Travel writing Books
HarperCollins Publishers Around the World
Book SynopsisTraversing across the world by train, boat and plane, the two children in this story poem encounter the extremes of sun and snow travelling to Africa, India and China. The book begins with a poem, before revealing their journey''s details, and repetitive questions encourage the reader to turn the page and continue the voyage.Yellow/ Band 3 books offer varied sentence structure and natural language.Text type A poem with predictable structure and patterned language.The story map on pages 14 and 15 gives children the opportunity to follow the route again on a world map.Curriculum links Geography: Where in the world is Barnaby bear? Passport to the world. Music: Feel the pulse.This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.
£8.36
HarperCollins Publishers Mark Steels In Town
Book SynopsisOn the way to a show in Skipton, in North Yorkshire, I noticed a road sign to a town called Keighley. So later, during the show, I mentioned this, asking the audience, ''Is that your rival town?'' And the room went chillingly quiet, until one woman called out with understated menace, ''Keighley is a sink of evil.''Based on his award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, Mark Steel''s In Town, is a celebration of the quirks of small-town life in a country of increasingly homogenised high streets. Steel''s bespoke observations on the small, sometimes forgotten, towns of Britain go right to the heart of British culture today, championing the very people who shape the places we live in now.As everywhere hurtles along a route towards being identical to everywhere else, it seems any expression of local interest or eccentricity is becoming a yell of defiance. Scrape away the veneer of Wetherspoons and Pizza Hut-inspired uniformity, and the march of Tesco''s towards being reclassified as a continent, anTrade ReviewReviews of Mark Steel’s In Town: ‘This programme is stand-up comedy at its very best…stand-up on radio is immensely challenging – and often unsuccessful but this programme is intelligent and rich in content, well paced and, moreover, funny…although it is clear that a lot of preparation went into making this programme, the result is fluent, natural and exciting…it was also generous to its audience and to its location – and very much in tune with the sound and appeal of the network.’ The Sony Radio Academy Awards ‘A tough gig…more like shooting fish in a barrel, to judge from the reception he received from the honest burghers of Skipton, North Yorkshire…from the moment he remarked on the fact that the hall in which he was performing was used as a cattle market during the day and was hosed out before the show – and got a roar of approving laughter – Steel must have known that he could do no wrong.’ Times (review of Skipton show) ‘Going to a place and insulting it takes guts and careful strategies…Steel made use of the fact that he is from nearby Swanley both to signal that he knows the area but also that – whatever he was about to say about Dartford – it was better than his hometown.’Guardian ‘A simple idea, kindly and wittily executed by another unfashionably humane Englishman…thank Gaia they still exist.’ Observer
£11.69
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Love Africa
Book SynopsisTrade Review“A passionate debut memoir bears witness to political turmoil… A stark, eye-opening, and sometimes horrifying portrait by a reporter enthralled by the ‘power and magic’ of Africa.” — Kirkus “[Gettleman’s] beautifully written memoir is about many kinds of love…The path to love is not always straight, but when Gettleman discovers his true passions, he grabs hold and doesn’t let go. Love, Africa offers a key to understanding humankind’s past and future and a key to understanding our hearts.” — Sheryl Sandberg “Rarely do you read such beautifully rendered honesty: witness the eyes and heart of Jeffrey transform into a remarkable person and writer for our time.” — Ishmael Beah “Gettleman’s memoir of his life, his love, and the excitement and perils of journalism is a page-turner. The portrait of Africa that emerges is disturbing, tender, and harsh. …. A tremendous read. I couldn’t put it down.” — Abraham Verghese “Jeffrey Gettleman’s memoir is truly, in all its complicated tragic beauty, a love story made up itself of inextricably intertwined love stories. I was mesmerized.” — Alexandra Fuller “To feel the fear, sinfulness, and rapture of being a foreign correspondent, read this book! Using self-lacerating truth and high velocity prose, Jeffrey Gettleman has written a compulsively readable new story about what it means to be ‘our man in Africa.’” — Blaine Harden “Jeffrey Gettleman has true grit. That’s why he was in my book, and why you have to read his.’’ — Angela Duckworth “…[Gettleman] takes readers... into the most terrifying and beguiling continent in the world.…Gettleman is a rare combination of dogged reporter and very fine writer…I kept catching myself wondering whether it was too late to go back and lead his life rather than my own .” — Sebastian Junger “[An] exciting, harrowing memoir that aptly displays why [Gettleman’s] a Pulitzer Prize winner and a New York Times bureau chief…. there’s a thrilling immediacy and attention to detail in Gettleman’s writing that puts the reader right beside him…Gettleman’s memoir is an absolute must-read.” — Booklist (starred review)
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers Inc We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay
Book Synopsis
£9.99
International Marine Publishing Co Unsinkable
Book SynopsisThe first complete how-to guide for building the latest generation of quick and easy boatsIn Ultrasimple Boatbuilding, renowned designer Gavin Atkin shows you how to create elegant, seaworthy plywood boats with a minimum of time, experience, and expense. Using clearly written and illustrated step-by-step instructions, Atkin explains the basics of stitch-and-glue construction, tools, materials, shop safety, and more, as he helps you choose and build the simpleboat of your dreams.Table of ContentsContents Introduction: The Virtues of Small and Simple Boats Part 1How We'll Build Them1.Three Simple Ways to Build Ultrasimple Boats The Simplified Chine Log MethodStitch-and-GluePolyurethane Stitch and GlueEpoxy Stitch and GlueYour Choice2.Materials and ToolsPlywoodBuying PlywoodLumberBuying LumberAdhesivesEpoxyPolyurethane GluesPaint and VarnishTools3.Basic SkillsWorking with LumberMarkingCuttingWorking with SawsJoining Lengths of LumberWorking with Plywood panelsMarking out using coordinatesCutting the panelsMaking Butt JointsUsing FastenersPre-drilling holes Working with hand drillsUsing hammers and driving nailsUsing screwdrivers and driving screws(sidebar: Working with Chisels) Working with GluesUsing polyurethane glue(sidebar: PL Hints from Bryant