Search results for ""ORION""

'Each flick of the page suggests the tick of a countdown' New York Times Books Review'Artfully well-orchestrated' Sunday Times'Splendidly tense' Los Angeles Times The D-day landings - the fate of millions of men and the entire future of Europe depends on the right weather conditions on the English Channel on a single morning. A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? Will Wallace Ryman, reclusive pacifist and renowned forecaster, divulge his secrets to the team? Can Henry Meadows, a young maths prodigy, save the day? Or will turbulence prove even more elusive than imagined and events, like the weather, begin to spiral out of control?FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

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'An attempt to retell an oft-told tale, this time informed by a desire to suck the hot air out of the more inflated earlier versions . . . this late-arriving history is perhaps the most reliable, and certainly the most entertaining, of all' GuardianFew bands are as shrouded in the murky haze of rock mythology as The Doors, and parsing fact from fiction has been a virtually impossible task. But now, after fifty years, The Doors' notoriously quiet guitarist is finally breaking his silence to set the record straight. Through a series of vignettes, Robby takes readers back to where it all happened: the pawn shop where he bought his first guitar; the jail cell he was tossed into after a teenage drug bust; his parents' living room where his first songwriting sessions with Jim Morrison took place; and the many concert venues that erupted into historic riots. Both a time capsule of the 1960s counterculture and a moving reflection on what it means to find oneself as a musician, Set the Night on Fire is a must-read for Doors fans and an essential volume of American pop.'The very best . . . A well-told classic tale' Mojo'Eschewing mythologising for unvarnished, often amusing memories, this is a book that Doors fans will love madly' Classic Rock Magazine

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Born the son of Scotland's last telescope-maker, Stuart Braithwaite was perhaps always destined for a life of psychedelic adventuring on the furthest frontiers of noise in MOGWAI, one of the best loved and most ground-breaking post-rock bands of the past three decades.Modestly delinquent at school, Stuart developed an early appetite for 'alternative' music in what might arguably be described as its halcyon days, the late '80s. Discovering bands like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and Jesus and Mary Chain, and attending seminal gigs (often incongruously incognito as a young girl with long hair to compensate for his babyface features) by The Cure and Nirvana, Stuart compensated for his indifference to school work with a dedication to rock and roll . . . and of course the fledgling hedonism that comes with it.Spaceships Over Glasgow is a love song to live rock and roll; to the passionate abandon we've all felt in the crowd (and some of us, if lucky enough, from the stage) at a truly incendiary gig. It is also the story of a life lived on the edge; of the high-times and hazardous pit-stops of international touring with a band of misfits and miscreants.

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'Every person - parent or not - ought to read this . . . beautifully written and searingly honest'iLike grief or falling in love, becoming a mother is an experience both ordinary and transformative - one that not only turns your world upside-down, but your inner self, too.In this frank, funny and fearless memoir, Marianne Levy writes with heart-wrenching honesty about love and loss, rage and pain, fear and joy. She breaks the silence around the emotional turmoil of raising a child and asks why motherhood is at once so venerated and so undervalued.Here is the real story of being a mother in the modern world, voicing the unspoken truths that everyone needs to hear.'I've never read a book about motherhood that captures so perfectly the impossible complexity of it all . . . genius'Irish Independent

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'Endlessly intriguing . . . I was enchanted' - DAILY TELEGRAPH'Illuminating in every sense of the word' - John HiggsIn an illuminating blend of memoir and art history, The Other Side explores the lives and work of a group of extraordinary women artists. From the twelfth-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen and the nineteenth-century spiritualist Georgiana Houghton to the pioneering Hilma af Klint, these women all - in their own unique ways - shared the same goal: to communicate with, and learn from, other dimensions. Weaving in and out of their myriad lives, Jennifer Higgie considers the solace of ritual, the gender exclusions of art history, the contemporary relevance of myth, the boom in alternative ways of understanding the world and the impact of spiritualism on feminism and contemporary art.

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WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2023 A GUARDIAN AND FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'The most exquisite kind of literature... I've put it on a special shelf in my library that I reserve for books that demand to be revisited every now and then. 'OLGA TOKARCZUK, author of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead'Could not be more timely... It's funny and absurd, but it's also frightening, because even as Gospodinov plays with the idea as fiction, the reader begins to recognise something rather closer to home... A writer of great warmth as well as skill'GUARDIAN'In equal measure playful and profound, Time Shelter renders the philosophical mesmerizing, and the everyday extraordinary. I loved it'CLAIRE MESSUD, author of The Woman Upstairs 'A genrebusting novel of ideas... Gospodinov's vision of tomorrow is the nightmare from which Europe knows it must awake. And accident, in combination with the book's own merits, may just have created a classic'THE TIMES 'Gospodinov is one of Europe's most fascinating and irreplaceable novelists, and this his most expansive, soulful and mind-bending book'DAVE EGGERS, author of The Circle'Touching and intelligent'NEW YORK TIMES'A powerful and brilliant novel: clear-sighted, foreboding, enigmatic'SANDRO VERONESI, author of The Hummingbird'An immensely enjoyable book which achieves depth with an affable narrative voice'IRISH TIMES In Time Shelter, an enigmatic flâneur named Gaustine opens a 'clinic for the past' that offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers: each floor reproduces a decade in minute detail, transporting patients back in time. As Gaustine's assistant, the unnamed narrator is tasked with collecting the flotsam and jetsam of the past, from 1960s furniture and 1940s shirt buttons to scents and even afternoon light. But as the rooms become more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic as a 'time shelter', hoping to escape from the horrors of our present - a development that results in an unexpected conundrum when the past begins to invade the present. Intricately crafted, and eloquently translated by Angela Rodel, Time Shelter cements Georgi Gospodinov's reputation as one of the indispensable writers of our times, a major voice in international literature. Georgi Gospodinov is one of Europe's most acclaimed writers. Originally from Bulgaria, his novels have won his country's most prestigious literary prize twice and have been shortlisted for more than a dozen international prizes - including the 2015 PEN Literary Award for Translation, the Premio Gregor von Rezzori, the Premio Strega Europeo, the Bruecke Berlin Preis, and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt Literaturpreis. He has won the 2016 Jan Michalski Prize for Literature, the 2019 Angelus Literature Central Europe Prize and the 2021 Premio Strega Europeo, among others.

