the clerisy—can only be grateful for, and awed by, this product of 14 years of reading and research…It’s hard to imagine that such a massive compendium could have been done better."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post "Absolutely impressive…. This book is not just a source of information; it's a wellspring of wisdom, intelligence, empathy and generosity."—Ingrid Rossellini, author of Know Thyself: Western Identity from Classical Greece to the Renaissance "As the owner of a 90-year-old bookselling institution, I am not easily fazed by 1,000 books, but Mustich’s literary bucket list stopped me in my tracks. His expansive scope is coupled with a delightful wit and a perfect eye for the surprise detail. Never again will you have to wonder what to read next. A book you’ll cherish for a lifetime!" —Nancy Bass Wyden, Proprietor, Strand Book Store "Chief among the thousands of pleasures here is the delightfully erudite company of James Mustich. Look up your favorite books; find ones you don’t know; argue about the list with friends. Read!" —Jean Strouse, author, Alice James and Morgan: American Financier "James Mustich’s book is aimed at a society engulfed in words but desperately poor in the talents that reading can bring—judgment, taste, empathy, wit. The book is not a list of canonical works, though many classics are listed and lovingly described. No, the “1000 Books to Read” is an invocation of the pleasures to be had from many kinds of books—genre fiction, journalism, poetry, history, and memoir, the good and the great, the illustrious and the semi-forgotten, all summoned by Mustich’s taste. You open it at any point and jump from author to author; you follow his hints and read related works by other writers, and you find your own taste emerging, proud and strong, from Mustich’s provocations. 1,000 Books is surpassingly useful as well as good." —David Denby, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World "If you’ve ever doubted that books were the greatest invention of all time, and that they carry within them our collective memories and dreams, as well as any semblance of intelligence we have as a species, pick up James Mustich’s 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die and start reading." —Ken Burns "If I were as erudite, entertaining, insightful, and articulate as James Mustich, I could come up with 1,000 reasons to get his book. But here's one: Whether you're looking for something to read for personal edification or fun, for escapism or relevance, you can survey the literary world with Mustich as an experienced, enthusiastic guide. His work is an essential resource for anyone anywhere plagued by that infernal question: What do I read next?" —Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics and Prose Bookstore“If there’s a heaven just for readers, this is it.” — O, The Oprah Magazine ★"Mustich's informed appraisals will drive readers to the books they've yet to read, and stimulate discussion of those they have." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review ★"A treasure chest for book lovers everywhere" —Library Journal, Starred Review ★"Every so often, a reference book appears that changes the landscape of its area of focus. In the case of reading and readers' advisory, this is one such book....lively, witty, insightful prose...It might be wise to invest in several copies of this wonderful meditation on life lived with and enhanced by the written word." —Booklist, Starred Review "All in all, the literate public—what novelist Robertson Davies dubbed the clerisy—can only be grateful for, and awed by, this product of 14 years of reading and research…It’s hard to imagine that such a massive compendium could have been done better."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post "Absolutely impressive…. This book is not just a source of information; it's a wellspring of wisdom, intelligence, empathy and generosity."—Ingrid Rossellini, author of Know Thyself: Western Identity from Classical Greece to the Renaissance "As the owner of a 90-year-old bookselling institution, I am not easily fazed by 1,000 books, but Mustich’s literary bucket list stopped me in my tracks. His expansive scope is coupled with a delightful wit and a perfect eye for the surprise detail. Never again will you have to wonder what to read next. A book you’ll cherish for a lifetime!" —Nancy Bass Wyden, Proprietor, Strand Book Store "Chief among the thousands of pleasures here is the delightfully erudite company of James Mustich. Look up your favorite books; find ones you don’t know; argue about the list with friends. Read!" —Jean Strouse, author, Alice James and Morgan: American Financier "James Mustich’s book is aimed at a society engulfed in words but desperately poor in the talents that reading can bring—judgment, taste, empathy, wit. The book is not a list of canonical works, though many classics are listed and lovingly described. No, the “1000 Books to Read” is an invocation of the pleasures to be had from many kinds of books—genre fiction, journalism, poetry, history, and memoir, the good and the great, the illustrious and the semi-forgotten, all summoned by Mustich’s taste. You open it at any point and jump from author to author; you follow his hints and read related works by other writers, and you find your own taste emerging, proud and strong, from Mustich’s provocations. 1,000 Books is surpassingly useful as well as good." —David Denby, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World "If you’ve ever doubted that books were the greatest invention of all time, and that they carry within them our collective memories and dreams, as well as any semblance of intelligence we have as a species, pick up James Mustich’s 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die and start reading." —Ken Burns "If I were as erudite, entertaining, insightful, and articulate as James Mustich, I could come up with 1,000 reasons to get his book. But here's one: Whether you're looking for something to read for personal edification or fun, for escapism or relevance, you can survey the literary world with Mustich as an experienced, enthusiastic guide. His work is an essential resource for anyone anywhere plagued by that infernal question: What do I read next?" —Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics and Prose Bookstore
£25.64
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Can You Tolerate This?