Owen)Using Epoxy4.Building the HullBuilding with the Simplified Chine Log MethodCleats for bulkheads and frames Cleats for the transomsAssembling the Bulkheads, Transoms, and SidesAdding Chine logsBuilding Stitch-and-Glue StyleBulkheads and Frames Initial Assembly Taping versus "Stitching"Making Fillets with polyurethaneMaking Fillets with epoxyCovering the hullAdding a SkegInwales, gunwales, breasthooks and quarter knees(sidebar: Home Made Clamps)5.Finishing Your BoatPaintingPainting with water-based paintPainting with oil-based paintVarnishing6.Fitting out and RiggingFittingsPaddling and rowing gear(sidebar: A Rowing Rant)Sailing GearDaggerboards, leeboards, and ruddersSparsSailsRigging(sidebar: Knots)Preventing rot7.Model makingPart 2Let's Build Some Boats8.Minimouse and Micromouse: two tiny, flat-bottom double-paddle pramsHullDecksSeatsLes Brown's Micromouse9.Lilypad: a stone-simple punt10.Mouse and Rowing Mouse: a V-bottomed messabout pram for double-paddle or oars11.Cruising Mouse: a two-person rowing or paddling pram with carrying capacity12.PoorBoy: a small outboard skiff13.Dogsbody: a larger outboard boat14.Jiggity: an "ultrasimplified" Auray punt15.Aurette: a small sailing Auray punt 16.Piragua: a pirogue17.Cinderella: a double-paddle canoe with a "roundish" bottom18.Flying Mouse: a child's sailing pramString Sailing19.Eek!: a larger, sportier sailing pram for more experienced kids and small adults20.Puddle Duck Racer: the world's simplest racing class?21.Summer Breeze: a versatile rowing/sailing skiffUsing the Simplified Chine Log MethodStem and transomFrameAssembling the SidesInstalling the BottomUsing stitch and glueFinishing the HullRowing AccoutrementsSailing Rig22.Doris the Dory: a rowing and sailing expedition boat Part 3: What Shall We Build Next?23.A gallery of appealing designsPhil BolgerTealHis 'n' Hers SchoonersMicroJim MichalakAF3AF4LadybugHarmonicaMurray IslesSwallowdale 15Swan BayPepper GalJohn WelsfordHoudiniTread LightlyTroverJacques Mertens-GoosensCK 17Otter 16Indian River SkiffConrad NatzioSandpiperOystercatcher
£26.09
Ebury Publishing Join Me
Book SynopsisDanny Wallace is a writer and television presenter, who wears glasses and used to have a cat. Join Me was his first solo book and was described as a 'word-of-mouth phenomenon' by The Bookseller and 'one of the funniest stories you will ever read' by the Daily Mail. His second book, Yes Man - in which he decided to say 'Yes' to everything has been made into a film starring Jim Carrey. It was described as 'hilarious' by more than four national newspapers, and Richard Madeley. Both books were Sunday Times bestsellers. Danny Wallace is PPA's Columnist of the Year 2011. Find out more about Danny at www.dannywallace.com.Trade ReviewOne of the funniest stories you will ever read * Daily Mail *The hilarious true story of a bunch of strangers being swept up in a bored man's experiment * Heat *Hugely funny. * World Magazine *Join Me is the kind of book I love: effortlessly funny, painfully accurate and entertaining to the very end. Brilliant. -- Mike Gayle
£14.24
Ebury Publishing America Unchained
Book SynopsisDave Gorman is an award-winning comedian, storyteller and writer. He has numerous TV writing credits and was part of the double BAFTA-winning team behind The Mrs Merton Show. His live shows have won many awards and he is the only performer to twice win the Jury Prize for Best One Person Show at the prestigious HBO US Comedy Arts Festival. He was the host of Genius, which ran for three series on Radio 4 and then two series on BBC2. He has appeared in numerous other TV shows, including Absolutely Fabulous, The Frank Skinner Show, Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His documentary film, America Unchained, won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Austin Film Festival. His 2013 TV show, Modern Life Is Goodish, made for UKTV's Dave channel, saw him dissecting the foibles of modern life in six hour-long comic performances. It quickly established Trade ReviewThe road trip of a lifetime * The Times *An epic quest across America * Boys Toys *
£14.24
Ebury Publishing Hope and Glory
Book SynopsisStuart Maconie is a writer, broadcaster and journalist familiar to millions from his work in print, on radio and on TV. His previous bestsellers have included Cider with Roadies, Pies and Prejudice and Adventures on the High Teas, and he currently hosts the afternoon show on BBC 6music with Mark Radcliffe as well as weekly show The Freak Zone. Based in the cities of Birmingham and Manchester, he can also often be spotted on top of a mountain in the Lake District with a Thermos flask and individual pork pie.Trade ReviewA very engaging writer with a remarkably broad frame of reference * Mail on Sunday *...compelling and often witty insight into the customs and mindsets of overlooked corners of Britain ... Maconie is an engaging and illuminating guide throughout * Independent *As funny as Bryson and as wise as Orwell * Observer *More serious than you might expect, copies should be available in every school * Guardian *
£14.99
Vintage Publishing Do Not Pass Go
Book SynopsisTim Moore's books include French Revolutions, Do Not Pass Go, Spanish Steps and Nul Points and I Believe in Yesterday. He lives in London.Trade ReviewHe is a rare comic talent * The Times *A very funny writer, oozing with comic ideas... There are fantastic jokes here, some lovely observation and a wealth of delicious information * Daily Mail *Witty and ingenious * Guardian *An ideal balance of travel, anecdote and dry wit * Independent on Sunday *A brilliant book that sheds new light on our capital * Sunday Express *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Delhi
Book SynopsisIn an extraordinary portrayal of one of the world''s fastest growing cities, Sam Miller sets out to discover the real Delhi. Following a spiral course through the city, he visits its less celebrated destinations; the unexpected, the ignored and the eccentric. Through his encounters with Delhi''s people - from a professor of astrophysics to a crematorium attendant, from ragpickers to members of the Police Brass Band - Miller creates a richly entertaining portrait of what this megacity means to its residents. The modern Delhi he depicts, in all its humour and humanity, is one whose future concerns us all.Trade ReviewA wild, spiralling wonder of a book... the sharpest reflection of the capital since William Dalrymple's City of Djinns... Read this book and laugh, grow and gaze in gob-smacked wonder at India's whirling dreamtown -- Rory Maclean * Guardian *The liveliest of city travelogues, a beguiling introduction to the Indian capital and an irresistible read for even the faintly curious * Literary Review *A chronicle that rivals its subject matter in energy and scope... His talent is dizzying and his narrative a rich accomplishment. I walked miles in Delhi - without moving an inch * The Times *A dizzying, droll travelogue... Miller's multitudinous city snapshots elucidate the paradoxes of gloablisation without judgement, and his tales of urban wandering form a valuable archive of a rapidly transforming city. Miller's forays into city slums are poignant, humanising evocations of Delhi's underside -- Hirsh Sawnhey * Guardian *A thoroughly entertaining book - even down to the countless footnotes - about a fascinating city * Financial Times *
