Essays Books
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Aeneas Virgils Epic Retold for Young Readers
Book SynopsisEmily Frenkel is Head of Classics at Pymble Ladies' College, Sydney, Australia. A past president of the Australian Classical Languages Teachers Association, she has taught for over forty years and has written books for children.
£20.89
Vintage Publishing A Woman’s Battles and Transformations
Book SynopsisÉdouard Louis is one of the most important literary voices of his generation' GuardianOne day, Édouard Louis finds a photograph of his mother from twenty years ago: a happy young woman, full of hopes and dreams. But growing up, Édouard only knew his mother's sadness - what happened in those years since the photo was taken? Then, at the age of forty-five, Édouard's mother frees herself from this life of oppression, to start a new one in Paris.A Woman's Battles and Transformations reckons with the cruel systems that govern our lives - and with the possibility of escape. It is a tender portrait of a mother, and an honouring of her self-discovery as she chooses to live on her own terms.'Tash Aw's sensitive translation captures the vividness of Louis's voice... Movingly, the book demonstrates the pain that moving from one social class to another entails' Times Literary Supplement 'A tenderness of observation' New York Times'Incandescent...Louis's most hopeful book to date' Los Angeles TimesTranslated from the French by Tash AwTrade ReviewPoetic, tender, joyous. * Guardian *Heartbreaking... You suspect this uniquely troubling writer is far from done yet. * Observer *Louis' project, at once aesthetic and political, is..."to create a new language for the left", capable of articulating contemporary working-class experience. * New Statesman *Tash Aw's sensitive translation captures the vividness of Louis's voice... Movingly, the book demonstrates the pain that moving from one social class to another entails. * Times Literary Supplement *A tenderness of observation... translated into English with unobtrusive flair by Tash Aw. * New York Times *
£10.44
Catapult Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food from 31
Book Synopsis
£17.84
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Betting on the Muse
Book SynopsisBetting on the Muse is a combination of hilarious poetry and stories. Charles Bukowski writes about the real life of a working man and all that comes with it.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers A Year With C. S. Lewis
Book SynopsisTo mark the fiftieth anniversary of C. S. Lewis' death, this attractive book offers daily inspirational readings from this much-loved writer, making this a most thoughtful gift.Few people, whether children or adults, have not been touched by the incredible literary works of C. S. Lewis. Whether their lives have been touched by the Chronicles of Narnia, or the more spiritual Mere Christianity, Lewis continues to be one of the most influential authors and his voice' is as loud today as it ever was.An attractive and collectible gift book, this volume is perfectly designed for those interested in, and intrigued by, daily meditation. It collects material from across the breadth of Lewis's writing talent, taking brief selections from many of his non-fiction works. These extracts are accompanied by brief and engaging snippets of biographical information, offering the reader a more intimate look at Lewis's life in the context of his writings.Trade Review‘I read C.S. Lewis for comfort and pleasure many years ago, and a glance into the books revives my old admiration.’John Updike
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Stendhal Love
Book SynopsisA timeless treatise on the unique power of human emotion, Stendhal''s Love is translated by Gilbert and Suzanne Sale with an introduction by Jean Stewart and B.C.J.G. Knight in Penguin Classics.In 1818, when he was in his mid-thirties, Stendhal met and fell passionately in love with the beautiful Mathilde Dembowski. She, however, was quick to make it clear that she did not return his affections, and in his despair he turned to the written word to exorcise his love and explain his feelings. The result is an intensely personal dissection of the process of falling - and being - in love: a unique blend of poetry, anecdote, philosophy, psychology and social observation. Bringing together the conflicting sides of his nature, the deeply emotional and the coolly analytical, Stendhal created a work that is both acutely personal and universally applicable.This translation retains all the colour and passion of the original and is accompanied buy the author''s original prefaces and appendices. In their introduction, Jean Stewart and B.C.J.G. Knight discuss the relationship between Stendhal and his beloved and explore his views on feminism, education and society.Stendhal (1783-1842) was the pseudonym of Henri Marie Beyle, born and raised in Grenoble. Offered a post in the Ministry of War, from 1800 onwards he followed Napoleon''s campaigns throughout Europe before retiring to Italy. Here, as ''Stendhal'', he began writing on art, music and travel. Though not well-received during his lifetime, his work, including The Red and the Black (1830) and The Charterhouse of Parma (1839), now places him among the pioneers of nineteenth-century literary realism.If you enjoyed Love, you might like Gustave Flaubert''s Sentimental Education, also available in Penguin Classics.''The single most insightful book on the role of imagination on love''John Armstrong, author of Conditions of Love: The Philosophy of Intimacy
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd A History of My Times
Book SynopsisXenophon''s History recounts nearly fifty turbulent years of warfare in Greece between 411 and 362 BC. Continuing the story of the Peloponnesian War at the point where Thucydides finished his magisterial history, this is a fascinating chronicle of the conflicts that ultimately led to the decline of Greece, and the wars with both Thebes and the might of Persia. An Athenian by birth, Xenophon became a firm supporter of the Spartan cause, and fought against the Athenians in the battle of Coronea. Combining history and memoir, this is a brilliant account of the triumphs and failures of city-states, and a portrait of Greece at a time of crisis.Table of ContentsA History of My TimesIntroductionSelect BibliographyA Note on the NotesA History of My TimesBook OneBook TwoBook ThreeBook FourBook SixBook SevenAppendixMaps:1. The Aegean2. Asia Minor3. Northern Peloponnese and North West Greece4. Central Greece5. Area of the Isthmus and the Saronic Gulf6. Central and Southern Peloponnese7. ChalcidiceIndex
£11.69
Abrams Mad Men Carousel Paperback Edition
Book SynopsisThis book collects TV and movie critic Matt Zoller Seitz’s celebrated Mad Men recaps—as featured on New York magazine's Vulture blog—for the first time, including never-before-published essays on the show’s first three seasons.