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'The best evocation I've read of London in the '80s' Neil Tennant'I loved Souvenir . . . it rescued some things for me - a certain aesthetic, a philosophical engagement with time and poignant beauty and lived history that I have found myself looking for, and not finding, elsewhere in recent years . . . the book gave me new hope' John Burnside'A suspended act of retrieval, a partisan recall; a sustained, subtle summary of our recent past, and an epitaph for a future we never had' Philip Hoare'Michael Bracewell proves himself to be nothing less than the poet laureate of late capitalism' Jonathan CoeA vivid eulogy for London of the late 1970s and early 80s - the last years prior to the rise of the digital city. An elliptical, wildly atmospheric remembrance of the sites and soundtrack, at once aggressively modern and strangely elegiac, that accompanied the twilight of one era and the dawn of another. Haunted bedsits, post-punk entrepreneurs in the Soho Brasserie, occultists in Fitzrovia, Docklands before Canary Wharf, frozen suburbs in the winter of 1980...

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How did an obscure academic idea pave the way to the Holocaust within just fifty years?Why does eugenics still loom large in the 21st century, despite its genocidal past?Did eugenics work? Could it work? Or was it always a pseudoscientific fantasy? Throughout history, people have sought to reduce suffering, eliminate disease and enhance desirable qualities in their children. In the Victorian era eugenics, a full-blooded attempt to impose control over unruly biology, began to grow among the powerful and quickly spread to dozens of countries around the world. But these ideas are not merely historical: today, with new gene editing techniques, conversations are happening about tinkering with the DNA of our unborn children to make them smarter, fitter, stronger. Deeply steeped in contemporary genetics, CONTROL offers a vital account of one of the defining - and most destructive - ideas of the twentieth century.

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'Magical and transporting . . . Wayward proves that Bunyan has lived the best possible life, on her own idiosyncratic terms'Maggie O'Farrell'A gorgeous account of outsiderness and survival: a map of how to live outside the boundaries and of striving for an authentic artistic life. A quietly defiant and moving work' Sinéad Gleeson'An epic in miniature . . . I loved - and lived - every sentence' Benjamin MyersIn 1968, Vashti Bunyan gave up everything and everybody she knew in London to take to the road with a horse, wagon, dog, guitar and her then partner. They made the long journey up to the Outer Hebrides in an odyssey of discovery and heartbreak, full of the joy of freedom and the trudge of everyday reality, sleeping in the woods, fighting freezing winters and homelessness. Along the way, Vashti wrote the songs that would lead to the recording of her 1970's album Just Another Diamond Day, the lilting lyrics and guitar conveying innocent wonder at the world around her, whilst disguising a deeper turmoil under the surface. From an unconventional childhood in post-war London, to a fledgling career in mid-sixties pop - recording a single written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards - to the despair and failure to make any headway with her own songs, she rejected the music world altogether and left it all behind. After retreating to a musical wilderness for thirty years, the rediscovery of her recordings in 2000 brought Vashti a second chance to write, record and perform once more. One of the great hippie myths of the 1960s, Wayward, Just Another Life to Live, rewrites the narrative of a barefoot girl on the road to describe a life lived at full tilt from the first, revealing what it means to change course and her emotional struggle, learning to take back control of her own life.

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'I once decided to become friends with someone on the sole basis that she named O Caledonia as her favourite book' Maggie O'Farrell 'A sparky, funny work of genius and one of the best least-known novels of the 20th Century' Ali Smith 'Funny, surprising, exquisitely written and brilliant on the smelly, absurd, harsh business of growing up. The Brontë sisters and Poe via Dodie Smith and Edward Gorey' David Nicholls'An absolute sumptuous treat of a book' Elizabeth Macneal'A wonderful oddity - brief, vivid, eccentric, written with ferocious zest and black humour' Penelope Lively'The words sing in their sentences' The Times'The reader feels unalloyed joy on every page' Independent Vera was painting the pony's hooves gold in the dining room; Janet said this was bad for him; poison would seep into his bloodstream.At the bottom of a great stone staircase, dressed in her mother's black lace evening dress, twisted in murderous death, lies Janet. So end the sixteen years of Janet's short life.A life spent in a draughty Scottish castle, where roses will not grow, and a jackdaw decides to live in the doll's house.A life peopled by prettier, smoother-haired siblings, a Nanny with a face like the North Sea and the peculiar, whisky-swigging Cousin Lila.A life where Janet is perpetually misunderstood - and must turn from people, to animals, to books, to her own wild and wonderful imagination. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL

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'My favourite book. I can't think of a modern novel that seems more likely to become a classic' Tennessee Williams'The book I give as a gift . . . It feels like giving someone an exotic fruit' Sheila Heti'A modern legend . . . A very funny writer' Truman Capote'Profoundly witty, genuinely unusual in its apprehensions, and bracingly, humanely true' Claire MessudI am going on a trip. Wait until I tell you about it. it's terrible.Miss Goering, an eccentric, impulsive New York heiress, resides in her house and tries not to be unhappy.Mrs Copperfield, an anxious, dutiful married woman, has a great fear of drowning, of lifts, of intruders in the night. Two serious ladies, nothing is natural for them and anything is possible.For Mrs Copperfield - a trip to Panama, where she abandons her husband for love of a local prostitute. For Miss Goering - a move to a squalid little house on an island and a series of sordid encounters with strangers. Both go to pieces -and both realise this is something they've wanted to do for years.With an introduction by Naoise DolanA W&N Essential

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'You cannot find peace by avoiding life' Virginia WoolfAn intimate portrait of Virginia, the best-known and most influential Bloomsbury author of them all - 'All you need to know about the modernist, feminist icon' TIME OUT'A gem' SUNDAY TIMES'As a short introduction to Virginia Woolf this deceptively brief book could hardly be bettered and achieves high status instantly as a significant work of reference in its own right' THE TIMESVirginia Woolf was undoubtedly one of the literary giants of the twentieth century. She was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, and her writings were works of astonishing originality. Nigel Nicolson is the son of Vita Sackville-West, who was Virginia Woolf's most intimate friend, and for a short time her lover. He spent many days in her company and he has threaded his recollections of her throughout this unique narrative of her life.

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'THE FRENCH SUSPENSE KING' New York Times'It's no wonder that Musso is one of France's most loved, bestselling authors'Harlan CobenIn 1999, after publishing three cult novels, celebrated author Nathan Fawles announces the end of his writing career and withdraws to Beaumont, a wild and beautiful island off the Mediterranean coast.Autumn 2018. As Fawles' novels continue to captivate readers, Mathilde Monney, a young Swiss journalist, arrives on the island, determined to unlock the writer's secrets and secure his first interview in twenty years.That same day, a woman's body is discovered on the beach and the island is cordoned off by the authorities.And so, begins a dangerous face off between Mathilde and Nathan, in which the line between truth and fiction becomes increasingly blurred... Praise for Guillaume Musso and The Reunion 'Extraordinary'Sunday Times'Breathtakingly good. Do not miss it'Daily Mail'One of the great thriller writers of our age'Daily Express'Stylish and streamlined, nostalgic... More please'The Times'Hugely enjoyable and beautifully staged, with an audacious authorial coup at the death that is simply breathtaking'Irish Times'The French call it a coup de foudre: a strike of lightning. That's how The Reunion zapped me, electrified me. For almost a decade, Guillaume Musso has reigned supreme as France's most popular author, and with this he's instantly poised to join the ranks of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo'A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window

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Royal scandal, set against the background of the Jacobean court, involving love, bribery, poison, treachery and black magic - 'a hugely enjoyable book' Daily Telegraph'A gripping detective story ... Wonderfully dramatic ... Probably the juiciest court scandal of the past 500 years' Daily MailIn the autumn of 1615 the Earl and Countess of Somerset were detained on suspicion of having murdered Sir Thomas Overbury. The arrest of these leading court figures created a sensation. The young and beautiful Countess of Somerset had already achieved notoriety when she divorced her first husband in controversial circumstances. The Earl of Somerset was one of the richest and most powerful men in the kingdom, having risen to prominence as the male 'favourite' of James I.In a vivid, enthralling narrative, Anne Somerset unravels these extraordinary events. It is, at once, a story rich in passion, intrigue and corruption and a murder mystery - for, despite the guilty verdicts, there is much about Overbury's death that remains enigmatic. The Overbury murder case profoundly damaged the monarchy, and constituted the greatest court scandal in English history.'This is a book about murder, witchcraft, adultery, lechery, intrigue and chicanery among the country's most powerful nobility' Time Out

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'Jaw-droppingly good' Sinead Gleeson'Funny, poetic, heart-chilling' Graham Norton'Terrific' Jenny Offill'Marvellous' Kevin Barry'Takes your breath away' Observer'Unlike any other fiction' IndependentThere once was ...a woman who loved her husband's cock so much that she began taking it to work in her lunchbox.a man who made films without a camera, which transfixed his estranged daughter.a couple who administered electric shocks to each other, to be reminded of what love is.a world where you wake up one day and notice that, one by one, people are turning blue.

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The definitive biography of author Ian FlemingIan Fleming's life was just as dramatic as that of his fictional creation, James Bond 007. Andrew Lycett's direct access to Fleming's family, friends and contemporaries has enabled him to reveal the truth behind the complicated facade of this enigmatic and remarkable man. Blending history, gossip and an extraordinary cast of characters, this is biography at its best - and the definitive examination of one of the twentieth century's most celebrated yet mysterious personalties.