£14.39
Vintage Publishing Meander East to West along a Turkish River
Book SynopsisThe course of the Meander is so famously indirect that the river''s name has come to signify digression - an invitation Jeremy Seal is duty-bound to accept while travelling the length of it in a one-man canoe. At every twist and turn of his journey, from the Meander''s source in the uplands of Central Turkey to its mouth on the Aegean Sea, Seal illuminates his account with a wealth of cultural, historical and personal asides.It is a journey that takes him from Turkey''s steppe interior - the stamping ground of such illustrious adventurers as Xerxes, Alexander the Great and the Crusader Kings - to the great port city of Miletus, home of the earliest Western philosophers. Along the way Seal unpicks the history of this remarkable region, but he also encounters a rich assortment of contemporary characters who reveal a rural Turkey on the cusp of change. Above all, this is the story of a river that first brought the cultures of East and West into contact - and conflict - with oneTrade ReviewThis is a wonderful book by a wonderful writer -- Robert MacfarlaneMeander is both the tale of a quixotic journey down a river and a wonderfully affectionate, funny, intimate and knowledgeable portrait of Turkey -- Barnaby Rogerson * Times Literary Supplement *There are few better travel writers than Jeremy Seal writing today, and none better on Turkey -- Geographical MagazineSuccess and enjoyment in this book spring from the fact that Seal is equally at home in the past as the present... his great ability here is to convey something of the lives, the concerns and the nature of the people of the region -- Anthony Sattin * Spectator *Meander takes us to a forgotten river and a land whose history and culture, significant as they are for bridging East and West, old and new, are all but neglected. It's wonderful stuff... a book that celebrates the dilemma in which Turkey finds itself, which records with sensitivity a story which is both epic and intensely personal... this is a fine observation of a landscape and its people and of a country whose efforts to define itself have been as circuitous as the river itself' -- Jon Berry * www.caughtbytheriver.net *
£11.99
Vintage Publishing The Hills Of Adonis
Book SynopsisFor four months and five hundred miles Colin Thubron walked the mountains of Lebanon, following tracks and rivers. His journey was not only a survey of a remarkable country, but a quest for the gods and divinities who held the secrets of death and rebirth in the land''s ancient cults.He visited almost every place of cultural importance, and lived with the people along his way, recording a country of outstanding natural scenery, rich with a unique medley of races and religions.The Hills of Adonis is both a travel book and a personal journal; for the quest is the search for meaning, a reflection on faith and reason and a poem on the joy and complexity of living.Trade ReviewHe has the mind of a scholar, uses language like a poet and has written a lovely mosaic of a book * Daily Telegraph *An unforgettable experience * Irish Times *Adventurous, observant, modest, poetical, Mr Thubron is a traveller after one's own heart * Sunday Times *
£10.44
Cornerstone The Green Road Into The Trees
Book SynopsisHugh Thomson is the author of five previous travel books, the most recent of which, Tequila Oil: Getting Lost in Mexico, was serialised by BBC Radio 4. He has led many research expeditions to Peru and is a leading explorer of Inca settlements. He has also taken filming expeditions to Mount Kilimanjaro, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Mexican Sierra Madre. His most recent book, The Green Road into the Trees, won the Thwaites Wainwright Prize for UK Nature and Travel Writing.'Everywhere Thomson goes, he finds good tales to tell...' New York Times Book Reviewwww.thewhiterock.co.ukTrade ReviewHe is an illuminating companion…frequently comic, his voice is original and engaging; proof that it is the walker, not the path, that counts. * Independent *An immensely enjoyable book: curious, articulate, intellectually playful and savagely candid. * The Spectator *He records more than impressions: there are fascinating excursions into neglected areas of British history, and conversations with hippies, travellers and farmers, which makes Mr Thomson’s journey a joy to follow. * Country Life *Often funny and always enlightening -- Candida Lycett Green * Countryfile *I would love to walk with Thomson -- John Sutherland * Financial Times *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing The Condor and the Cows
Book SynopsisChristopher Isherwood was born in 1904. He began to write at university and later moved to Berlin, where he gave English lessons to support himself. He witnessed first hand the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany and some of his best works, such as Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye to Berlin, draw on these experiences. He created the character of Sally Bowles, later made famous as the heroine of the musical Cabaret. Isherwood travelled with W.H Auden to China in the late 1930s before going with him to America in 1939. He died on 4 January 1986. His novel A Single Man was recently made into an award-winning film by Tom Ford, starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.Trade ReviewEntertaining * Boston Globe *Delightful * New York Times *Intelligent and sensitive * Good Book Guide *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Congo Journey
Book SynopsisCombining the acute observation of a nineteenth-century missionary, and the wit of a Monty Python player, Redmond O''Hanlon is famous for his adventurous travel. His new challenge is the Congo, the most dangerous and inhospitable jungle in the world.
£17.09
Penguin Books Ltd Edge of the Orison
Book SynopsisIain Sinclair is the author of numerous works of fiction, poetry non-fiction, including Lud Heat; White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings; Downriver; Radon Daughters; Lights Out for the Territory; Rodinsky's Room, with Rachel Lichtenstein; Landor's Tower; London Orbital; Dining On Stones; Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire and Ghost Milk; American Smoke and London Overground. Downriver won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Encore Award. He lives in Hackney, east London.