£12.59
Vintage Publishing Who Killed My Father
Book SynopsisWho Killed My Father is the story of a tough guy – the story of the little boy I never was. The story of my father.‘What a beautiful book’ MAX PORTERIn Who Killed My Father, Édouard Louis explores key moments in his father’s life, and the tenderness and disconnects in their relationship. Told with the fire of a writer determined on social justice, and with the compassion of a loving son, the book urgently and brilliantly engages with issues surrounding masculinity, class, homophobia, shame and social poverty. It unflinchingly takes aim at systems that disadvantage those they seek to exclude – those who have their expectations, hopes and passions crushed by a society which gives them little thought.‘Édouard Louis is the vanguard of France’s new generation of political writers’ Evening StandardTrade ReviewEdouard Louis [is] the vanguard of France’s new generation of political writers -- Arjun Neil Alim * Evening Standard *Edouard Louis… speaks with an emotional authenticity and a stylistic confidence that is hard to ignore -- Tim Adams * Observer *This short work tackles the intersections of class, gender and sexuality... Louis gives voice to the way the cruel, crude hegemony of masculinity has essentially destroyed his father’s life, making him “as much a victim of the violence” he inflicted as of the violence he endured -- Lauren Elkin * Guardian *This valuable tale brings emotion to a discussion led by numbers, encouraging us to remember the real human lives affected by policy and political point-scoring -- Todd Gillespie * Financial Times *To understand what is happening now in France, or indeed, all over Europe, this is an essential text * Irish Times *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Complete Essays
Book SynopsisContaining various essays, this work discusses subjects as diverse as war-horses and cannibals, poetry and politics, sex and religion, love and friendship, ecstasy and experience.Table of ContentsThe Complete EssaysIntroductionNote on the TextThe AnnotationsNote on the TranslationExplanation of the SymbolsAppendicesTo the ReaderBook I1. We reach the same end by discrepant means2. On sadness3. Our emotions get carried away beyond us4. How the soul discharges its emotions against false objects when lacking real ones5. Whether the governor of a besieged fortress should go out and parley6. The hour of parleying is dangerous7. That our deeds are judged by the intention8. On idleness9. On liars10. On a ready or hesitant delivery11. On prognostications12. On constancy13. Ceremonial at the meeting of kings14. That the taste of good and evil things depends in large part on the opinion we have of them15. One is punished for stubbornly defending a fort without good reason16. On punishing cowardice17. The doings of certain ambassadors18. On fear19. That we should not be deemed happy till after our death20. To philosophize is to learn how to die21. On the power of the imagination22. One man's profit is another man's loss23. On habit: and on never easily changing a traditional law24. Same design: differing outcomes25. On schoolmasters' learning26. On educating children27. That it is madness to judge the true and the false from our own capacities28. On affectionate relationships29. Nine and twenty sonnets of Estienne de La Boëtie30. On moderation31. On the Cannibals32. Judgements on God's ordinances must be embarked upon with prudence33. On fleeing from pleasures at the cost of one's life34. Fortune is often found in Reason's train35. Something lacking in our civil administrations36. On the custom of wearing clothing37. On Cato the Younger38. How we weep and laugh at the same thing39. On solitude40. Reflections upon Cicero41. On not sharing one's fame42. On the inequality there is between us43. On sumptuary laws44. On sleep45. On the Battle of Dreux46. On names47. On the uncertainty of our judgement48. On war-horses49. On ancient customs50. On Democritus and Heraclitus51. On the vanity of words52. On the frugality of the Ancients53. On one of Caesar's sayings54. On vain cunning devices55. On smells56. On prayer57. On the length of lifeBook II1. On the inconstancy of our actions2. On drunkenness3. A custom of the Isle of Cea4. "Work can wait till tomorrow"5. On conscience6. On practice7. On rewards for honour8. On the affection of fathers for their children9. On the armour of the Parthians10. On books11. On cruelty12. An apology for Raymond Sebond13. On judging someone else's death14. How our mind tangles itself up15. That difficulty increases desire16. On glory17. On presumption18. On giving the lie19. On freedom of conscience20. We can savour nothing pure21. Against indolence22. On riding "in post"23. On bad means to a good end24. On the greatness of Rome25. On not pretending to be ill26. On thumbs27. On cowardice, the mother of cruelty28. There is a season for everything29. On virtue30. On a monster-child31. On anger32. In defence of Seneca and Plutarch33. The tale of Spurina34. Observations on Julius Caesar's methods of waging war35. On three good wives36. On the most excellent of men37. On the resemblance of children to their fathersBook III1. On the useful and the honourable2. On repenting3. On three kinds of social intercourse4. On diversion5. On some lines of Virgil6. On coaches7. On high rank as a disadvantage8. On the art of conversation9. On vanity10. On restraining your will11. On the lame12. On physiognomy13. On experienceIndex
£19.80
Penguin Books Ltd Sidneys The Defence of Poesy and Selected
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.