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2019 WINNER OF A WINDHAM-CAMPBELL PRIZE 2017 'I love this book' MAGGIE NELSON 'An essay collection unlike any I’ve read' New York Times In Can You Tolerate This? Ashleigh Young ushers us into her early years, coming of age in a small town in the faraway yet familiar New Zealand, yearning for a larger and more creative life. As Young’s perspective expands, a series of historical portraits – a boy with a rare skeletal disease, a French postman who built a stone fortress by hand, a generation of Japanese shut-ins – strike unexpected personal harmonies, as an unselfconscious childhood gives way to painful shyness in adolescence. As we watch Young fall in and out of love, undertake intense physical exercise that masks something deeper, and gradually find herself through her writing, a highly particular psyche comes into view: curious, tender and exacting in her observations of herself and the world around her.Trade ReviewSmart, funny, insightful and unexpected ... perfect summer reading * Jon McGregor, Guardian Summer Reading *These are thoughtful, searching pieces, both open to the world and temperamentally uneasy. They handle their subjects with generosity and a restlessness that seeps in like floodwater * New Yorker *This prize-winning collection of essays goes deep into exploring isolation, shyness and the limitations of the body ... all through [Young's] singular observations of the world, and of the tensions that define our lives * Elle 'Ultimate Summer Reads' *Young's writing explores fragility and resilience with a visceral, bodily focus * Vogue '13 Books to Thrill, Entertain and Sustain You This Summer' *Extremely charming ... She can be funny, self-effacing and romantic, but most impressive are her extraordinary powers of observation, as if God hotwired a microscope and a movie camera into her brain. With the most elegant, evocative prose, she invites us to move in with her and her family, and seems so wise about so many things I could hardly believe she was real. A wonderful book, an irresistible woman * Big Issue *Wry, confessional, understated and often hilarious. Each piece lifts you up and deposits you in a place you never expected to find yourself. They startle with their immediacy and candour; they offer comfort even as they ask you to see things anew. Young is a sharp observer who revels in her sense of the absurd using precise language and striking images ... Young, like the best essayists, writes with humorous self-regard about her own lived small moments, which reveal as much about us as they do about her. The intimacy of her stories creates a connection, making even a foreign place feel like home * Washington Post *Young’s voice is soothing, unsure and searching as she narrates her childhood in provincial New Zealand and pokes into the lives of those who populated it – her father, her brother, her chiropractor. Can You Tolerate This? asks its titular question at every turn, and the answer always seems to be yes * Paris Review *Young shows how many ways we will bend but not break. And, moreover, that the ways we find to write about these transformative states of being might help us to make some sense of them; might develop a language that links images and experiences we have no other way of holding together … Young’s essays are insightful and exquisitely sensitive … that unfold carefully in language that is measured and nuanced * Emily LaBarge, The White Review *In a book landscape of spectacle-driven nonfiction narratives, I am finding respite in Ashleigh Young’s perceptive and smart debut, Can You Tolerate This? It’s a collection of essays no less ambitious, sobering, or wide-ranging than the avalanche of social justice texts, but written with the tenderness and precision of a dentist who doesn’t use anesthesia * LitHub *Compelling, exhilarating ... The essays center around the body, our first, last, and always home in the world, and the ways in which its limitations force us to find accommodations, force us to come to terms with our own strengths and frailties, as well as those of the people – all those other frail, strong bodies – around us. * Nylon *From the first sentence of this collection onward, you know Ashleigh Young is here to deliver cool, compelling, surprising sentences, which add up to beautiful, unusual and memorable essays. I love this book * Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts *Ashleigh Young has the brilliant knack of cutting to the chase while you're not looking, like some kind of reverse pickpocket slipping notes into your bag before dashing away into the crowd. I'll be savouring this book for many years to come, and slipping it into the pockets of unsuspecting friends * Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13 *In prose witty and tender, Ashleigh Young sings the body problematic, as well as the questions of how to live in it: both with others and in solitude. This book made me feel less alone * Melissa Broder, author of So Sad Today and The Pisces *Reading Ashleigh Young’s essays is like meeting an old and much-loved friend at the end of the world after you've been wandering in the wilderness for days, a friend who's so wise and funny and kind and makes you feel so much better about everything that you start thinking, gosh ... I guess ... I guess the apocalypse is actually kind of okay ... * Emily Berry, author of Dear Boy and Stranger, Baby *Tender, witty, and endowed with a penetrating emotional acuity, Ashleigh Young's evocative essays gaze out into the world, searching it for moments of connection and clues to the true nature of our curious, fragile humanity. This is a book to hold close and fall in love with * Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine *Yes! This is what I've wanted essays to be – character studies, maps, shrines, elegies, these forms that are mysterious, synaptic creatures. At the center of each of Ashleigh Young's tender studies of isolation and place there is a heart, how it pulses * Kate Zambreno, author of Heroines and Green Girl *Calling to mind both Joan Didion and Anton Chekov, Young is relentless in her examination of herself and endlessly curious and compassionate in her consideration of the world. Can You Tolerate This? offers a glimpse into this extraordinarily promising writer’s quest to seek in the small accidents of her individual life the outlines of a much larger reality * Windham-Campbell Judges’ Panel *In this stunning and unforgettable collection, Young grapples with the question so many women face on a daily basis: how much can our bodies take? A fierce and unsentimental look at the power and pain and beauty and struggle that are the costs and benefits of being embodied * Emily Rapp Black, author of The Still Point of the Turning World *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan White