£14.39
Penguin Books Ltd Motorworld
Book SynopsisJeremy Clarkson invites us to Motorworld, his take on different cultures and the cars that they drive.There are ways and means of getting about that don''t involve four wheels, but in this slice of vintage Clarkson, Jeremy isn''t much interested in them.Back in 1996, he took himself off to twelve countries (okay, eleven - he goes to America twice) in search of the hows, whys and wherefores of different nationalities and their relationships with cars. There were a few questions he needed answers to:* Why, for instance, is it that Italians are more interested in looking good than looking where they are going?* Why do Indians crash a lot?* How can an Arab describe himself as ''not a rich man'' with four of the world''s most expensive cars in his drive? * And why have the otherwise neutral Swiss declared war on the car?From Cuba to Iceland, Australia to Vietnam, Japan to Texas, Jeremy Clarkson tells us of his adventures on and off four wheels as he seeks to discover just what it is that makes our motorworld tick over. _____________Praise for Jeremy Clarkson:''Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud'' Daily Telegraph''Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches'' Time Out''Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube'' Evening StandardTrade ReviewBrilliant...laugh-out-loud * Daily Telegraph *Outrageously funny...will have you in stitches * Time Out *Very funny...I cracked up laughing on the tube * Evening Standard *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd For Crying Out Loud The World According to
Book SynopsisThe publication of The World According to Clarkson in 2004 launched a multi-million-copy bestselling phenomenon. But to no avail. Jeremy''s one-man war on crimes against common sense has not yet been won. And our hero''s still scratching his head at the madness of it all. But it''s not all bad. He''s learned a little along the way, including: Why binge drinking is good for you The worst word in the English language The remarkable secret of eternal youth The pleasure and pain of middle-aged drumming The problem with America And how to dispose of a seal For anyone who''s ever been driven to wonder just what is the matter with people these days, For Crying Out Loud is the perfect riposte. Surprising, fearless and always laugh-out-loud funny, Clarkson''s back. And he''s got a point . . . Jeremy Clarkson began his writing career on the Rotherham Advertiser. Since then he has written for the Sun, the Sunday Times, the Rochdale Observer, the Wolverhampton Express & Star, all of the associated Kent Newspapers, and Lincolnshire Life. Today he is the tallest person working in British television.Trade ReviewPraise for Clarkson * - *Brilliant...laugh-out-loud * Daily Telegraph *On any page you'll find a blinder * The Times *Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the Tube -- Andrew Neather (Environment columnist) * Evening Standard *Outrageously funny...will have you in stitches * Time Out *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Tickling the English
Book SynopsisDara O Briain is the biggest Irish comic to have hit the UK in recent years. Already a huge star in Ireland, O Briain has now moved from being a sold-out festival favourite in Edinburgh to selling out theatres across the country and enjoying mainstream television success with his topical BBC comedy show, Mock The Week. He has been living in England for the past seven years.Trade ReviewA master-class in intelligent stand-up...It's thoughtful stuff, impeccably delivered. With material this strong, you don't need gimmicks * Guardian *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The World According to Clarkson How Hard Can It
Book SynopsisVolume 4 in the bestselling World According to Clarkson seriesJeremy Clarkson had a dream. A world where the nonsensical made sense, the idiotic was abolished and the sheer bloody brilliant was embraced. In How Hard Can It Be? our hero embarks on a quest to set the world to rights. Again. En-route he discovers how rhubarb will become the new crack, that a comb over will end anyone''s quest for global domination and what unites a Filipino chambermaid in Abergavenny with Prince Andrew.For anyone who''s ever woken up and thought the time has come to stop the nonsense and celebrate the sensational, read on. Because seriously, how hard can it be?Jeremy Clarkson began his writing career on the Rotherham Advertiser. He now writes for the Sun and the Sunday Times and is the tallest person working in British television.Trade ReviewPraise for Clarkson * - *Brilliant...laugh-out-loud * Daily Telegraph *Very funny... I cracked up laughing on the Tube * Evening Standard *Outrageously funny...will have you in stitches * Time Out *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Road to Oxiana
Book SynopsisA real-life adventure that inspired countless travellers in fact and fiction, the Penguin Classics edition of Robert Byron''s The Road to Oxiana includes an introduction by Colin Thubron.In 1933 Robert Byron began a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Teheran to Oxiana - the country of the Oxus, the ancient name for the river Amu Darya which forms part of the border between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. The Road to Oxiana offers not only a wonderful record of his adventures, but also a rare account of the architectural treasures of a region now inaccessible to most Western travelers. Robert Byron (1905-41) was born in 1905, and educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford. He died during the Second World War, when the ship he was serving on was torpedoed by a U-Boat off Cape Wrath. Byron''s The Road to Oxiana is considered by many modern travel writers to be the first example of great travel writing.If y
£11.69
Penguin Publishing Group The Tree Where Man Was Born
Book SynopsisA timeless and majestic portrait of Africa by renowned writer Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014), author of the National Book Award-winning The Snow Leopard and the new novel In Paradise A finalist for the National Book Award when it was released in 1972, this vivid portrait of East Africa remains as fresh and revelatory now as on the day it was first published. Peter Matthiessen exquisitely combines nature and travel writing to portray the sights, scenes, and people he observed firsthand in several trips over the course of a dozen years. From the daily lives of wild herdsmen and the drama of predator kills to the field biologists investigating wild creatures and the anthropologists seeking humanity''s origins in the rift valley, The Tree Where Man Was Born is a classic of journalistic observation. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by groundbreaking British primatologist Jane Goodall.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
£16.15
Vintage Publishing Higher Calling
Book SynopsisWhy do road cyclists go to the mountains? Many books tell you where the mountains are, or how long and how high. None of them ask Why?'After all, cycling up a mountain is hard so hard that, to many non-cyclists, it can seem absurd. But, for some, climbing a mountain gracefully (and beating your competitors up the slope) represents the pinnacle of cycling achievement. The mountains are where legends are forged and cycling's greats make their names.Why are Europe's mountain ranges professional cycling's Wembley Stadium or its Colosseum? Why do amateurs also make a pilgrimage to these high, remote roads and what do we see and feel when we do?Why are the roads there in the first place?Higher Calling explores the central place of mountains in the folklore of road cycling. Blending adventure and travel writing with the rich narrative of pro racing, Max Leonard takes the reader from the battles that created the Alpine roads to the shepherds tending their flocks on the peaks, and to a Grand Tour climax on the highest road in Europe'. And he tells stories of courage and sacrifice, war and love, obsession and elephants along the way.
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd Tibet Tibet
Book SynopsisFrom the author of India: A Portrait, Patrick French''s Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land has been acclaimed as the book that showed the real Tibet for the first time. Tibet has long fascinated the West, but what really lies beyond our romantic image of a Buddhist mountain kingdom of peace and spirituality? Travelling through the country, French meets warrior monks, nomads and a nun secretly fighting Chinese communist rule, but also young Tibetans with a more pragmatic attitude to their situation. Interweaving these encounters with little-known stories of war and turmoil from Tibet''s past, he reveals a more nuanced, fascinating and surprising picture of this complex place than any other book has done. ''Mixes a compelling subject, magnificent prose and deep understanding'' The Times ''Inspired and heartfelt ... shows that Tibet was never the peace-loving paradise so many generations of Trade ReviewMixes a compelling subject, magnificent prose and deep understanding * The Times *Inspired and heartfelt ... shows that Tibet was never the peace-loving paradise so many generations of well-wishers have longed for it to be * Los Angeles Times *Tibet, Tibet, so good they named it twice ... French is a writer of generous talents * Sunday Times *French has produced something very different from what he calls "Tibetophile" literature, something greatly superior in its honesty and lack of false sentiment * Spectator *A gripping mix of history, travel writing and personal memoir... vividly told. * Observer *An accomplished writer and a keen observer (French) reports his findings vividly... French's reporting is excellent and this is an enjoyable and informative tour of Tibet. * The Guardian *First hand accounts of everyday experiences gleaned from close contact with Tibetan priests, politicians and peasants illuminate this moving book of modern day Tibet. * The Times *
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd A Castle in Spain
Book SynopsisAfter Cambridge Matthew Parris worked for the Foreign Office before becoming a Conservative MP in 1979. He resigned seven years later, after which he was the parliamentary sketchwriter for The Times for thirteen years. He is now a columnist for The Times and the Spectator, and is also a frequent broadcaster. His highly acclaimed autobiography was published by Viking in 2002, and his most recent book Parting Shots, a collection of diplomats' final despatches, is now available as a Penguin paperback. He divides his time between a flat in London, a house in his former Derbyshire constituency, and the house in Spain which is the subject of this book.Trade ReviewIn a class of its own * Guardian *So infectious is his enthusiasm for L'Avenc and the dramatic, unvisited landscape of Collsacabra, that I wanted to leave at once to explore it ... And it's all just a few miles away from the Costa Brava! -- Christopher Hudson * Daily Mail *Stands apart... This Englishman's castle might have started as a dream, but it has ended up being an extraordinary reality * Sunday Times *
£999.99
Penguin Books Ltd In Trouble Again
Book SynopsisRedmond O'Hanlon is an explorer in the nineteenth-century mould. In addition to his four bestselling travel books, Into the Heart of Borneo, In Trouble Again, Congo Journey and Trawler, he has published scholarly works on nineteenth-century science and literature. For fifteen years he was the Natural History editor of the Times Literary Supplement. He lives outside Oxford with his wife and two children.