£14.24
Penguin Books Ltd Shooting an Elephant
Book Synopsis
£9.99
Copper Canyon Press,U.S. The Poet, The Lion, Talking Pictures, El
Book Synopsis "Wright shrinks back from nothing."—The Village Voice "Wright belongs to a school of exactly one."—The New York Times Book Review "Wright has found a way to wed fragments of an iconic America to a luminously strange idiom, eerie as a tin whistle."—The New Yorker "C.D. Wright is one of America''s oddest, best, and most appealing poets."—Publishers Weekly A companion to her astonishing collection of prose Cooling Time, C.D. Wright argues for poetry as a way of being and seeing, and calls it "the one arena where I am not inclined to crank up the fog machine." Wright''s passion for the genre is pure inspiration, and in her hands the answer to the question of poetry is poetry. From "In a Word": I love the nouns of a time in a place, where a sack once was a poke and native skag was junk glass not junk and junk was just junk not smack and smack entailed eating with your mouth open, and an Egyptian one-eye was an egg, sunny side up, and a nation sack was a flannel amulet, worn only by women, to be touched only by women, especially around Memphis. Red sacks for love and green for money… C.D. Wright''s most recent volume, One With Others, was a National Book Award finalist. Among her many honors are the Griffin Poetry Prize and a MacArthur Fellowship. She teaches at Brown University and lives outside of Providence, Rhode Island.
£12.34
Unbound Pedro and Ricky Come Again: Selected Writing
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
£17.09
Canongate Books On Reflection
Book SynopsisIn On Reflection Richard Holloway thinks back on some of the questions that have shaped his life. Here, then, are the big asks: is there a God? How can we forgive? Where does creativity come from? How can we face loss and death? How can we live a good life? And how do we find beauty in the world?To this cause he also recruits the help of poets, writers, musicians and artists, whose own wisdom can help us navigate life''s challenges. To ''reflect on'' can also mean to change your mind; a necessary facility in any well-lived life. And this leads us to more of our big asks: how do we change the world for the better? How do we heal divisions? How does a society move forward?In beautiful prose, and with care and joy, Richard Holloway offers his reflections on how a good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
£17.09
Enitharmon Press Vladimir Mayakovsky: Selected Works
Book Synopsis'This exhibition is not a jubilee, it's an account of my work. I demand help - not the glorification of non-existent virtues. That's what we are talking about, comrades, and not about glorifying private persons.' Mayakovsky was a poet, playwright, artist, director, actor, diarist, producer of agitprop posters and advertisement slogans, and writer of articles, essays and speeches. The inherent conflict of his status as an avant-garde communist writer working within the steadily narrowing cultural conditions of early Soviet Russia runs vividly throughout his work, and was a significant contributing factor to his suicide at the age of thirty-six. This groundbreaking collection draws together for the first time Mayakovsky's key translators from the 1930s to the present day, bringing some remarkable works back into print in the process and introducing poems which have never before been translated.The radical scope of its representation makes for the most comprehensive account of Mayakovsky's work to date - an account which charts not only the extraordinary range of his creative output, his rigorous and passionate innovation of language and form, and the intense power of his electrifying live performances, but also the fascinating and turbulent history of Mayakovsky's cultural and political representation in the western world. Edited by Rosy Patience CarrickTrade Review"His poetry, full of neologisms, punchy metaphors, original imagery, syncopated rhythm and staccato lines, stuns the reader with its energy and self-confidence and shouts across the years" Spectator (2015).; "Mayakovsky, the whirlwind Russian who composed grandiose, sprawling poems about revolution, romantic love, the Soviet Union and himself ... a captivating, contradictory, frustrating human being. Who would not want to go and read his works?" Telegraph (2015)
£13.49
Dopamine/Semiotext(e) Bargain Witch
£15.29
Andrews McMeel Publishing Jane Austens Garden
Book SynopsisAn elegantly illustrated celebration of Jane Austen’s life and literature as told through the flowers, plants, and landscapes that inspired her.Through explorations of the botanical inspirations and symbolism in Austen’s work and personal life, as well as historical information about the gardens and landscapes of the Regency Era, Jane Austen’s Garden will transport readers back in time to the lush English landscape of the early 1800s. Woven throughout are DIY projects to help you create a home garden worthy of a surprise visit from Lady Catherine de Bourgh or maybe just give your dining table a bit of historical flair. Accessible, entertaining, and enhanced by the enchanted illustrations of celebrated artist Jessica Roux, Jane Austen’s Garden is a fun twist on a familiar subject that will delight plant lovers and Janeites alike.