Book SynopsisTHE CONTROVERSIAL SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. Candid, fearless and provocative – the author of American Psycho on who he is and what he thinks is wrong with the world today. Bret Easton Ellis is most famous for his era-defining novel American Psycho and its terrifying anti-hero, Patrick Bateman. With that book, and many times since, Ellis proved himself to be one of the world’s most fearless and clear-sighted observers of society – the glittering surface and the darkness beneath.In White, his first work of non-fiction, Ellis offers a wide-ranging exploration of what the hell is going on right now. He tells personal stories from his own life. He writes with razor-sharp precision about the music, movies, books and TV he loves and hates. He examines the ways our culture, politics and relationships have changed over the last four decades. He talks about social media, Hollywood celebrities and Donald Trump.Ellis considers conflicting positions without flinching and adheres to no status quo. His forthright views are powered by a fervent belief in artistic freedom and freedom of speech. Candid, funny, entertaining and blisteringly honest, he offers opinions that are impossible to ignore and certain to provoke.What he values above all is the truth. ‘The culture at large seemed to encourage discourse,’ he writes, ‘but what it really wanted to do was shut down the individual.’ Bret Easton Ellis will not be shut down.Trade ReviewThe first work of non-fiction from the American Psycho author is very good . . . the best thing he has published for years * Sunday Times *A winning mixture of incautious autobiography and caustic polemic, with plenty of sharp social observation thrown in . . . What a timely book this is – bursting with wit and diablerie, shameless, bracing and fun. * Mail on Sunday *A splenetic analysis of the culture of today . . . occasionally brilliant, often thought-provoking * The Times *Not everybody is going to like it. He doesn’t care. * New York Times *For the youthful twitterati, I suppose, he’s just another old white man who hates everything -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times *This attack on political correctness in the Twitter age . . . has all the sound, fury and insignificance of a misguided rant posted at 3am * Guardian *Ellis will lose friends over this book. * Wall Street Journal *Best described as a provocation . . . it’s up to you, the reader, to choose to what degree you are prepared to allow yourself to be riled. * Observer *@BretEastonEllis Your book White is staggeringly good. I’m loving it. Thank you so much for your style, your humour and your honesty. -- Eric Idle (on Twitter)
£9.99
Pan Macmillan Why Friendship Matters: Selected Writings
Book SynopsisSome friendships need celebrating, some are hard to navigate, and some need a bit of tender love and care. Delve into this anthology for a tour of all aspects of friendship by your favourite classic authors.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by writer, academic and historian, Michèle Mendelssohn.Why Friendship Matters is an inspiring collection that spans three centuries of writing and includes many favourite authors such as Michel de Montaigne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jane Austen. Readers will also discover lesser-known delights such as American writer Audre Lorde on her high school friendships and playwright Alice E. Ives writing about friendship between women. Contributors from across the globe celebrate and investigate all aspects of friendship; the strength of its bonds, how it can hurt and how it runs deep.
£10.44
Pan Macmillan Talk Stories
Book Synopsis‘Fresh, risky, improvisational and hard-to-categorize writing’ - Chicago TribuneTalk Stories is a collection of Jamaica Kincaid’s original writing for the New Yorker’s ‘Talk of the Town’ column from 1974 to 1983. In these early pieces Kincaid discovers New York’s many hidden secrets as she learns the worlds of publishing and partying, of fashion and popular music, and how to call a cauliflower a crudité.
£9.49
powerHouse Books,U.S. Archways 1
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£12.79
The New York Review of Books, Inc We Have Only This Life To Live
Book SynopsisJean-Paul Sartre was a man of staggering gifts, whose accomplishments as philosopher, novelist, playwright, biographer, and activist still command attention and inspire debate. Sartre’s restless intelligence may have found its most characteristic outlet in the open-ended form of the essay. For Sartre the essay was an essentially dramatic form, the record of an encounter, the framing of a choice. Whether writing about literature, art, politics, or his own life, he seizes our attention and drives us to grapple with the living issues that are at stake.We Have Only This Life to Live is the first gathering of Sartre’s essays in English to draw on all ten volumes of Situations, the title under which Sartre collected his essays during his life, while also featuring previously uncollected work, including the reports Sartre filed during his 1945 trip to America. Here Sartre writes about Faulkner, Bataille, Giacometti, Fanon, the liberation of France, torture in Algeria, existentialism and Marxism, friends lost and found, and much else. We Have Only This Life to Live provides an indispensable, panoramic view of the world of Jean-Paul Sartre.
£20.70
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Why Read: Selected Writings 2001 – 2021
Book Synopsis'Will Self may not be the last modernist at work but at the moment he's the most fascinating of the tradition's torch bearers.' New YorkFrom one of the most unusual and distinctive writers working today, dubbed 'the most daring and delightful novelist of his generation' by the Guardian, Will Self's Why Read is a cornucopia of thoughtful and brilliantly witty essays on writing and literature.Self takes us with him: from the foibles of his typewriter repairman to the irradiated exclusion zone of Chernobyl, to the Australian outback and to literary forms past and future. With his characteristic intellectual brio, Self aims his inimitable eye at titans of literature like Woolf, Kafka, Orwell and Conrad. He writes movingly on W.G. Sebald's childhood in Germany and provocatively describes the elevation of William S. Burroughs's Junky from shocking pulp novel to beloved cult classic. Self also expands on his regular column in Literary Hub to ask readers how, what and ultimately why we should read in an ever-changing world. Whether he is writing on the rise of the bookshelf as an item of furniture in the nineteenth century or on the impossibility of Googling his own name in a world lived online, Self's trademark intoxicating prose and mordant, energetic humour infuse every piece.Trade ReviewThe finest essays here are incisive, perceptive and provocative. But they are also wildly entertaining. * Washington Examiner *Sharp, trenchant essays from an enfant terrible of modern letters...[there's] plenty to ponder in this energetic, opinionated collection * Kirkus Reviews *Will Self may not be the last modernist at work but at the moment he's the most fascinating of the tradition's torch bearers. * New York *Self is the most daring and delightful novelist of his generation, a writer whose formidable intellect is mercilessly targeted on the limits of the cerebral as a means of understanding. Yes, he makes you think, but he also insists that you feel. * Guardian *Self often enough writes with such vividness it's as if he is the first person to see anything at all. * New York Times *Self has indeed been a goat among the sheep of contemporary English fiction, a puckish trickster self-consciously at odds with its middle-class politeness. * New York Review of Books *Table of Contents1: Why Read? 2: The Death of the Shelf 3: Absent Jews and Invisible Executioners: W. G. Sebald and the Holocaust 4: Chernobyl 5: Kafka's Wound 6: A Care Home for Novels: The Narrative Art Form in the Age of Its Technical Supersession 7: The Last Typewriter Engineer 8: Isenshard 9: How Should We Read? 10: Junky 11: Being a Character 12: Australia and I 13: The Rise of the Machines 14: Literary Time 15: The Printed Word in Peril 16: The Secret Agent 17: What to Read? 18: On Writing Memoir 19: Apocalypse Then 20: The Technology of Journalism 21: St George for the French 22: Will Self-Driving Cars Take My Job? 23: Reading for Writers