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In this entertaining and accessible exploration of love, Oxford anthropologist Dr Anna Machin dives into the science behind the myriad types of love that exist in the world, including romantic love, parental love, friendships, love for pets, football teams, religious love and even love for our smartphones. Through original research brought to life by interviews and case studies, and encompassing such fascinating areas as polyamorous relationships, parasocial (love for a celebrity) and sacred loves, this book argues that it is time to stop putting romantic love on a pedestal. By exploring the science that illuminates the benefits of all our different close relationships, Dr Anna Machin encourages us to reconsider the importance of love in our own lives, to interrogate our own experiences, and to reconnect with the heart of what it really means to be human.

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'Birkin's diary entries ultimately expose the toxic reality behind one of the 20th century's most glamorous couples' Sunday TimesJane Birkin - actor, singer, songwriter and model - may have shot to worldwide fame through her relationship with Serge Gainsbourg and their controversial hit 'Je t'aime ... moi non plus', but it would be her wide-ranging acting career and effortless Gallic cool that was to truly cement her legacy as an enduring international icon. In Munkey Diaries, the first volume of Birkin's diaries, we're transported to the flamboyant world of London in the Swinging Sixties and Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 1970s. There are intimate revelations about Jane's tumultuous life with her first husband, the composer John Barry, and her romantic and professional collaboration with Gainsbourg, as well as keen insights into her working life as an actor, singer and songwriter.Far from an ordinary memoir, Munkey Diaries offers a unique window into the early life and loves of an extraordinary woman.

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'A coming-of-age story filled with magic in language and plot: beautiful and devastating'Observer, Books of the Year'I felt consumed by this book. I loved it, you will love it'Daisy Johnson, author of Sisters'A page-turning Appalachian coming-of-age story told in undulating prose that settles right into you'Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times 'Vivid and lucid, Betty has stayed with me'Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies'I loved Betty' Fiona Mozley, author of Hot Stew'Breahtaking'Vogue 'A GIRL COMES OF AGE AGAINST THE KNIFE'So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954 to a white mother and a Cherokee father, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings: the world they inhabit in the rural town of Breathed, Ohio, is one of poverty and loss, of lush landscapes and blazing stars.Despite the hardships she encounters, Betty is resilient. Her curiosity about the natural world, her fierce love for her sisters and her father's brilliant stories are kindling for the fire of her own imagination, and in the face of all to which she bears witness - the horrors of her family's past and present - Betty discovers an escape: she begins to write.

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'Quietly transformational'The Times 'A tour de force... I can't recommend this too highly'Patrick Gale'Innovative... an original, at-a-sitting read'Daily Mail'A potent meditation on the intensity of women's lives'Charlotte Wood, author of The Weekend'A miracle... Engaging and evocative'Washington Post'I loved and admired The Performance... Unmissable'Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters'Lively and intimate... The way Thomas plays with the reader is a sort of genius'Guardian'Thomas writes these women with such wisdom and compassion, that by the end we are all transformed'Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground The false cold of the theatre makes it hard to imagine the heavy wind outside in the real world, the ash air pressing onto the city from the nearby hills where bushfires are taking hold.The house lights lower.The auditorium feels hopeful in the darkness.As bushfires rage outside the city, three women watch a performance of a Beckett play.Margot is a successful professor, preoccupied by her fraught relationship with her ailing husband. Ivy is a philanthropist with a troubled past, distracted by the snoring man beside her. Summer is a young theatre usher, anxious about the safety of her girlfriend in the fire zone.As the performance unfolds, so does each woman's story. By the time the curtain falls, they will all have a new understanding of the world beyond the stage.

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Medicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. Over centuries, women's bodies have been demonised and demeaned until we feared them, felt ashamed of them, were humiliated by them. But as doctors, researchers, campaigners and most of all as patients, women have continuously challenged medical orthodoxy. Medicine's history has always been, and is still being, rewritten by women's resistance, strength and incredible courage. In this ground-breaking history Elinor Cleghorn unpacks the roots of the perpetual misunderstanding, mystification and misdiagnosis of women's bodies, illness and pain. From the 'wandering womb' of ancient Greece to today's shifting understanding of hormones, menstruation and menopause, Unwell Women is the revolutionary story of women who have suffered, challenged and rewritten medical misogyny. Drawing on Elinor's own experience as an unwell woman, this is a powerful and timely expose of the medical world and woman's place within it.

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A spellbinding novel of love and courage set in the England, Italy and Florence Nightingale's Crimea.A Richard and Judy Book Club bestseller - includes a fascinating and moving brand new final chapter.Russia, 1854. As the Crimean War grinds on, Rosa Barr - young, headstrong and beautiful - travels to the battlefields, determined to join Florence Nightingale and save as many of the wounded as she can. For Mariella, Rosa's cousin, the war is contained within the pages of her scrapbook, her sewing circle, and the letters she receives from Henry, her fiancé, a celebrated surgeon who has also volunteered to work within the shadow of the guns. But when Henry falls ill, and Rosa's communications cease, Mariella finds herself drawn inexorably towards the war.Following the trail of her elusive and captivating cousin, Mariella's epic journey takes her from the domestic restraint of Victorian England to the ravaged landscape of the Crimea. As she ventures deeper into the dark heart of the conflict, Mariella discovers her own strengths and passions through Rosa's tough lessons of concealment, faithfulness and love.