£16.99
Granta Books Forty-One False Starts: Essays on Artists and
Book SynopsisSelected essays from America's foremost literary journalist and essayist, featuring ruminations on writers and artists as diverse as Edith Wharton, Diane Arbus and the Bloomsbury Group. This charismatic and penetrating collection includes Malcolm's now iconic essay about the painter David Salle.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Frank Sinatra Has a Cold And Other Essays Penguin
Book SynopsisA selection of witty and provocative essays from the father of New Journalism, Gay Talese''s Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and Other Essays is published in Penguin Modern Classics.Gay Talese is the father of American New Journalism, who transformed traditional reportage with his vivid scene-setting, sharp observation and rich storytelling. His 1966 piece for Esquire, one of the most celebrated magazine articles ever published, describes a morose Frank Sinatra silently nursing a glass of bourbon, struck down with a cold and unable to sing, like ''Picasso without paint, Ferrari without fuel - only worse''. The other writings in this selection include a description of a meeting between two legends, Fidel Castro and Muhammad Ali; a brilliantly witty dissection of the offices of Vogue magazine; an account of travelling to Ireland with hellraising actor Peter O''Toole; and a profile of fading baseball star Joe DiMaggio, which turns into a moving, immaculately-craftTrade Review'The best non-fiction writer in America' * Mario Puzo *'A masterful New Journalism pioneer ... raises the magazine article to the level of an art form' * Los Angeles Times *
£9.49
Fitzcarraldo Editions The Book Against Death
Book Synopsis
£12.34
HarperCollins Publishers Finn and Hengest
Book SynopsisTolkien's famous translations and lectures on the story of two fifth-century heroes in northern Europe.Professor J.R.R.Tolkien is most widely known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but he was also a distinguished scholar in the field of Mediaeval English language and literature. His most significant contribution to Anglo-Saxon studies is to be found in his lectures on Finn and Hengest (pronounced Hen-jist), two fifth-century heroes in northern Europe.The story is told in two Old English poems, Beowulf and The Fights at Finnesburg, but told so obscurely and allusively that its interpretation had been a matter of controversy for over 100 years. Bringing his unique combination of philological erudition and poetic imagination to the task, however, Tolkien revealed a classic tragedy of divided loyalties, of vengeance, blood and death.Tolkien's original and persuasive solution of the many problems raised by the story ranged widely through the early history and legend ofTrade Review ‘How, given little over half a century, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?’ Guardian
£9.49
Oxford University Press Republic
Book SynopsisRepublic is the central work of the Western world''s most famous philosopher. Essentially an inquiry into morality, Republic also contains crucial arguments and insights into many other areas of philosophy. It is also a literary masterpiece: the philosophy is presented for the most part for the ordinary reader, who is carried along by the wit and intensity of the dialogue and by Plato''s unforgettable images of the human condition. This new, lucid translation by Robin Waterfield is complemented by full explanatory notes and an up-to-date critical introduction. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Reviewcertainly the best translation of the Republic available * Julia Annas *A fine new translation * The Observer *
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Essays A Selection Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisA survey of one of the giants of Renaissance thought, The Essays: A Selection collects some of Michel de Montaigne's most startling and original works, translated from the French and edited with an introduction and notes by M.A. Screech in Penguin Classics. To overcome a crisis of melancholy after the death of his father, Montaigne withdrew to his country estates and began to write, and in the highly original essays that resulted he discussed themes such as fathers and children, conscience and cowardice, coaches and cannibals, and, above all, himself. On Some Lines of Virgil opens out into a frank discussion of sexuality and makes a revolutionary case for the equality of the sexes. In On Experience he superbly propounds his thoughts on the right way to live, while other essays touch on issues of an age struggling with religious and intellectual strife, with France torn apart by civil war. These diverse subjects are united by Montaigne's distinctive voice - that of a tolerant man, sceTable of ContentsBook 1: we reach the same end by discrepant means; on idleness; on punishing cowardice; on fear; to philosophize is to learn how to die; on educating children; that it is madness to judge the true and the false from our own capacities; on the cannibals; judgements on God's ordinances must be embarked upon with prudence; on solitude; on prayer; on the length of life. Book 2: on the inconstancy of our actions; on drunkenness; on conscience; on the affection of fathers for their children; on cruelty; in defence of Seneca and Plutarch; on three good wives; on the resemblance of children to their fathers. Book 3: on repenting; on three kinds of social intercourse; on some lines of Virgil; on coaches; on the lame; on experience.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Where the Past Begins