£10.44
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Home/Land: A Memoir of Departure and Return
Book SynopsisWhen the New Yorker writer Rebecca Mead relocated to her birth city, London, with her family in the summer of 2018, she was both fleeing the political situation in America and seeking to expose her son to a wider world. With a keen sense of what she'd given up as she left New York, her home of thirty years, she tried to knit herself into the fabric of a changed London. The move raised poignant questions about place: What does it mean to leave the place you have adopted as home and country? And what is the value and cost of uprooting yourself?In a deft mix of memoir and reportage, drawing on literature and art, recent and ancient history, and the experience of encounters with individuals, environments and landscapes in New York City and in England, Mead artfully explores themes of identity, nationality and inheritance. She recounts her time in the coastal town of Weymouth, where she grew up; her dizzying first years in New York where she broke into journalism; the rich process of establishing a new home for her dual-national son in London. Along the way, she gradually reckons with the complex legacy of her parents. Home/Land is a stirring inquiry into how to be present where we are, while never forgetting where we have been.Trade ReviewA lyrical, often elegiac inquiry into the nature of place and identity * TLS *Exquisite detail . . . [With] many arresting images and diverting anecdotes . . . [Mead] has an exacting eye and a gift for trenchant phrasing. * New York Times *A timely and powerful read...In embracing the complexities and paradoxes of home and belonging, Mead also finds solace, even joy. She captures brilliantly the bittersweetness of being far from home, a way of life whose sacrifices are outweighed by a feeling of living deliberately...a remarkable exploration of how being mindful of the past can enrich and imbue with urgency our everyday lives. * Los Angeles Times *Inventive . . . [Mead] deftly layers historical research with autobiography to unsettle familiar ideas of homecoming - and of memoir-writing. . . . At a time when little feels truly sturdy, Mead's book is a reminder that having a place to return to, and a history to explore, is a luxury * The Atlantic *Beautifully written . . . [Mead's] non-linear approach never disorientates - rather, it invigorates, creating as it does a rich patchwork of overlapping ideas and recollections. . . . This is an artfully crafted memoir which offers a clear-eyed examination of home, roots, belonging, and personal and national identity. * Star Tribune *Unfailingly insightful, precise, and well written . . . Since she hadn't lived in England for more than 30 years, the experience was a curious mix of homecoming and alienation, the distinct strands of which Mead disentangles with nuance and writerly sensitivity. * Kirkus Reviews *In her work at The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead has so often turned her wry, generous, graceful and precise attention to the lives of others - here, in this winsome memoir of departure and reversal, it's such a pleasure to read her excavating her own roots. Home/Land is about unexpected mobility, about historical chance and accident, about the way a series of unknowns accrue into a life; above all, it demonstrates the way displacement and longing has shaped Mead's manner of seeing into a profound gift. -- Jia Tolentino, author of TRICK MIRRORCompassionate, witty, at moments wonderfully exuberant, and at others, melancholy and wistful. Home/Land is a stirring book of memories and meditations, filled with the wild beauty of the English coast, the noise of SoHo's streets, and the great literature that captures the spirit of getting lost and finding home. Rebecca Mead made me fall in love with London and, at the same time, fall back in love with New York. -- Merve Emre, author of THE PERSONALITY BROKERSIt might seem peculiar to describe a book as at once digressive and rigorous, but Rebecca Mead's superb Home/Land somehow manages the trick. This is an elegant, graceful and poignant memoir about decision and happenstance - a reflection upon what we inherit and what we assemble, and how the accidents of our days give way to a life of shapeliness and coherence. -- Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of A SENSE OF DIRECTIONIn her fine memoir of leaving and returning, Rebecca Mead confronts her American and English identities and explores with a precision at once surgical and elegiac the "questionable gift" of a "lost place to long for." Her journey is personal, full of ambivalence about the "chilly, moated island" she encounters after giving up the New York that freed her, but it is also a subtle exploration of an era when the "buried was coming to the surface." In Home/Land, past and present, loss and reconciliation, exist in exquisite symbiosis. -- Roger Cohen, author of THE GIRL FROM HUMAN STREET
£9.49
Counterpoint With Every Great Breath: New and Selected Essays,
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£23.79
Workman Publishing The Book of (More) Delights: Essays
Book SynopsisThe New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy is back with exactly the book we need in these unsettling times."Yes, please. I'll have another dose of delight." -Margaret Roach, New York TimesIn Ross Gay's new collection of small, daily wonders, again written over the course of a year, one of America's most original voices continues his ongoing investigation of delight.For Gay, what delights us is what connects us, what gives us meaning, from the joy of hearing a nostalgic song blasting from a passing car to the pleasure of refusing the "nefarious" scannable QR code menus, from the tiny dog he fell hard for to his mother baking a dozen kinds of cookies for her grandchildren. As always, Gay revels in the natural world-sweet potatoes being harvested, a hummingbird carousing in the beebalm, a sunflower growing out of a wall around the cemetery, the shared bounty from a neighbour's fig tree-and the trillion mysterious ways this glorious earth delights us.The Book of (More) Delights is a volume to savour and share.