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'If you put me to death,' Socrates warned his Athenian judges, 'you will not easily find anyone to take my place.' So indeed it would prove, a single cup of hemlock robbing the western philosophical tradition of its founding father. Yet Socrates' influence was not so easily to be done away with. His words were lovingly recorded by his devoted disciple Plato, and his teachings have survived for twenty-seven centuries. His sense of education as self-discovery and his view of philosophy as preparation for life have been the stuff of western thought at its best. So completely did Socrates embody these values, he was prepared to die in their defence.

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'We are free when, like artists, we produce without the goad of physical necessity' Karl MarxFor Marx, freedom entailed release from commercial labour. In this highly engaging account, Eagleton outlines the relationship between production, labour and ownership which lie at the core of Marx's thinking. Marx's utopia was a place in which labour is increasingly automated, emancipating the wealth of sensuous individual development so that 'savouring a peach [is an aspect] of our self-actualisation as much as building dams or churning out coat-hangers'. Combining extracts from Marx's revolutionary philosophy, along with insightful analysis, this is the perfect guide to one of the world's greatest thinkers.

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William S. Burroughs's fiction and essays are legendary, but his influence on music's counterculture has been less well documented-until now. Examining how one of America's most controversial literary figures altered the destinies of many notable and varied musicians, William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll reveals the transformations in music history that can be traced to Burroughs.A heroin addict and a gay man, Burroughs rose to notoriety outside the conventional literary world; his masterpiece, Naked Lunch, was banned on the grounds of obscenity, but its nonlinear structure was just as daring as its content. Casey Rae brings to life Burroughs's parallel rise to fame among daring musicians of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, when it became a rite of passage to hang out with the author or to experiment with his cut-up techniques for producing revolutionary lyrics (as the Beatles and Radiohead did). Whether they tell of him exploring the occult with David Bowie, providing Lou Reed with gritty depictions of street life, or counseling Patti Smith about coping with fame, the stories of Burroughs's backstage impact will transform the way you see America's cultural revolution-and the way you hear its music.

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THE WORD-OF-MOUTH INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'Born of No Woman proves that fiction can still amaze' Le Monde'A vivid, mesmerizing tale'L'Express'A choral novel radiating with black light'Elle Nineteenth-century rural France.Before he is called to bless the body of a woman at the nearby asylum, Father Gabriel receives a strange, troubling confession: hidden under the woman's dress he will find the notebooks in which she confided the abuses she suffered and the twisted motivations behind them.And so Rose's terrible story comes to light: sold as a teenage girl to a rich man, hidden away in a old manor house deep in the woods and caught in a perverse web, manipulated by those society considers her betters.A girl whose only escape is to capture her life - in all its devastation and hope - in the pages of her diary...THE HIT NOVEL RECOMMENDED BY FRENCH BOOKSELLERS:'The most beautiful French novel of the year''Love at first sight for a book is rare. But this novel left me speechless''Dive in: you'll come out feeling utterly alive''One of the most beautiful books I've ever read''The best book I have read for a long time''This story has something powerful, animal, carnal and terrible too. A punch in the gut'

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Jen Fain is a journalist negotiating the fraught landscape of 1970s New York. Party guests, taxi drivers, brownstone dwellers, professors, journalists, presidents, and debutantes fill these dispatches from the world as she finds it.Simultaneously novel, memoir, commonplace book, confession, and critique - Speedboat is funny, disturbing, cutting, brilliant unlike anything that had come before. Since it burst onto the scene in the 1970s, it has enthralled generations of readers and been a touchstone for writers including David Foster Wallace, Claudia Rankine and Jenny Offill.With an introduction by Hilton Als

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For almost 30 years as label boss, producer, and talent conductor at XL Recordings, Richard Russell has discovered, shaped and nurtured the artists who have rewritten the musical dictionary of the 21st century, artists like The Prodigy, The White Stripes, Adele, M.I.A, Dizzee Rascal and Giggs. LIBERATION THROUGH HEARING tells the remarkable story of XL Recordings' three decades on the frontline of innovation in music, and Russell's own story; his highs and lows steering the fortunes of an independent label in a rapidly changing industry. This is the portrait of a man who believes in the spiritual power of music to change reality, and of a label that refused to be categorised by genre.'Taking us from the rap 80s to the rave 90s into the grimy 21st century, Richard Russell is a Firestarter in his own right and his story is a riveting adventure' Simon Reynolds'Russell reveals his forensic love of music and its strategies. A fascinating read' Damon Albarn'Required reading for anyone who cares about the recent history of British music' Gilles Peterson

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As the streetlamps flickered out and lights were obscured behind brown-paper screens, a subdued atmosphere took hold of London in 1939. Cloistered in pubs and gloomy sitting rooms, London's young writers and artists faced being sent to the front, trading their paintbrushes and pens for the weapons of war. In WRITING IN THE DARK, Will Loxley conjures up this brooding world and tells the story of the defiant magazine Horizon, which sprung up against the odds.Interweaving the personal histories of the magazine's leaders - Cyril Connolly, Stephen Spender and John Lehmann, with their friends and contemporaries Virginia Woolf, George Orwell and Dylan Thomas, as well as many more names both familiar and not - Will brings us into these writers' homes and into the little offices at 6 Lansdowne Terrace. WRITING IN THE DARK captures the literary life of WWII, fusing the exhausted melancholy in the aftermath of the Blitz with changes in the writers' own lives, as they moved from city to countryside, from youth to middle age.