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
£9.49
Daunt Books By the River
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Pushkin Press A Last Supper of Queer Apostles
Book SynopsisExtravagantly stylish, searingly critical dispatches from the margins by a queer Latin American icon, in English for the first time'He speaks brilliantly for a difference that refuses to disappear' Garth Greenwell'Astonishing and tender and quite outrageous... What a powerful, mould-breaking voice' Tomasz JedrowskiI speak from my difference wrote Pedro Lemebel, the Chilean writer who became an icon of resistance and queer transgression across Latin America. His innovative essays-known as crónicas-combine memoir, reportage, history and fiction to bring visibility and dignity to the lives of sexual minorities, the poor and the powerless.In a baroque, freewheeling style that fused political urgency with playfulness, resistance with camp, Lemebel shone a light on lives and events that many wanted to suppress: the glitzy literary salon held above a torture chamber, the queer sex and community that bloomed in Santiago's hidden corners and t
£11.69
HarperCollins Publishers Haywire
Book Synopsis'The most screamingly funny living writer' Barry Humphries, Mail on Sunday From the bestselling and award-winning author of Ma'am Darling and One Two Three Four, a selection of Craig Brown's finest writing collected together for the first time. Trade Review‘The most screamingly funny living writer’ Barry Humphries, Mail on Sunday ‘The greatest satirist since Max Beerbohm’ Elaine Showalter Guardian ‘Craig Brown's humour will outlive his victims. His journalism is one of the few compensations for being British now’ David Sexton, Sunday Telegraph ‘A genius … in every instance, the skill of the parodist dwarfs any achievement attributable to his subject’ Auberon Waugh, Daily Telegraph ‘He is the comic writer the rest of us admire from afar, and envy beyond the bounds of reason. How does he do it?’ Markus Berkmann, Spectator ‘Britain’s wittiest satirist’ The Times ‘[Craig Brown] has an acutely attuned comic ear, an unmatched eye for spotting the absurdities of human behaviour and a bloodhound-grade nose for sniffing out phoniness and pretension’ Mail On Sunday
£21.25
HarperCollins The Best American Essays 2025
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Histories Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisDescribes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. Frequently giving rise to colorful digressions, this book blends fact and legend to offer a compelling Greek view of the world of the fifth century BC.Trade Review“De Sélincourt’s pacy, natural-sounding, rendering, as superbly revised and annotated by John Marincola…was a game-changer…still reads freshly and is a bestseller six decades after its first publication.”--Edith Hall, Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsThe HistoriesPrefaceIntroduction1. Herodotus' Life and Work2. The Subject-Matter of The Histories3. Herodotus' sources and Metho Histories4. Structure and Themes in The Histories5. Herodotus' Later ReputationFurther ReadingA Note on the TextMapsHerodotus The HistoriesBook OneBook TwoBook ThreeBook FourBook FiveBook SixBook SevenBook EightBook NineGlossaryStructural OutlineChronologyAbbreviationsNotesIndex
£12.99
Penguin Books Ltd A Confession
Book SynopsisDescribing Tolstoy''s crisis of depression and estrangement from the world, A Confession is an autobiographical work of exceptional emotional honesty. It describes his search for ''a practical religion not promising future bliss but giving bliss on earth''. Although the Confession led to his excommunication, it also resulted in a large following of Tolstoyan Christians springing up throughout Russia and Europe. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
£6.99
Penguin Books Ltd Proust M Days of Reading
Book SynopsisIn these inspiring essays about why we read, Proust explores all the pleasures and trials that we take from books, as well as explaining the beauty of Ruskin and his work, and the joys of losing yourself in literature as a child. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd Confabulations
Book Synopsis''Language is a body, a living creature ... and this creature''s home is the inarticulate as well as the articulate''. John Berger''s work has revolutionized the way we understand visual language. In this new book he writes about language itself, and how it relates to thought, art, song, storytelling and political discourse today. Also containing Berger''s own drawings, notes, memories and reflections on everything from Albert Camus to global capitalism, Confabulations takes us to what is ''true, essential and urgent''.Trade ReviewHis writing ... has changed the way many of us see the world ... Berger has that rare and wonderful gift of being able to make complex thoughts simple -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *John Berger teaches us how to think, how to feel, how to stare at things till we see what we thought wasn't there. But above all he teaches us how to love in the face of adversity. He is a master -- Arundhati RoyOne of the greatest thinkers in postwar Britain * Guardian *He handles thoughts the way an artist handles paint -- Jeanette WintersonBerger is terrific ... Brilliant * Scotsman *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Anecdotes of the Cynics Penguin Little Black
Book Synopsis''It''s you who are the dogs...''