£19.80
ZE Books The Ocean Is Closed: Journalistic Adventures and
Book Synopsis"Bradshaw was a famously charming man, and his lounge-lizard urbanity fully suffuses his prose. This new anthology is a necessary book for all men and women of letters." -Martin Amis A collection of magazine writer Jon Bradshaw's essential writings, The Ocean is Closed rediscovers a memorable talent, and offers us a shadow reality to the established literary canon of the mid-century. With droll wit and keen intelligence, Bradshaw's cinematic prose brings the '70s to vibrant life-from the lurid pick-up scenes at hotspots like Maxwell's Plum in New York, and the Beverly Hills Hotel in L.A., to full-bodied portraits of literary figures such as W.H. Auden and Tom Stoppard; affectionate profiles of hustlers and con men such as Bobby Riggs and Minnesota Fats, to chilling reportage about street gangs in the Bronx, terrorism in Germany, and mercenary freedom fighters in India. Jon Bradshaw, a man of tremendous personal charm, good humor and rugged beauty, was a literary concoction of his own devising: the magazine writer as world-weary traveler and man about town. Adored by British royalty, magazine editors, movie executives, and professional mercenaries, alike, Bradshaw first made a splash in London during the Swinging Sixties. Pals with the likes of Anna Wintour, Timothy Leary, Gore Vidal, and Martin Amis, his career flourished at a time when magazines were at the center of the cultural conversation, delivering stories that were talked about for weeks. For twenty years, he cut a distinct figure in this world, before his untimely death. A forgotten master of longform magazine writing, Bradshaw is ripe for rediscovery as one of the sharpest chroniclers of his age.Trade Review"A long-overdue anthology of writings by a great-and now largely forgotten-long-form journalist. Charming, handsome, and erudite, Bradshaw, who died in 1986 at age 48, surprised no one when Mick Jagger crossed a room to spend an hour chatting with him. Said biographer A. Scott Berg, according to editor Belth, 'he was possibly the most social animal I ever knew.' Yet while the parties were in full swing, Bradshaw would get to his typewriter, writing impeccable stories that embodied top-flight literary journalism...Exemplary journalism by a writer who deserves to be in every nonfiction anthology and textbook henceforth." -Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
£21.25
ZE Books Stay: threads, conversations, collaborations
Book SynopsisStay brings together nearly thirty years of work (poetry, memoir, essays, interviews, plays, film), in a mixed-media retrospective that shows nothing is created in isolation. Threads in the artist's life are presented alongside many of the artistic collaborations that have led to-or come out of-his own work, including a selection of images from an ongoing daily collage practice, which Flynn considers a type of meditation. Like Flynn's life, Stay is populated by examples of his collaborations with artists he has worked with since the 1980s: Amy Arbus, John Baldessari, Guy Barash, William Blake, Robert De Niro (performance), Marilyn Minter (photograph), Josh Neufeld (comic art), Catherine Opie (photograph), Sarah Sentilles (drone alert sutras), Bill Shuck (installation), Paul Weitz (film). A full color, hardcover edition, Stay is a wide-ranging and personal journey through the public and private spaces of an artist at the peak of his powers.Trade Review"One of the pleasures of a book like Stay is its ability (rather, its capacity) to surprise...That's the beautiful thing about a book like Stay: the juxtaposition, the play between art forms, and how it allows room for experience, opens up space to sit and feel." -Brock Kingsley, Chicago Review of Books "Personally, this book came to me when I needed it and detangled some of the loose threads balled up in my mind. This book is a self-portrait, a collaboration, and a piece of art. This book is essential." -Ali Hintz, Arkansas International "Over the course of a year, [Flynn] will have released three books...Stay feels like the glue that brings them all together."-Licia Morelli, Vanity Fair "Stay [is] a kaleidoscopic self-portrait that combines Massachusetts native Flynn's writing, photography, and collage with visual art from dozens of collaborators and influences and friends."-Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe
£20.00
Cipher Press Daddy Boy
Book SynopsisAfter a decade-long relationship with a dominatrix he called Daddy, Emerson Whitney began to crave something besides submission. It came as a full surprise: submission had been so central to his early adulthood. Now what? Dizzied by new questions of transness and aging, living in a tent while his relationship ends, Emerson stumbles upon an advertisement for a storm chasing tour. 'For thrill seekers,' it says. Unsure what else to do, he signs up. Daddy Boy follows Emerson as he packs into a van with a group of strangers and drives up and down America - staying in Days Inns and eating bags of carrots from Walmart and hunting down storms like so many white whales. Steeped in the prairie landscape of his childhood, Emerson recalls his adoptive dad, Hank, unflinching and extremely Texan; and his biological dad who, with his cowboy hats and puppies, always seemed so sweet and absent. From the van's trash-strewn backseat, and in the face of these looming figures, Emerson begins to wonder: Did he want to be Daddy now?Trade Review"A beautiful flight toward a life one can believe in. Gorgeously written, truthful, and timely." - Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick and After Kathy Acker: A Literary Biography "Hypnotic. It quivers with the air." - Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, author of The Freezer Door
£10.44
Poetry Wales Press Cymru and I
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£9.49
Pushkin Press On the End of the World
Book SynopsisIn January 1933, on the very day Hitler seized power in Germany, Joseph Roth fled to Paris. There, in what he called the 'hour before the end of the world', he wrote a series of articles. The end he foresaw would soon come to pass in the full horror of Hitler's barbarism, the Second World War and most crucially for Roth, the final irreversible destruction of a pan-European consciousness. Incisive and ironic, the writing evokes Roth's bitterness, frustration and morbid despair at the coming annihilation of the free world while displaying his great nostalgia for the Habsburg Empire into which he was born and his ingrained fear of nationalism in any form.Trade Review"Will Stone’s translation of Roth’s writings of the 1930s, On the End of the World . . . is a radiant book." — Morten Høi Jensen at LitHub"Roth is Austria's Chekhov." -- William Boyd
£999.99
Granta Books The Recovering: Intoxication and its Aftermath
Book SynopsisAddiction is seemingly inexplicable. From the outside, it can look like wilful, arrogant self-destruction; from the inside, it can feel as inevitable and insistent as a heartbeat. It is possible to describe, but hard to explore. Yet in The Recovering, Leslie Jamison draws on her own life and the lives of addicts of extraordinary talent - John Cheever, John Berryman, Jean Rhys and Amy Winehouse among them - to take us inside the experience of addiction, exposing the contours, edges and wholes of an intoxicated life. Part memoir, part group biography, part literary history and part definitive analysis of cultural and social considerations of addiction, The Recovering is a significant moment in the history of post-war narrative non-fiction.