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'Astonishing' Stephen Fry'Exceptional' Douglas Stuart, author of the Booker Prize-winning SHUGGIE BAIN'Now is the time for this book' DBC Pierre, author of the Booker Prize-winning VERNON GOD LITTLE'Funny. Disturbing. Brilliant' Lily AllenFunny, smart, damaged, Tom is lost in the machinery of the British mental health system, talking to a voice no one else can hear; the voice of Malamock, the Octopus God - sometimes loving, sometimes cruel, but always there to fill his life with meaning. Once an outstanding law student, Tom is now cared for by his long-suffering sister Tess, who encourages him into an experimental drugs trial that promises to silence the voice forever. The Octopus God, however, does not take kindly to being threatened...Deeply moving and tragi-comic, The Octopus Man is a bravura literary performance that asks fundamental questions about belief and love.

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'An inspired and intuitive navigation of the drone continuum . . . with a compass firmly set to new and enlightening psychedelic truths' BECKMonolithic Undertow alights a crooked path across musical, religious and subcultural frontiers. It traces the line from ancient traditions to the modern underground, navigating archaeoacoustics, ringing feedback, chest plate sub-bass, avant-garde eccentricity, sound weaponry and fervent spiritualism. From Neolithic beginnings to bawdy medieval troubadours, Sufi mystics to Indian raga masters, cone shattering dubwise bass, Hawkwind's Ladbroke Grove to the outer reaches of Faust and Ash Ra Temple; the hash-fueled fug of The Theatre of Eternal Music to the cough syrup reverse hardcore of Melvins, seedy VHS hinterland of Electric Wizard, ritual amp worship of Earth and Sunn O))) and the many touch points in between, Monolithic Undertow explores the power of the drone - an audio carrier vessel capable of evoking womb like warmth or cavernous dread alike. In 1977 Sniffin' Glue verbalised the musical zeitgeist with their infamous 'this is a chord; this is another; now form a band' illustration. The drone requires neither chord nor band, representing - via its infinite pliability and accessibility - the ultimate folk music: a potent audio tool of personal liberation. Immersion in hypnotic and repetitive sounds allows us to step outside of ourselves, be it chant, a 120dB beasting from Sunn O))), standing front of the system as Jah Shaka drops a fresh dub or going full headphone immersion with Hawkwind. These experiences are akin to an audio portal - a sound Tardis to silence the hum and fizz of the unceasing inner voice. The drone exists outside of us, but also - paradoxically - within us all; an aural expression of a universal hum we can only hope to fleetingly channel...

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'If a thing loves, it is infinite' William BlakeA short, impassioned argument for why the visionary artist William Blake is important in the twenty-first centuryThe visionary poet and painter William Blake is a constant presence throughout contemporary culture - from videogames to novels, from sporting events to political rallies and from horror films to designer fashion. Although he died nearly 200 years ago, something about his work continues to haunt the twenty-first century. What is it about Blake that has so endured? In this illuminating essay, John Higgs takes us on a whirlwind tour to prove that far from being the mere New Age counterculture figure that many assume him to be, Blake is now more relevant than ever.

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'No other thriller writer can make you break into a sweat and break your heart at the same time' THE TIMESLeyli Maal is a beautiful Malian woman, mother of three, living in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of Marseille. Her quiet life as a well-integrated immigrant is suddenly shaken when her beautiful eldest daughter, Bamby, becomes the main suspect in two murders linked to a lethal illegal immigration racket.Is Bamby really involved? And why is everyone desperate to get their hands on Leyli's mysterious red notebook?

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Living alone in New York, Frannie teaches creative writing to a motley bunch of students, and secretly compiles a dictionary of street slang: virginia, n., vagina; snapper, n., vagina; brasole, n., vagina. One evening at a bar, she stumbles upon a man, his face in shadow, a tattoon on his wrist, a woman kneeling between his legs. A week later a detective shows up at her door. The woman's body has been discovered in the park across the street. Soon Frannie is propelled into a sexual liaison that tests the limits of her safety and desires, as she begins a terrifying descent into the dark places that reside deep within her.

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The definitive biography of the basketball legend Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, from the author of Michael Jordan: the Life. Magic Johnson is one of the most beloved, and also controversial, athletes in history. He lifted the dowdy sport of American pro basketball into the global spotlight, a transformation driven by his ability to eviscerate opponents with a grand sense of fun. He was a master entertainer who directed basketball to the heights of both glory and epic excess, all of it driven by his mind-blowing no-look passes and personal charm. At the charismatic height of his power, Johnson shocked the world with his personal story which pushed public awareness of the HIV and AIDs crisis. Through hundreds of interviews with Johnson's coaches, representatives past and present, teammates, opponents, friends and loved ones, including key conversations with Johnson himself, this is the first truly definitive study of the revolutionary player: the man, the icon, Magic Johnson.

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What happened to Betty is every woman's dream.Isn't it?There are those who never grow old because they are taken too soon.There are those who grow old without worries, enjoying everything life has to offer. There are those who desperately try to slow down the ticking clock. And then there's Betty. Betty, who mysteriously stops growing old on her thirtieth birthday - the same age as her mother when she died. The years leave no trace on Betty's face, but as everyone around her is transformed by the relentless march of time, her once golden life begins to come apart. Because an ageless face is a face without history, without passions, without memories. A blank canvas others will slowly, inexorably forget...