£14.39
Penguin Books Ltd Deep South
Book SynopsisSUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERWinner of the Stanford Dolman Lifetime Contribution to Travel Writing Award 2020Beloved travel writer Paul Theroux turns his attention to America, exploring the landscapes and communities of his homeland as an outsider for the first timeFor the past fifty years, Paul Theroux has travelled to the far corners of the earth - to China, India, Africa, the Pacific Islands, South America, Russia, and elsewhere - and brought them to life in his cool, exacting prose. In Deep South he turns his gaze to a region much closer to his home.Travelling through North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, Paul Theroux writes of the stunning landscapes he discovers - the deserts, the mountains, the Mississippi - and above all, the lives of the people he meets.The South is a place of contradictions. There is the warm, open spirit of the soul food cafes, found in every tTrade ReviewPublisher's description. For the first time, renowned travel writer Paul Theroux turns his penetrating gaze homeward, exploring the extraordinary places and peoples of the American Deep South. From soul food and wide open roads to endemic poverty and simmering racial tension, he journeys to the heart of a vivid and mesmerising world. * Penguin *His ability to sum up a people or a city in a few lines is undiminished * Daily Telegraph *Theroux's work remains the standard by which other travel writing must be judged * Observer *The world's most perceptive travel writer * Daily Mail *[Theroux] has the power to transport us and get under the skin of a place... the stories in Deep South make for a compelling listen -- Duncan Minshull, BBC Radio 4This engrossing book reminds us that despite the poverty, maybe because of it, everyone has a story to tell and it's the writer's job to bear such testimony * Financial Times *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Experiments on Reality
Book SynopsisLong recognized as perhaps the greatest non-fiction writer at work in Ireland, for his vast, polymathic accounts of nature and culture in the Aran Islands and Connemara, Tim Robinson is also an essayist of genius whose fascinations range across the globe. In Experiments on Reality, he shines the light of his intelligence on his own life, and on some of the most fascinating questions in science and culture. Robinson brings us to his boyhood in Yorkshire, National Service in Malaya in the 1950s, and his years as a visual artist in Istanbul, Vienna and London. He revisits some of the scenes of his researches for the maps he made of Aran and Connemara, places that continue to throw up remarkable stories and puzzles. And he performs astonishing literary thought-experiments, playing with the boundaries of the essay form, scientific inquiry, and storytelling. Experiments on Reality is a masterpiece from one of the great minds of our time.''One of the grTrade ReviewMany landscape writers have striven to give their prose the characteristics of the terrain they are describing. Few have succeeded as fully as Robinson * Guardian *One of the greatest of all landscape writers ... When the material world is brought forth for us so beautifully, with such rapt attention and illuminating insight, we are reminded of how lucky we are to be part of it -- Fintan O'Toole * Irish Times *Robinson is a stylist of exceptional cadence, tact and ingenuity * Daily Telegraph *He is that rarest of phenomena, a scientist and an artist, and his method is to combine scientific rigour with artistic reverie in a seamless blend that both informs and delights * Guardian *Experiments on Reality offers another side to Robinson. The abstract and algebraic thinking of his early years as both a mathematician and artist bubble back to the surface and meld with the mossy scents of Connacht and the reflections of age * Sunday Independent *One of contemporary Ireland's finest literary stylists * Guardian *In this slim volume of essays, typically lyrical and measured, Robinson burgles the bank of his youth in Wharfedale and later years, including National Service in Malaysia and his time as an artist in Istanbul, Vienna and London, to map out the topography of his own thoughts and travels. * RTÉ Guide *Dazzling * Condé Nast Traveller *Tim Robinson is the Proust of the western seaboard, a Ruskin of the isles * New Stateman *He knows this world as no one else does, and writes about it with awe and love, but also with measured grace, an artist's eye and a scientist's sensibility * Sunday Business Post *Breathtaking ... the West of Ireland has found its ultimate laureate * TLS *Simply one of the best non-fiction prose writers currently at work * Irish Times *The Proust & Ruskin of modern place-writing, deep-mapper of Irish landscapes, visionary thinker, & human of exceptional intellectual generosity & kindness. He was an immense inspiration to & encourager of me & my work. -- Robert Macfarlane
£10.99
Penguin Books Ltd Sequins for a Ragged Hem An Island Journey Black
Book SynopsisA beautifully atmospheric memoir and travelogue from poet Amryl Johnson depicting her journey from the UK to Trinidad in the 1980s''Memories demanded that I complete this book. If what I experienced was, in fact, a haunting, I believe I have now laid these ghosts to rest in a style which I hope will satisfy even the most determined ones.''Amryl Johnson came to England from Trinidad when she was eleven. As an adult in 1983, ready for a homecoming, she embarks on a journey through the Caribbean searching for home, searching for herself.Landing in Trinidad as carnival begins, she instantly surrenders to the collective, pulsating rhythm of the crowd, euphoric in her total freedom. This elation is shattered when she finds the house where she was born has been destroyed. She cannot escape - nor wants to - from the inheritance of colonialism.Her bittersweet welcome sets the tone for her intoxicating exploration of these distinct islands. In evocative, lyrical prose Sequins for a Ragged Hem is an astonishingly unique memoir, interrogating the way our past and present selves live alongside one another.Selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books from Black Britain and the diaspora, which remap the nation and reframe our history.Trade ReviewSequins is a powerful and unusual book, in that it combines the familiar traveller's tales with an account of another kind of journey and process of discovery, as Johnson confronts the 'ghost who was haunting herself' in order that she might come to terms with her sense of a fragmented identity * Guardian *
£9.49
Yale University Press Journeying
Book SynopsisA writer for whom the journey has always mattered reinvents the very form itself in this inviting collection of in-the-moment impressions of his journeys