£5.63
Vintage Publishing Mouth Full of Blood: Essays, Speeches,
Book Synopsis“She was our conscience. Our seer. Our truth-teller. She was a magician with language, who understood the power of words.” - Oprah WinfreyA vital non-fiction collection from one of the most celebrated and revered American writersSpanning four decades, these essays, speeches and meditations interrogate the world around us. They are concerned with race, gender and globalisation. The sweep of American history and the current state of politics. The duty of the press and the role of the artist. Throughout Mouth Full of Blood our search for truth, moral integrity and expertise is met by Toni Morrison with controlled anger, elegance and literary excellence.The collection is structured in three parts and these are heart-stoppingly introduced by a prayer for the dead of 9/11, a meditation on Martin Luther King and a eulogy for James Baldwin. Morrison’s Nobel lecture, on the power of language, is accompanied by lectures to Amnesty International and the Newspaper Association of America. She speaks to graduating students and visitors to both the Louvre and America’s Black Holocaust Museum. She revisitsThe Bluest Eye, Sula and Beloved; reassessing the novels that have become touchstones for generations of readers.Mouth Full of Blood is a powerful, erudite and essential gathering of ideas that speaks to us all. It celebrates Morrison’s extraordinary contribution to the literary world.Trade ReviewA large, rich, heterogeneous book, and hallelujah... Mouth Full of Blood is a bracing reminder of what words do, how carefully they should and can be used… magnificent [and] rigorously argued -- RO Kwon * Guardian *Morrison's voice rings out, bold and hopeful, welcoming us into a world where moral integrity reigns * Culture Whisperer *Mouth Full of Blood demonstrate[s] the writer’s enduring eagerness to examine the contradictions of being both “native” and “alien” to her own country… She takes pride in challenging a traditional literary canon… at every stage, the reader is grateful for an author allowing, encouraging even, such intimate access to their work, thought and reflections -- K Biswas * New Statesman *[Mouth Full of Blood] proves Morrison to be as astute and important an essayist as she is a novelist… These pieces are a wake-up call… [and] a brilliant insight into the mind and work of one of the world’s finest writers -- Anita Sethi * i *Morrison’s fierce yearning for literature to be a more true and just realm over time, is a gift… [Mouth Full of Blood] is startling in its relevance to the conflicts and challenges of the present moment. In a time of turmoil and political greed, her writings have the power to bring, not a false comfort, but the hard-won belief that words can reshape the world. Toni Morrison’s own words certainly have -- Nilanjana Roy * Financial Times *
£9.99
Canongate Books On Love
Book SynopsisIn On Love, we see Charles Bukowski reckoning with the complications of love and desire. Alternating between the tough and the tender, the romantic and the gritty, Bukowski exposes the myriad faces of love in the poems collected here - its selfishness and its narcissism, its randomness, its mystery and its misery, and, ultimately, its true joyfulness, endurance and redemptive power.Whether writing about his daughter, his lover, or his work, Bukowski is fiercely honest and reflective, using love as a prism to look at the world and to view his own vulnerable place in it.Trade ReviewA literary immortal * * Time * *He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels -- Leonard CohenThe best poet in America -- Jean GenetReflective, humane, tremendously evocative and absorbingly readable * * The Times * *A beautiful, begrimed meander through love in all its facets: tough love, romantic love, unrequited love, passionate love - and also paternal love, which emerges after Bukowski's daughter is born. A book to keep on your bedside table for insomniac nights . . . the very best of Charles Bukowski * * Country & Town House * *
£9.49
Alma Books Ltd Literary and political Essays
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.99
Valley Press The Wild Land
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Peninsula Press Dog Days
£11.69
Random House USA Inc Meditations
Book SynopsisNearly two thousand years after it was written, Meditations remains profoundly relevant for anyone seeking to lead a meaningful life.Few ancient works have been as influential as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and emperor of Rome (A.D. 161–180). A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, it remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. Marcus’s insights and advice—on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others—have made the Meditations required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style. For anyone who struggles to reconcile the demands of leadership with a concern for personal integrity and spiritual well-being, the Meditations remains as relevant now as it was two thousand years ago. In Gregory Hays’s new translation—the first in thirty-five years—Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy. In fresh and unencumbered English, Hays vividly conveys the spareness and compression of the original Greek text. Never before have Marcus’s insights been so directly and powerfully presented. With an Introduction that outlines Marcus’s life and career, the essentials of Stoic doctrine, the style and construction of the Meditations, and the work’s ongoing influence, this edition makes it possible to fully rediscover the thoughts of one of the most enlightened and intelligent leaders of any era.
£17.99
Oxford University Press Dialogues and Essays
Book Synopsis''No man is crushed by misfortune unless he has first been deceived by prosperity.''In these dialogues and essays the Stoic philosopher Seneca outlines his thoughts on how to live in a troubled world. Tutor to the young emperor Nero, Seneca wrote exercises in practical philosophy that draw upon contemporary Roman life and illuminate the intellectual concerns of the day. They also have much to say to the modern reader, as Seneca ranges widely across subjects such as the shortness of life, tranquillity of mind, anger, mercy, happiness, and grief at the loss of a loved one. Seneca''s accessible, aphoristic style makes his writing especially attractive as an introduction to Stoic philosophy, and belies its reputation for austerity and dogmatism. This edition combines a clear and modern translation with an introduction to Seneca''s life and philosophical interests, and helpful notes. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literatTable of ContentsOn Providence ; On Anger, Book 3 ; Consolation to Marcia ; On the Happy Life ; On the Tranquillity of the Mind ; On the Shortness of Life ; Consolation to Helvia ; On Mercy ; Natural Questions, Book 6: On Earthquakes
£9.49
Fitzcarraldo Editions Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors
Book SynopsisMelodrama, biography, cold war thriller, drug memoir, essay in fragments, mystery – Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors is cult critic Ian Penman’s long awaited first original book, a kaleidoscopic study of the late West German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945–1982). Written quickly under a self-imposed deadline in the spirit of Fassbinder himself, who would often get films made in a matter of weeks or months, Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors presents the filmmaker as a pivotal figure in the late 1970s moment between late modernism and the advent of postmodernism and the digital revolution. Compelling, beautifully written and genuinely moving, echoing the fragmentary and reflective works of writers like Barthes and Cioran, this is a story that has everything: sex, drugs, art, the city, cinema and revolution.Trade Review‘[Fassbinder] Thousands of Mirrors is not a sorrowful kill-your-heroes recanting. It’s much more interesting than that – a freewheeling, hopscotching study of the Fassbinder allure and an investigation of Penman’s younger self…It’s a book about a film-maker but also, hauntingly, about the way our tastes and passions change over time.’ — Anthony Quinn, Observer‘Do Penman’s flurries of quickfire erudition add up to a dazzling kaleidoscope overall, or a labyrinth of aborted pathways? The answer is “both”. He’s boldly querying his subject’s genius from every vantage point – angry and young; older and (maybe) wiser.’ — Tim Robey, Telegraph‘Ian Penman is an ideal critic, one who invites you in, takes your coat, and hands you a drink as he sidles up to his topic. He has a modest mien, a feathery way with a sentence, a century’s worth of adroit cultural connections at the ready, and a great well of genuine passion, which quickly raises the temperature.’ — Lucy Sante, author of The Other Paris‘This is a wonderful book, and a surprisingly encouraging one too. Acute in its glancing survey of Fassbinder’s films, it also engages the early Seventies as a moment of ideological dishevelment that refuses to pass. If Penman lingers over those years in his own taut and revealing way, that is partly because they produced a kind of critical thought that, having not yet been squared up to fit the academic conveyor belt, could be rarified, speculative and experimental while also remaining closely engaged with political reality. Fassbinder is a great model for anyone puzzling over how we might remember as well as think and act in this chaotic time.’ — Patrick Wright, author of The Sea View Has Me Again‘Ian Penman – critic, essayist, mystical hack and charmer of sentences like they’re snakes – is the writer I have hardly gone a week without reading, reciting, summoning to mind. The writer without whom, etc.’ — Brian Dillon, author of Affinities‘Approached from all angles, Fassbinder is by turns a figure of intense corporeality, glistening with sweat, and an overblown mass of meaning.’ — Georgie Carr, Times Literary Supplement‘The book is many things, but above all it is a reckoning with the idea that art might enter the commodity world and awaken its inhabitants.... [T]he late 1970s/early 1980s, in which Penman was a shadowy but vital presence – post-punk, new pop, new romanticism – is remembered similarly as a moment where a sudden societal switch led to an efflorescence of radical popular culture. Writing his book in 2022, Penman was remembering Penman in 1982 remembering the just-dead Fassbinder marking one historical moment of transition by making reference to another that took place decades earlier. To read Penman doing this in what feels like another moment of passage into something unknown and frightening is rather eerie.’ — Owen Hatherley, London Review of Books‘This is a jittery, clammy book, sweat beading on every page… In its exuberant phrase making, obsessive listing, emotional explosions and crashes, bursting seams – the book has three appendices – and its linguistic pyrotechnics, it ultimately comes down on the side of willing delirium.’ — John Douglas Miller, Frieze‘[A] slender love letter.’ — Stuart Jeffries, Spectator‘[T]his is the efficient, gregarious guidebook that neophytes have been missing’ —Chris Molner, Los Angeles Review of Books ‘Drifting through personal back alleys and intellectual boulevards à la the wanderings of Walter Benjamin and Geoff Dyer. A maze of epigrams, aphorisms (“Aren’t all masks death masks?”), anecdotes, and numbered fragments. An exquisitely companionable guidebook-inventory of a vast, intimate mental space Penman dubs the Fassbundesrepublik…A Thousand Mirrors doesn’t try to solve the contradictions of its subject but lays them out like a suit and inhabits them.’ —Howard Hampton, Artforum‘Ian Penman’s Fassbinder Thousands Of Mirrors isn’t a biography of the epic and controversial master filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder – it’s much more. It’s chock-a-block with quotes and confessions, famous writers, artists, politics, history, social commentary and a bit of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, among – of course – film talk. Like me, you’ll have to re-read this, not least because it’s a who’s who of post-WWII culture world.’ — Rhonda Lee Reali, Buzz Magazine‘And so, as if making a pact with his young review-churning self, Penman opted for a different strategy: to write quickly, finishing in a matter of months a critical portrait of Fassbinder in the style of Fassbinder — fast, made-to-deadline, bristling with ideas yet economical.The book rushes by in a flurry of numbered one-or-so-paragraph notes. The notes drift, venture lightly and suggestively down quick-flash exploratory tunnels, turn Fassbinder and his films over and peer at them from various heights.’ — William Harris, Jacobin‘Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors, by the British critic Ian Penman, offers… an erotics—of cinema, of memory, of the gradual wreck of history. The sensuality of Penman’s book is inseparable from the music of his prose.’ — Jeremy Lybarger, The Baffler‘Ian Penman – legendary writer, critic and master of lucid, joyous prose – instead offers up a patchwork portrait of RWF, one assembled of 450 observations, reflections, bits of research and more. Through those fragments you get a proper sense of how one can really wallow in both Fassbinder’s massive body of work and his personal mythology – but Mirrors also reeks of adoration and joy, a delightful, emotive and appropriately flashy ode.’ — Ed Cunningham,Timeout Books of the Year 2023
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd A Short Residence in Sweden Memoirs of the
Book SynopsisIn these two closely linked works - a travel book and a biography of its author - we witness a moving encounter between two of the most daring and original minds of the late eighteenth century: A Short Residence in Sweden is the record of Wollstonecraft''s last journey in search of happiness, into the remote and beautiful backwoods of Scandinavia. The quest for a lost treasure ship, the pain of a wrecked love affair, memories of the French Revolution, and the longing for some Golden Age, all shape this vivid narrative, which Richard Holmes argues is one of the neglected masterpieces of early English Romanticism.Memoirs is Godwin''s own account of Wollstonecraft''s life, written with passionate intensity a few weeks after her tragic death. Casting aside literary convention, Godwin creates an intimate portrait of his wife, startling in its candour and psychological truth. Received with outrage by friends and critics alike, and virtually suppressed for a century,
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Hazlitt W On the Pleasure of Hating
Book SynopsisThroughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are.