£10.44
Atlantic Books Sylvan Cities: An Urban Tree Guide
Book Synopsis'Clever, pretty, fun and informative - what more can a reader ask for?' Sara Maitland, author of Gossip From the ForestWe're surrounded in cities by trees, quiet colossuses that most of us don't know by name. Does that matter? It's certainly possible to appreciate a tree for its beauty, its shade and its shelter without knowing whether it's an alder, an elder, a lime or a beech. But look harder, and we begin to see the beauty beneath the bark - the tales of how trees are integral to medicine and art as they are furniture and firewood; the stories of why wild figs grow on the banks of Sheffield's rivers and why the ash tree is touched with magic and mischief. As well as being an illustrated guide that will help you identify some of the species you see around town every day, Sylvan City is also a potted-journey through our cities' woody places and a literary hunt for where their wild things are.Inviting readers on an intricately illustrated journey into the urban forest, Sylvan City is both a practical guide to identifying twenty of the most common trees standing sentry on our street corners, and a lyrical, anecdotal treasure trove of facts and history, culture and leafy lore.Trade ReviewCharming...lovely...well-written...beautifully illustrated. * Gardens Illustrated *Dulce et utile. (I'm allowed the Latin for "both sweet and useful" here because the botanical science is as sound as the cultural, historical and poetic aspects.) This is a delightful book: clever, pretty, fun and informative - what more can a reader ask for? Even a committed rural dweller like me is impressed. Big thanks to Helen Babbs, who has solved a fair number of my 2019 Christmas present problems already. * Sara Maitland, author of Gossip From the Forest *Full of gems; a manifesto for green cities. Babbs will turn us all into urban rangers, an unquiet army of neighbourhood watchers. * Max Adams, author of Wisdom of Trees *Her read-aloud pen portraits on common varieties are a joy. * FT *Table of Contents1: THE ALDERS 1: Common alder 2: Italian alder 2: THE ASHES 1: Common ash 2: Raywood ash 3: THE BEECHES 1: Common beech 2: Copper beech 3: Hornbeam 4: THE BIRCHES 1: Silver birch 2: Himalayan birch 5: THE BUTTERFLY BUSHES 1: Buddleja davidii 2: Leyland cypress 6: THE CHERRIES 1: Wild cherry 2: Crab apple 7: THE ELDERS 1: Common elder 2: Lime and pine 8: THE ELMS 1: English elm 2: Wych elm 9: THE FIGS 1: Common fig 2: Mulberry 10: THE HAZELS 1: Common hazel 2: Turkish hazel 11: THE HORSE CHESTNUTS 1: Horse chestnut 2: Sweet chestnut 12: THE LIMES 1: Common lime 2: Silver lime 13: THE MAIDENHAIRS 1: Ginkgo biloba 2: Caucasian wingnut 14: THE MAPLES 1: Sycamore 2: Norway maple 15: THE OAKS 1: English oak 2: Red oak, holm oak and pin oak 16: THE PINES AND ANOTHER CONIFER 1: Maritime pine 2: Dawn redwood 17: THE PLANES 1: London plane 2: American sweet gum 18: THE POPLARS 1: Black poplar 2: Lombardy poplar 19: THE TREES OF HEAVEN 1: Tree of heaven 2: Indian bean tree 20: THE WHITEBEAMS 1: Bristol whitebeam 2: Rowan 21: THE YEWS 1: English yew 2: Willow
£13.49
Canongate Books The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way: The
Book SynopsisIn The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way, Charles Bukowski considers the art of writing, and the art of living as writer. Bringing together a variety of previously uncollected stories, columns, reviews, introductions, and interviews, this book finds him approaching the dynamics of his chosen profession with cynical aplomb, deflating pretentions and tearing down idols armed with only a typewriter and a bottle of beer.From numerous tales of the author's adventures at poetry readings, parties, film sets, and bars, to an unprecedented gathering of Bukowski's singular literary criticism, the author discusses his writing practices and his influences. The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way is a perfect guide to the man behind the myth and the disciplined artist behind the boozing brawler.Trade ReviewHe brought everyone down to earth, even the angels -- LEONARD COHENA literary immortal * * Time * *He was a man challenging the world, both with fists and words, a provocateur of amazing abilities * * Los Angeles Times * *A master prose writer * * Guardian * *
£9.49
Canongate Books Of Me and Others: 1952–2019
Book SynopsisIn this frank, playful and typically unorthodox collection of essays, Alasdair Gray tells how his early life experiences influenced his writing, including the creation of those landmarks of literature, Lanark and 1982, Janine. He details the inspirations behind his many acclaimed artworks and murals, and makes clear how his moral, social and political beliefs and his work are inextricably linked.Incisive, funny and fired with passion, Of Me and Others is as much about people, place and politics as it is about Gray's own life in art.Trade ReviewUnbelievably inventive -- ALI SMITHGray is a true original, a twentieth-century William Blake * * Observer * *One of the most gifted writers to have put pen to paper in the English language -- IRVINE WELSHAn essential portrait of an artist emerging in the second half of the 20th century . . . Gray is an exceptionally generous writer * * Herald * *A great writer, perhaps the greatest living in Britain today -- WILL SELFAlasdair Gray is that rather rare bird among contemporary British writers - a genuine experimentalist -- DAVID LODGEDisarmingly personal . . . Like Gray himself, the book is by turns ebullient, eccentric, generous and shy * * Scotsman * *Gray has a rare ability to convey his thought in writing that is clear, invigorating and, in the very best way, fun. This book is all of those things, and much more besides . . . A thrilling and powerful statement about the value of Scottish art * * The List * *Gray may be regarded as the doyen of Scottish letters, and this publication is a fitting acknowledgement of his status -- Allan Massie * * Scotsman * *