£29.61
Hodder & Stoughton The Road to McCarthy
Book SynopsisPete McCarthy's humorous quest for Irish communities across the world.Trade ReviewA disarming, likeable travelling companion * The Sunday Times *The new book is just as quirky and even funnier. It's full of extraordinary encounters, insightful glimpses of the places he visits and humorous comments on human behaviour, not least his own. * Sunday Telegraph *McCarthy is an accomplished writer, snappy and shrewd * Guardian *McCarthy's sharp and intelligent humour makes this roundabout journey a constant joy * Independent *Praise for MCCARTHY'S BAR:McCarthy mines a rich seam of humour as he finds himself on the receiving end of some warm but unsophisticated hospitality. But then, he could probably make a phone book funny. * Independent on Sunday *Hilarious, informed and intelligent ... a wonderful debut. By the end, we, too, would like to move to Ireland * Amazon.co.uk *An engaging, evocative book. Four out of five stars * Daily Mail *Don't panic - this is not the same story you hear from every tourist you meet ... This book will make you laugh out loud through recognition and embarrassment * Irish News *One of the funniest writers around. If you were asked to choose the ideal travelling companion, you would put Pete McCarthy near the top of your list. But if he doesn't happen to be available, MCCARTHY'S BAR is the next best thing * Yorkshire Evening Post *A riveting piece of storytelling * Observer *
£10.99
Little, Brown Book Group Ghost Riders
Book Synopsis* Ghost Riders combines history, travelogue and a revealing personal narrative to create a multi-dimensional map of the travelling soul.Trade ReviewErudite & street-smart... that rare thing: a travel writer who not only amuses & informs but also reappraises a well trodden landscape with brio & originality * MAIL ON S. *Fascinating . . . [Grant] brings to light a range of darkly romantic wanderers who strayed from the American mainstream while exemplifying the American Dream * OBSERVER * *....the freshest travel book on the US in a long time & one of the best short entrees to its history & culture * TLS *Wonderful...the people he talks to are allowed to speak for themselves, and there are many extraordinary stories...a thrilling read * THE TIMES *
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group Continental Drifter
Book SynopsisThey stuck their coaches on ride-on, ride off ferries, whisked through France and Italy moaning about garlic and rudeness, then bored the neighbours to death by having them all round to look at their holiday watercolours''Many people associate the Grand Tour with the baggy shirted Byrons of its 19th century heyday, but someone had to do it first and Thomas Coryate, author of arguably the first piece of pure travel writing, CRUDITIES, was that man. Tim Moore travels through 45 cities in the steps of a larger-than-life Jacobean hero incidentally responsible for introducing forks to England and thus ending forever the days of the finger-lickin''-good drumstick hurlers of courts gone by. Coryate''s early 17th century bawdy anecdotes include being pelted with eggs, pursued by a knife wielding man in a turban and, finally, being vomited on copiously by a topless woman with a beer barrel on her head:- For once, Tim Moore has no trouble keeping up the modern-day side. And his authentic method of travel to replicate these adventures? A clapped-out pink Rolls Royce, of course.Trade ReviewThere won't be a funnier or more original contender until Tim Moore publishes his next volume ... There hasn't been such a fresh voice among itinerant writers since Redmond O'Hanlon or Bill Bryson got started * SPECTATOR *Regularly had me laughing out loud * SUNDAY TIMES *His is a rare comic talent, and his debut a brilliantly sustained piece of travel writing * THE TIMES *One of the funniest travelogues you will ever read * EXPRESS *
£11.69
Little, Brown Book Group Underground London
Book SynopsisWhat is visible to the naked eye has been exhaustively raked over; in UNDERGROUND LONDON, acclaimed travel writer Stephen Smith provides an alternative guide and history of the capital. It''s a journey through the passages and tunnels of the city, the bunkers and tunnels, crypts and shadows. As well as being a contemporary tour of underground London, it''s also an exploration through time: Queen Boudicca lies beneath Platform 10 at King''s Cross (legend has it); Dick Turpin fled the Bow Street Runners along secret passages leading from the cellar of the Spaniards pub in North London; the remains of a pre-Christian Mithraic temple have been found near the Bank of England; on the platforms of the now defunct King William Street Underground, posters still warn that ''Careless talk costs lives''. Stephen Smith uncovers the secrets of the city by walking through sewers, tunnels under such places as Hampton Court, ghost tube stations, and long lost rivers such as the Fleet and the TybTrade ReviewBrilliant... so much more than just another city ramble. * MAIL ON SUNDAY *(Smith) offers an enjoyable guide to the subterranean parts of a great city...his sense of the enveloping mysterious is spot-on. * OBSERVER *A notable portrait of London... By becoming a proper witness to the unseen, covert and little-known, [Smith] rescues reportage and makes of it a kind of poetry * Iain Sinclair, EVENING STANDARD *Smith's cast of fluffers (Tube cleaners), flushers (sewermen) and toshers (scavengers) make engaging company * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *
£12.34
Little, Brown Book Group And Did Those Feet
Book SynopsisThe landscape of the British Isles is filled with history, much of which we miss as it flashes past the car window. Do we even realise that we''re following the same path as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, or that we''re driving past the exact spot where King Harold was killed, shot through the eye with an arrow? As a lover of both history and the British countryside, Charlie Connelly decided to rectify this, and set out on a series of walks that recreate famous historical journeys. En route he retells the story of the original trip while discovering who and what now inhabit these iconic routes. Walking in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Charlie journeys alongside Boudicca''s ghost in Norfolk, relives Bonnie Prince Charlie''s flight to Skye disguised as Flora MacDonald''s maid and takes the same 32-mile round trip as the starving Louisburgh famine walkers. He suffers broken toes, becomes trapped in the Scottish Parliament and encounters dead poets and a surprisingly high number of mad old women in woolly hats. Told with Charlie''s customary charm and wit, And Did Those Feet will reveal the historical secrets hidden in the much-loved coastal, country and urban landscapes of Britain.