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Thousands of years ago the inhabitants of Mesopotamia became the first to use numbers. Since then, mathematics has been unstoppable. It's behind almost everything, from search-engines to cruise-control, from coffee-makers to timetables. But now that we hardly ever need to do arithmetic, how relevant is mathematics to everyday life? Pluses and Minuses demonstrates the role mathematics plays in human endeavour. It answers questions such as: What is life without numbers? Is the usefulness of mathematics mere chance? How can we get a grip on uncertainty? Stefan Buijsman's richly entertaining guide makes connections between philosophy, psychology and history, while explaining the wonderful world of mathematics for absolutely everyone.

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ONE OF THE OBSERVER THRILLERS OF THE YEAR: 'GLORIOUS PROSE AND RAZOR-SHARP TENSION' 'LYRICAL AND ACTION-PACKED' Guardian'I COULDN'T TURN THE PAGES FAST ENOUGH' Clare Mackintosh'IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN, OR FORGET' Sunday Mirror'GLORIOUS DRAMA AND LYRICAL FLAIR Denise Mina, New York TimesTwo friends Wynn and Jack have been best friends since their first day of college, brought together by their shared love the great outdoors.The adventure of a lifetime When they decide to canoe down the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate the ultimate wilderness experience: no phones, no fellow travellers, no way of going back. A wild ride But as a wildfire starts to make its way towards them, their trip becomes a desperate race for survival. And when a man suddenly appears, claiming his wife has vanished, the fight against the raging flames becomes a much deadlier game of cat and mouse.

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SOON TO BE A MAJOR TV SERIES PRODUCED BY SNOOP DOGG'The best new discovery I've come across in a long time' Michael Connelly 'Writing so sharp you may cut your fingers on the pages' Attica Locke'The best thing to happen to mystery writing in a very long time' New York Times'The Holmes of the 21st century' Daily Mail 'Conan Doyle's characterisation and Raymond Chandler's phrase-making' Guardian'An electrifying combination of Holmesian mystery and SoCal grit' Time'Truly feels like an heir to Elmore Leonard' Daily Telegraph 'An author with wizard-like gifts' Wall Street Journal'Ide is an original as a suspense writer: every novel he writes feels like a new invention' Washington PostIsaiah is no longer IQ, the genius of East Long Beach. A man on the road and on the run, he is hiding in a small Northern California town when his room is broken into by a desperate young man on the trail of the state's most prolific serial killer.Isaiah's former sidekick Dodson has also had to change life, in an attempt to keep his wife and child. His devil's bargain is an internship at an LA advertising agency, where it turns out the rules of the street have simply been dressed in business casual. The ageing company's fortunes may well rest on their ability to attract a younger demographic and Dodson - 'the hustler's hustler' - just may be the right man for the job.Both Isaiah and Dodson are at a crossroads, but can they leave their former lives behind for good?

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Improve your memory, improve your game!The aim is to encourage players to improve their bridge by solving the puzzlesThis challenging book of puzzles will help you to improve your game by concentrating on defensive play. By the time you have solved the last puzzle, your astonished partners will be well advised to secure copies for themselves. Whatever the situation, this splendid selection of defensive play puzzles will test your skills - and you will learn from the detailed explanation that Ron Klinger gives on the page following each puzzle.

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'A thought-provoking and worthwhile read' THE TIMES'A timely, challenging book' GUARDIAN'[A] rich, intriguing book' NATUREWE ARE MUCH MORE CONNECTED TO NATURE AND EACH OTHER THAN WE REALISE . . . - Most of our 37 trillion cells have such a short lifespan that we are essentially made anew every few weeks- The molecules forming our bodies have been component parts of countless other organisms, from ancient plants to dinosaurs- The bacteria, fungi and viruses that make up our bodies influence our moods and even manipulate our behaviour- Every word and every touch we receive from other people transforms the neural networks in our brain and changes our sense of self THE SELF DELUSION is an explosive, powerful and inspiring book that brings together overwhelming evidence against the illusion we have of ourselves as independent beings - and explains how understanding our many connections may be the key to a better future.

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKSHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE'A fitting legacy left by a blazing talent' Observer'A masterpiece' Andrew O'Hagan, Guardian'Completely amazing' Lucy Mangan, Stylist'A modern classic' Daily Mail'Raw, compelling, wise and tender' Dolly Alderton'Outstanding' Jenny Colgan, Spectator 'Razor-sharp, fearless and wonderful' Adam Kay'Personal, political, and blazing with truth' Melissa Harrison'Crammed with wit and intelligence' Financial Times'Deeply tender and very funny' Kathy Burke'Full of glinting pain, brilliant one liners and utter clarity' Suzanne Moore'[Orr's] masterpiece' Evening Standard'Intense and moving' Red'Remarkable' Val McDermid, iMOTHERWELL is a sharp, candid and often humorous memoir about the long shadow that can be cast when the core relationship in your life compromises every effort you make to become an individual. It is about what we inherit - the good and the very bad - and how a deeper understanding of the place and people you have come from can bring you towards redemption.