£16.19
Europa Editions (UK) Ltd Summer With Montaigne
Book SynopsisA few years ago, Antoine Compagnon was asked to host a radio broadcast, every day for an entire summer, on a formidable subject: Michel de Montaigne. From that experience came this engaging and entertaining book. An intelligent and thought-provoking treatise in forty chapters that will introduce readers unfamiliar with Montaigne to his unique brilliance and remind those who already know Montaigne's work of its vitality, force, and enduring timeliness.Trade Review"The clarity of Compagnon's analysis renders this once intimidating French Renaissance man miraculously close." * Elle * "Nothing could be easier to read; these pages are to be savoured like a little glass of pastis in the summer." * Paris Match * "A tribute to a classic author who is still well and truly in touch with the spirit of the times." * ActuaLitte *
£10.79
Profile Books Ltd Oppositions: Selected Essays
Book Synopsis'Mary Gaitskill is willing to think about the problematic with complexity and humanity, and without taking sides or engaging in all the fashionable moral hectoring that passes for serious thought these days.' Eimear McBride Nuanced, daring and tender, these essays from the celebrated author of This is Pleasure and Bad Behavior, consistently fascinate and provoke. Mary Gaitskill takes on a broad range of topics from Nabokov to horse-riding with her unique ability to tease out unexpected truths and cast aside received wisdom. Written with startling grace and linguistic flair, and delving into the complicated nature of love and the responsibility we owe to the people we encounter, the work collected here inspires the reader to think beyond their first responses to life and art. Spanning thirty years of Mary Gaitskill's writing, and covering subjects as diverse as Dancer in the Dark, the world of Charles Dickens and the Book of Revelation with her characteristic blend of sincerity and wit, Oppositions is never less than enthralling.Trade ReviewGloriously trenchant, but never gimmicky, in these unsparing essays... insightful and revealing * Guardian *Gaitskill has long been interested in the power play inherent in sexual relationships, so when it comes to probing the messy, murky topography of abuses of power and issues of consent, she's definitely the woman for the job -- Lucy Scholes * Daily Telegraph *Provocative and wry * Vogue *Gaitskill is enormously gifted * The New York Times Book Review *The range of Gaitskill's humanity is astonishing * LA Times *A writer of prodigious gifts * Guardian *Gaitskill writes with such authority, such radar-perfect detail * The New York Times *Stubbornly original, with a sort of rhythm and fine moments that flatten you out when you don't expect it -- Alice MunroGaitskill is phenomenally gifted -- Sarah HallNever fails to surprise, provoke, or wander into the murky areas most writers try and avoid ... Oppositions is never less than fascinating -- Steven Long * The Crack *Gaitskill's personal essays are evergreen... her non-fiction succeeds in embracing complexity -- Mia Levitin * TLS *
£10.44
Ignota Books Pharmako-AI
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£12.59
Ignota Books Air Age Blueprint
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£12.59
Peepal Tree Press Ltd Seepersad Naipaul Amazing Scenes Selected
Book SynopsisAn unrivalled and very entertaining picture of the various and sometimes bizarre strands of Indian lives in colonial Trinidad. Seepersad Naipaul is a pioneer, combining insight with high style, however strange or mundane his subject.
£23.99
Rudolf Steiner Press From Elephants to Einstein: Answers to Questions
Book SynopsisIn this collection, Rudolf Steiner deals wit h topics ranging from elephants to Einstein. He discusses, a mong other things, ants and bees, shells and skeletons, anim al and plant poisons, nutrition, the human eye and its colou r, and thinking '
£12.30
Sylph Editions Temporale: The Cahiers Series
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£12.60
Influx Press Lucifer Over London: A Guide to the Adopted City
Book SynopsisLondon, a city of constant transition, transaction, translation. London does not exist; London is a language without a place and it is the aphasic city; it's the mother of all languages. Lucifer Over London is a new anthology nine narrative essays written by a host of international prize-winning authors including Chloe Aridjis, Viola di Grado, Xiaolu Guo, Joanna Walsh and Zinovy Zinik. First published in Italy by Humboldt Books, Lucifer Over London is now appearing in English for the first time. This is a version of London as seen from the immigrants of recent migrations, of deportations to come, from those who create London even as they contradict it.