£10.44
WW Norton & Co Greek to Me Adventures of the Comma Queen
Book SynopsisThe beloved Comma Queen returns with a buoyant and charming book about language, love and the wine-dark sea.Trade Review"Greek, [Norris] concludes, is “sexy”, especially for someone with her logophilic cast of mind. Since ancient Greek has given so many rarefied words to English, Ms Norris gets a small thrill from being asked “dipsas?” (“Are you thirsty?”) The root that shows up in the English “dipsomaniac” is everyday Greek." -- The Economist"Mary Norris has a remarkable gift for conveying and transmitting passion... In her second book, Greek to Me, she demonstrates this gift with still greater aplomb…" -- Times Literary Supplement"Mary Norris's book about her love affair with Greece and the Greek language starts with a terrific chapter about alphabets." -- The Spectator"Greek to Me is a[n]... engaging hybrid, mixing philology, travelogue, memoir and psychoanalysis." -- The Telegraph"A love letter to Greece and its language is full of delightful facts and brims with nerdish, bookish joy... Norris is a jaunty companion, splendidly bookish, full of excellent little facts about, say, the history of the alphabet that you feel pleased to acquire. Greek gives her, she is happy to admit, “an erotic thrill”. She represents a hearty riposte to the very British notion that a love of dead languages automatically renders one a chilly, Olympian elitist." -- The Guardian"I fell in love with Mary Norris’s first book, and am now even more in love with this charming, ribald, highly informed, and always funny excursion through the language, culture, and oddities of Greece and the Greek language. An adventure tale for intellectuals—and also for the rest of us." -- Steve Martin
£12.34
Transworld Publishers Ltd Between Extremes
Book SynopsisIn 1986 Brian Keenan and John McCarthy were forced to take a journey without maps.Trade Review'One of the funniest and most moving testaments to friendship that one is likely to read' -- Stuart Wavell * The Sunday Times *'Such an absorbing subject, so deeply and warmly expressed' -- Sara Wheeler * Daily Telegraph *'The best travel book I've read so far this year' -- Pete Carthy * Time Out *'They take us every step of the way with a wonderfully infectious joie de vivre' * Independent on Sunday *'Such a vivid and inspiring odyssey that captivated readers will be spurred into booking flights to Chile...Fun glows from every page even in wretched times' * Irish Independent *
£13.49
Transworld Publishers Ltd Trek
Book Synopsis1955, Kenya. A group of four acquaintances set out to drive from Nairobi to London, via the Sahara desert, in a 8 horse-power Morris Traveller. Under the leadership of Alan Cooper, a down-on-his-luck farmer, the group was made up of a worldly field biologist who recorded the whole trip on her 8mm cine camera, a genteel schoolmistress of uncertain age in search of romance, and a 17-year-old boy whose mother had insisted that the trip would make a man of him. What united them was a desire for adventure.As they set off through Equatorial Africa the omens seemed against them. The Mau Mau uprising against British rule in Kenya was at it''s height and the days of colonial rule were ending. Their journey was to take them through an Africa that very soon would cease to exist. But it was the desert that turned their joyride into a nightmare. What began as an adventure ended as a desperate fight for life in the blazing sands of the Sahara. Trek brings this story to drama
£14.39
Transworld Publishers Ltd You Cant Hide the Sun
Book SynopsisFascinating and timely Jeremy BowenHeld hostage for many years by terrorists in Lebanon, John McCarthy is all too familiar with the pain and injustice of being denied your home. Determined to understand the day-to-day complexities of being a Palestian-Arab in modern-day Israel, he embarks on a deeply personal journey from the shores of the Mediterranean to the desert landscape of the Negev. He discovers the hidden stories of the ordinary people who must live out their lives in the shadow of a brutal conflict, and asks the vital question how does humanity endure under such great oppression?Trade ReviewA powerful account of the Palestinians of Israeli citizenship as told in their own words. Eloquent and moving, this book is essential reading to understand the full complexity of Palestinian-Israeli relations. * Eugene Rogan, Author of The Arabs: A History *John McCarthy takes us on an unforgettable journey through a tumultuous and complex landscape. His passion and humanity are all the more remarkable in the context of his own brutal experience of the dark side of its political context. * Tom Bradby, Political Editor, ITV News *From a man who knows much about human spirit’s refusal to be cowed comes a beautifully written, compassionate and insightful account of Israel’s non-Jewish population. You Can’t Hide The Sun does not just champion a people too long bullied, marginalised and ignored – it drives home that without heeding their voice no long term solution of Israel-Palestine is possible. * Tim Butcher, author of Blood River *John McCarthy’s excellent book focuses in on Palestinian citizens of Israel, who sometimes get ignored as a complexity too far. McCarthy doesn’t hide his sympathy for the human beings who have been battered by Middle East conflict. Perhaps that’s because he was caught up in it too when he was held hostage in Lebanon for more than five years between 1986 and 1991. Like Palestinians, and Jews, he longed for the sanctuary of home. McCarthy made it home. But in his journey through Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories he finds Palestinians who are still waiting, hoping and struggling for their homes more than 60 years after Israel was created. Fascinating and timely, and written with the charm of a man who’s still determined to explore the tempestuous region that for five years was just a dream on the other side of his locked cell door. * Jeremy Bowen *
£11.69
Transworld Publishers Ltd Paris Revealed
Book SynopsisStephen Clarke lives in Paris, where he divides his time between writing and not writing.His Merde novels have been bestsellers all over the world, including France. His non-fiction books include Talk to the Snail, an insider's guide to understanding the French; How the French Won Waterloo (or Think They Did), an amused look at France's continuing obsession with Napoleon; Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France, a biography of Edward VII; and 1000 Years of Annoying the French, which was a number one bestseller in Britain.Research for The French Revolution and What Went Wrong took him deep into French archives in search of the actual words, thoughts and deeds of the revolutionaries and royalists of 1789. He has now re-emerged to ask modern Parisians why they have forgotten some of the true democratic heroes of the period, and opted to idolize certain maniacs. Follow Stephen on @SClarkeWriter and www.stepTrade ReviewHilarious and insightful, Paris Revealed will resonate with anyone who knows the city * France Magazine *
£10.44
Transworld Publishers Ltd Vroom With A View
Book SynopsisPeter Moore is an itinerant hobo who is lucky enough to be able to support his insatiable travel habit (he has visited 92 countries so far) through writing. He is the author of The Wrong Way Home, The Full Montezuma, Swahili for the Broken-Hearted (shortlisted for the WHSmith People's Choice TravelBook Award), Vroom with a View and the classic alternative travel guide, No Shitting in the Toilet. When he is not on the road, you'll find Peter in either London or Sydney watching 'Neighbours'. Sad, really.Trade Review'Its punning title sets the tone for this off-beat travel book...touched by romance and haunted by the glamour of Sophia Loren, it's a larky, laddish tale of roadside picnics, bad behaviour and attempting to re-enact 'Roman Holiday'' * YOU magazine *'Moore has the parched dry wit, the solid brass cojones of a true traveller and rare eye for the madness of the wider world' * JOHN BIRMINGHAM *'Moore is the genuine article, a traveller's traveller...inspirational stuff' * FHM magazine *'Haunted by the glamour of Sophia Loren, it's a larky, laddish tale' -- MAIL ON SUNDAY'Peter Moore...the Jim Carrey of travel writing, has tapped out another racy travelogue' -- SUNDAY HERALD