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'Arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music,' says Jimi Hendrix's citation in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. James Marshall Hendrix remains unique as an African American who broke out of the traditional 'Black' genres of blues, r&b and soul to play hard rock to an overwhelmingly white audience, almost single-handedly creating what became known as heavy metal. With unprecedented access to Jimi's younger brother, Leon, the two most important women in his life and numerous previously untapped sources, bestselling music biographer Philip Norman resurrects the real Jimi from the almost mythical icon who has continued to influence young guitarists. His death in 1970, aged only twenty-seven when his fame was at its height, has long been rock's greatest unsolved mystery. But finally we learn where the responsibility lay for Jimi's lonely, squalid end.'An engaging memorial to a rock revolutionary whose music, in contrast to many of his revered Sixties peers, retains much of its explosively thrilling voodoo power' The Times

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***A MAIL ON SUNDAY '100 HOTTEST BOOKS OF SUMMER*** 'Had me turning the pages well into the night' Harlan Coben 'Extraordinary' Sunday Times 'Breathtakingly good' Daily Mail 'Stylish... More please!' The TimesWELCOME TO A SCHOOL REUNION YOU WON'T FORGET FRENCH RIVIERA, WINTER 1992On a freezing night, as her high school campus is engulfed by a snowstorm, 19-year-old Vinca Rockwell runs away with Alexis, her philosophy teacher.No one will ever see them again.FRENCH RIVIERA, SPRING 2017Formerly inseparable, Thomas, Maxime and Fanny - Vinca's best friends - have not spoken in twenty-five years. But when they receive an invitation to their school reunion, they know they must go back one final time.Because there is a body buried in that school... ...and they're the ones who put it there. 'With a sun-drenched Cote d'Azur setting and a deliciously tangled plot of teenage passion, secret assignations, threats and brutal violence, this elegant thriller keeps its nerve-jangling suspense until the very last page' Daily Mail ***********************************************THE BIGGEST #1, MEGA-BESTSELLING AUTHOR YOU'VE NEVER READ... UNTIL NOW* THE #1 AUTHOR IN FRANCE* A TOP 10 HIT AROUND THE WORLD* OVER 33 MILLION COPIES OF GUILLAUME MUSSO'S NOVELS SOLD WORLDWIDE* THE UNPUTDOWNABLE THRILLER OF THE SUMMER

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The President tells the story of a ruthless dictator and his schemes to dispose of a political adversary in an unnamed country usually identified as Guatemala. Drawing on his experience as a journalist writing under repressive conditions, Miguel Angel Asturias provides a blazing indictment of totalitarian government and its damaging psychological effects on society - from the harvest of terror to cowardice, to sycophancy, to treachery and intrigue, and the total sacrifice of human values to lust for power. Written in a language of freedom and originality, full of extraordinary symbolism, biting satire, poetry and dream sequences, with an imagination that is both lyrical and ferocious, The President is a surrealist masterpiece and one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.

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'I adored this novel' Pandora Sykes'Incredibly moving' Charlie Gilmour'I read it in two evenings' Clover Stroud'Brilliant' Sarah MossIt begins with a miracle: a baby born too small and too early, but defiantly alive. This is Joe.Then, two years later, Emily, arrives. From the beginning, the siblings' lives are entwined.Snake back through time. In a patch of nettle-infested wilderness, find Edward, seventeen-years-old, and falling in love with another boy.In comes somebody else, Eleanor, with whom Edward starts a family. They find themselves grandparents to Joe and Emily.When Joe is diagnosed with cancer, the family are left waiting for a miracle.From one of our finest new authors, this is a profoundly beautiful novel about the unexpectedness of life and the miracle of love.

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A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE DAILY MAIL AND WOMAN AND HOMEA New York Times 'Editor's Pick'One of the Observer's Ten Best Debut Novelists of 2020Shortlisted for the Author's Club First Novel AwardLonglisted for the Jhalak PrizeLonglisted for the CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger'Enrapturing... This richly imagined novel considers the many permutations of love and what we are capable of doing in its name' New York Times'A brilliant debut' Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard'You'll have the heart rate of an Olympic hurdler' Sunday Express'I read it with my heart in my throat' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton 'An exquisitely crafted masterpiece you'll be pressing into the hands of others' Woman & Home 'An intoxicatingly atmospheric mystery' Daily Mail'Dark, addictive and eye-opening, this is a brilliant debut' StylistA gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, What's Left of Me Is Yours follows a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life - and her murder.In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the wakaresaseya (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings.When Sato hires Kaitaro, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Sato has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitaro's job is to do exactly that - until he does it too well.While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitaro fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter Sumiko's life.Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, What's Left of Me Is Yours explores the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.

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In 1972 Elizabeth Romer moved to a farmhouse in Tuscany, where she discovered a life moulded by the past and tasted the simple, sublime flavours of traditional Italian cooking for the first time. Here, she introduces the Cerotti family who farm one section of the valley, and vividly describes, month by month, the Tuscan year. From January's prosciutto and salame, to cheese-making in March, to threshing the corn in high summer, to the game and chanterelles of autumn, and the chestnut woods of November and December. In the heart of the Cerotti household wonderful meals are prepared using fresh and simple ingredients, governed by the rhythms of the changing seasons. Elizabeth Romer presents the fare for high days and holidays as well as every day, from fresh garlic and wild herbs to fried flowers and carnival cakes. This magical book reveals the secrets of an ancient way of life and cuisine, with dozens of delicious recipes to bring the flavour of Tuscany to any kitchen.

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