£9.49
Fitzcarraldo Editions Immanuel
Book SynopsisAt what point does faith turn into tyranny? In Immanuel, winner of the inaugural Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize, Matthew McNaught explores his upbringing in an evangelical Christian community in Winchester. As he moved away from the faith of his childhood in the early 2000s, a group of his church friends were pursuing it to its more radical fringes. They moved to Nigeria to join a community of international disciples serving TB Joshua, a charismatic millionaire pastor whose purported gifts of healing and prophecy attracted vast crowds to his Lagos ministry, the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN). Years later, a number of these friends left SCOAN with accounts of violence, sexual abuse, sleep deprivation and public shaming. In reconnecting with his old friends, McNaught realized that their journey into this cult-like community was directly connected to the teachings and tendencies of the church of their childhood. Yet speaking to them awakened a yearning for this church that, despite everything, he couldn’t shake off. Was the church’s descent into hubris and division separable from the fellowship and mutual sustenance of its early years? Was it possible to find community and connection without dogma and tribalism? Blending essay, memoir and reportage, Immanuel is an exceptional debut about community, doubt, and the place of faith in the twenty-first century.Trade Review‘Matthew McNaught is a strong and welcome new voice in essayism, clear-sighted and hugely empathetic. In this deeply affecting account of his own spiritual journey, he weaves in and out of the byways of religious belief once known as “enthusiasm”, charting the body-shaking, mind-breaking experiences of friends and strangers alike. By turns cynical, doubtful, wounded and yearning, his words give astonishing shape to the space that only faith can fill.’ — Marina Benjamin, author of Insomnia‘“Empathy” is a popular critical buzzword, but Matthew McNaught’s writing exemplifies the work of empathy at its most intense and, dare one say, sincere. Whether his subject is ordinary Syrians trapped by war or the fellow parishioners of his childhood church, ensnared by a false prophet, he always gives voice to the motives and emotions of those he writes about, mixed as they are and fraught with tragic consequence. McNaught is a sublime listener who knows how to put listening into words.’ — Marco Roth, author of The Scientists‘Matthew McNaught’s Immanuel is a mesmerising and compelling trip to the very edges of faith. The author explores the seductive pull of radical belief systems that can lead followers towards communal joy, transcendence, human folly and, at times, brutality. Through his journey as a member of an evangelical Christian community in his youth to an adulthood of questioning the more extreme manifestations of this community in Nigeria, McNaught has created an expansive narrative that asks the fundamental questions around our need for faith and belonging whilst exploring their limits. Immanuel is a beautiful and important book.’ — Joanna Pocock, author of Surrender‘This patient, absorbing account of evangelicalism in England and Pentecostalism in Nigeria neither romanticizes nor disdains religious belief. Instead, McNaught adopts friendship’s middle distance as the right vantage point from which to narrate his own spiritual history and that of childhood church friends who found themselves caught up in a cult. Neither indulgent nor disdainful toward believers, McNaught offers a fascinating look at how the search for ultimate meaning can go both wrong and right.’ — Emily Ogden, author of On Not Knowing: How to Love and Other Essays‘Taking us on an unexpected journey from English suburbia to a Lagos megachurch, Immanuel offers a fascinating, empathetic glimpse into the extreme edges of evangelical Christianity.’ — Samira Shackle, author of Karachi Vice‘The book is brilliantly crafted; McNaught moves deftly between incisive analysis of religions and cults, and an experiential free indirect style that takes the reader to the heart of the SCOAN compound. He frequently laments all he has lost since extricating himself from organized religion – a community, a shared identity, a coherent, overarching world-view...The nuance underpinning his work is anything but paralysing.’ — Lamorna Ash, TLS‘Acknowledging the attractions of communal worship while being alert to its profound awkwardness is one of the things that Matthew McNaught does very well in Immanuel. The book is in part an account of his own experience growing in Immanuel, a Christian community founded in Southampton in the 1970s. But it is also a journalistic investigation into the Synagogue Church of All Nations - or SCOAN - a Nigerian megachurch… McNaught writes well about the social pressures of collective worship and the ways these have intensified in the age of the internet. He and his friends had a term for feeling compelled to appear sloan in the spirit: the ‘courtesy drop’... But despite all the fakery, despite the abuse and the charlatanism of SCOAN, McNaught is sensitive to the fact that charismatic churches appeal to values that lie beyond the reach of capitalism and contemporary politics.’ — Jon Day, London Review of Books‘McNaught looks into his own relationship to his religious upbringing with nuance, in a blend of essay, memoir and reportage that asks us in turn to question what community and faith means today. Incredibly emotional, yet clear-eyed and generous.’ — Anna Cafolla, The Face ‘The most distinctive and admirable quality of this memoir is the way it bears witness to what McNaught calls the ‘mixture of longing and dismay’ he still feels in relation to his religious past.’ — Julia Dallaway, Oxonian Review‘In elegant and patient prose, McNaught does an admirable job balancing introspective, tricky questions about his own faith, beliefs, and mistakes with deep empathy for those who, when their paths diverged, were enticed down a much different route.’ — Laura Waddell, The Scotsman
£11.69