£11.69
Transworld Publishers Ltd Cest La Folie
Book SynopsisOne day in late summer, Michael Wright gave up his comfortable South London existence and, with only his long-suffering cat for company, set out to begin a new life. His destination was 'La Folie', a dilapidated 15th century farmhouse in need of love and renovation in the heart of rural France.Trade ReviewWhat elevates this book... is Wright's gentle humour and his ability to create a vivid impression of his literal and emotional journey... with such wit and perception * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Hilarious and evocative... Michael Wright's book provides the most startlingly honest answer to the question of "can you live your dreams or do they inevitably turn into nightmares?" -- Dr RAJ PERSAUDWright captures the fun of the countryside perfectly * THE SUNDAY TIMES *
£11.69
Transworld Publishers Ltd How to Live OffGrid
Book SynopsisOff-grid: a place, building or person without mains water or power. Static or mobile - in a house or a hut, a boat or a camper van - to live off-grid is all about loosending the ties that bind us to teh fmailiar world of commuting, mortgages, no time and fast food, in order to rediscover our place in the natural world. Complete with camper van, Nick sets off around the UK to find off-grid heaven and meet people who are living the dream. Along the way he runs into backpackers and businessmen, radical hermits and right-wing survivalists - and plenty of ordinary working-parent families too. Sincere but irreverent, this is Nick''s guide to avoiding pitfalls, to finding solutions (and some brilliant gadgets) as he strives to perfect the skills of this practical, freewheeling kind of self-sufficiency. ''Timely and highly readable'' Sunday Telegraph '' Nick Rosen has caught the zeitgeist.'' The TimesTrade ReviewWith his book, [Nick Rosen] has caught the Zeitgeist -- Anna Shepard * The Times *This is a timely and highly readable examination of what it really means to live and travel 'off-grid' * Sunday Telegraph *An inspiring, entertaining and irreverent read -- Jillian Bolger * Sunday Tribune *
£10.44
Faber & Faber Travels with a Typewriter A Reporter at Large
Book SynopsisIn mid-career, Michael Frayn took up his old trade of journalism, and wrote a series of occasional articles for the Observer about some of the places in the world that interested him. He wanted to describe ''not the extraordinary but the ordinary, the typical, the everyday'', and his accounts became the starting point for some of the novels and plays he wrote later. From a kibbutz in Israel to summer rains in Japan, bicycles in Cambridge to Notting Hill at the end of the 1950s, they are glimpses of a world that sometimes seems tantalisingly familiar, sometimes vanished forever. Michael Frayn is the celebrated author of fifteen plays including Noises Off, Copenhagen and Afterlife. His bestselling novels include Headlong, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Spies, which won the Whitbread Best Novel Award and Skios, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. All writers of fiction should be
£8.54
Faber & Faber Turkish Awakening Behind the Scenes of Modern
Book SynopsisBorn in London to a Turkish mother and British father, Alev Scott moved to Istanbul to discover what it means to be Turkish in a country going through rapid political and social change, with an extraordinary past still linked to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and an ever more surprising present under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.From the European buzz of modern-day Constantinople to the Arabic-speaking towns of the south-east, Turkish Awakening investigates mass migration, urbanisation and economics in a country moving swiftly towards a new position on the world stage. This is the story of discovering a complex country from the outside-in, a candid account of overturned preconceptions and fresh understanding. Relating wide-ranging interviews and colourful personal experience, the author charts the evolving course of a country bursting with surprises - none more dramatic than the unexpected political protests of 2013 in Taksim Square, which have brought to li
£11.69
Faber & Faber Under the Tump Sketches of Real Life on the Welsh
Book SynopsisHay-on-Wye is world famous as the Town of Books. But when travel writer Oliver Balch moved there, it was not just the books he was keen to read, but the people too.After living in London and Buenos Aires, what will he make of this tiny, quirky town on the Welsh-English border? To help guide him, he turns to Francis Kilvert, a Victorian diarist who captured the bucolic rural life of his day. Does anything of Kilvert''s world still exists? And could a newcomer ever feel they truly belong?With empathy and humour, Balch joins in the daily routines and lives of his fellow residents. What emerges is a captivating, personal picture of country life in the 21st century. Some things haven''t altered for centuries, while others are changing at an alarming pace.Written with his trademark vivid, reportage style, Balch''s journey sees him meet with a king and his courtiers, publicans, hippies, mayors, old widows and young farmers. In an increasingly mobile, urban world
£11.69
Faber & Faber In My Minds Eye
Book Synopsis''I have never before in my life kept a diary of my thoughts, and here at the start of my ninth decade, having for the moment nothing much else to write, I am having a go at it. Good luck to me'So begins this extraordinary book, a collection of diary pieces that Jan Morris wrote for the Financial Times over the course of 2017.A former soldier and journalist, and one of the great chroniclers of the world for over half a century, she writes here in her characteristically intimate voice - funny, perceptive, wise, touching, wicked, scabrous, and above all, kind about her thoughts on the world, and her own place in it as she turns ninety. From cats to cars, travel to home, music to writing, it's a cornucopia of delights from a unique literary figure.
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Long Ride Home
Book SynopsisHeart-breaking, uplifting and full of adventure, The Long Ride Home is the long-awaited sequel to the international bestseller The Horse Boy. Rowan came back from the shamans in Mongolia a changed boy. The three most debilitating effects of his autism - his incontinence, his endless tantruming, and his inability to make friends - were gone.But a year almost to the day since Rowan''s improvement he started regressing: the accidents and tantrums reappeared, terrifying his father Rupert. Something had to be done.Father and son embarked on a new quest, journeying from the bushmen of Namibia to the coastal rainforests of Queensland, Australia and finally to the Navajo reservations of the American southwest, where Rowan was transformed - they had begun the Long Ride Home.''It is probably only once in a critical lifetime that one will be moved almost to tears ... a triumph of the human spirit'' Telegraph (on The Horse BoTrade ReviewThere is enough here to suggest that something - be it the power of mind, ritual or maybe magic itself - can help bring an autistic child from near total darkness out into the world * Daily Mail *It is probably only once in a critical lifetime that one will be moved almost to tears ... a triumph of the human spirit * Telegraph (on 'The Horse Boy') *Magical, miraculous, uplifting * Daily Mail (on 'The Horse Boy') *Amazing, astonishing * Sunday Times (on 'The Horse Boy') *
£13.49