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd Le Morte DArthur Vol. I 01
Book SynopsisSir Thomas Malory's richly evocative and enthralling version of the Arthurian legendRecounting Arthur's birth, his ascendancy to the throne after claiming Excalibur, his ill-fated marriage to Guenever, the treachery of Morgan le Fay and the exploits of the Knights of the Round Table, it magically weaves together adventure, battle, love and enchantment. Le Morte D'Arthur looks back to an idealized Medieval world and is full of wistful, elegiac regret for a vanished age of chivalry. Edited and published by William Caxton in 1485, Malory's prose romance drew on French and English verse sources to give an epic unity to the Arthur myth, and remains the most magnificent re-telling of the story in English.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and d
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd News from Nowhere and Other Writings Penguin
Book SynopsisThis volume illustrates the variety of William Morris's prose, while focusing on one theme: the earthly paradise. The Nowhere of News from Nowhere (1890) is England in 2102, an ideal pastoral society born out of revolution. It is as compelling a dream of the future as the nightmares of Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Exhilaratingly, it reminds us that nothing is inevitable about the way we livenow or in 1890.Table of ContentsPart 1 Romance: the story of the unknown Church; a King's lesson; two extracts from "A Dream of John Ball"; "News from Nowhere". Part 2 Lectures: the lesser arts; some hints on pattern-designing; useful work versus useless toil; the hopes of civilization. Part 3 Occasional prose: "Looking Backward" - a review of "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy; under an elm-tree, or, thoughts in the countryside; preface in "The Nature of Gothic" by John Ruskin; foreword to "Utopia" by Sir Thomas More; how I became a socialist; a note by William Morris on his aims in founding the Kelmscott Press. Part 4 Letters: [the Eastern question]: letter to the "Daily News"; [anti-scrape]: letter to the "Athenaeum"; [St Mark's, Venice]: letter to the "Daily News".
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Styles of Radical Will
Book SynopsisThis collection of essays contains some of the most important pieces of criticism of the twentieth century, including the classics ''The Aesthetics of Silence'', a brilliant account of language, thought and consciousness, and ''Trip to Hanoi'', written during the Vietnam War. Here too is an excoriating account of America''s identity and future, a robust and surprising discussion of pornography and other richly rewarding writings on art, film, literature and politics.Trade Review'Susan Sontag's essays are great interpretations, and even fulfillments of what is really going on.' - Carlos Fuentes
£12.60
Penguin Books Ltd Citizen
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2015WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR POETRY 2015WINNER OF THE PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD 2015WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR POETRY 2015''Everywhere were flashes, a siren sounding and a stretched-out roar. Get on the ground. Get on the ground now. Then I just knew.''And you are not the guy and still you fit the description because there is only one guy who is always the guy fitting the description.''In this moving, critical and fiercely intelligent collection of prose poems, Claudia Rankine examines the experience of race and racism in Western society through sharp vignettes of everyday discrimination and prejudice, and longer meditations on the violence - whether linguistic or physical - which has impacted the lives of Serena Williams, Zinedine Zidane, Mark Duggan and others.Citizen weaves essays, images and poetry together to form a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in an ostensibly ''post-race'' society.Trade ReviewWonderfully capacious and innovative. In her riffs on the demotic, in her layering of incident, Rankine finds a new way of writing about race in America -- Nick Laird * New York Review of Books *Citizen feels raw ... this documentary-style look at America has catapulted Rankine into the spotlight ... She speaks to the vastly different ways racism and injustice are perpetuated across class lines in America today -- Smitha Khorana * Guardian *Rankine brilliantly pushes poetry's forms ... one is left with a mix of emotions that linger and wend themselves into the subconscious -- Holly Bass * The New York Times *What does it mean to be a black citizen in the US of the early twenty-first century? Claudia Rankine's brilliant, terse and parabolic prose poems have a shock value rarely found in poetry. These tales of everyday life - whether the narrator's or the lives of young black men like Trayvon Martin and James Craig Anderson - dwell on the most normal exteriors and the most ordinary of daily situations so as to expose what is really there: a racism so guarded and carefully masked as to make it all the more insidious ... Citizen is an unforgettable book -- Marjorie PerloffAn especially vital book for this moment in time ... The realization at the end of this book sits heavily upon the heart: "This is how you are a citizen," Rankine writes. "Come on. Let it go. Move on." As Rankine's brilliant, disabusing work, always aware of its ironies, reminds us, "moving on" is not synonymous with "leaving behind" -- Dan Chiasson * New Yorker *
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