A remarkable series of interlocking short stories that hopscotch nimbly through time and place, from the 1930s into the present and beyond, from Leningrad to a Siberian city called Kirovsk to Chechnya and back again.
"Each story is a gem in itself. But the book is greater than its parts, an almost unbearably moving exploration of the importance of love, the pull of family, the uses and misuses of history, and the need to reclaim the past by understanding who you really are and what really happened. Read the stories in order. You’ll see how they build on one another. It’s as if the author has taken a series of transparencies, each containing part of a picture, and carefully laid them on top of one another, layer by layer, so that by the end they make a whole. Mr Marra starts this miracle of a book by showing us how a system can erase the past, the truth, even its citizens. He ends by demonstrating, through his courageous, flawed, deeply human characters, how individual people can restore the things that have been taken away. And if you’ve been worrying that you’ve lost your faith in the emotionally transformative power of fiction – Mr. Marra will restore that, too." - The New York Times
Michael Jacobs was haunted by Velazquez's enigmatic masterpiece 'Las Meninas' from first encountering it in the Prado as a teenager. In this book he searches for the ultimate significance of the painting by following the trails of associations from each individual character in the picture, as well as his own memories of and relationship to this extraordinary work. This is not only the story of a fascinating work, but of how we look at and think about art.
Where the great experimenters of the last century were stripping away ornamentation and creating free-flowing spaces for the first time, today's pioneers are researching the potential of new materials and techniques to push the boundaries of environmental sustainability, as well as creating new forms and bold, sophisticated explorations in the adaptive reuse of spaces originally designed for any number of other purposes.
Designers who have eschewed screen-based design to make their work directly onto paper using a wide range of traditional and innovative techniques.
As a teenage student in Afghanistan, Habibyar cycled to the homes of female students forced out of school by the Taliban, and gave them lessons. Now a doctoral student at Canterbury University, Habibyar returned to Afghanistan and collected these stories of women and girls struggling for education in Afghanistan. With the proceeds of this book, Habibyar will have it translated back into Dari and distributed in Afghanistan to build awareness of the empowering effects of education.
Grace and Tippi are twins - conjoined twins. And their lives are about to change. No longer able to afford homeschooling, they must venture into the world - a world of stares, sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at school? Can they find real friends? And what about love? But what neither Grace or Tippi realises is that a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead.
Parker Grant doesn't need perfect vision to see right through you. That's why she created the Rules: Don't treat her any differently just because she's blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. When Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart, suddenly reappears at school, Parker knows there's only one way to react - shun him so hard it hurts. She has enough to deal with already, like trying out for the track team, handing out tough-love advice to her painfully naive classmates, and giving herself gold stars for every day she hasn't cried since her dad's death. But avoiding her past quickly proves impossible, and the more Parker learns about what really happened - both with Scott, and her dad - the more she starts to question if things are always as they seem.
An insight into the mind and theoretical bases of this important artist, encompassing archaeology, anthropology, Asian and Buddhist traditions, as well as Western sculptural concerns.
"Suicide, in my view, is neither a legal nor moral offence, and should not be seen as such. My intention here is to simply try to understand the phenomenon, the act itself, what precedes it and what follows. I'd like to consider suicide from the point of view of those who have made the leap, or have come close to it - we might even find that the capacity to take that leap is what picks us out as humans." - Critchley
"Critchley makes us think anew about old questions. We must talk about suicide without shame or sanctimony. This book is a good place to start." - Independent
From the very first mouthful, 'Lunch with the FT' was destined to become a permanent fixture in the Financial Times. One thousand lunches later, the FT's weekly interview has become an institution. From film stars to politicians, tycoons to writers, dissidents to lifestyle gurus, the list reads like an international Who's Who of our times.
An interesting survey, charting not only changes in garden design and gardening practices but also correlating these with the emancipation of women.
>> He's a conscious cook.
From the Italian invasion of Tripoli to the establishment of Turkish independence. Magisterial.
In the early 1800s, on a Hebridean beach in Scotland, the sea exposed an ancient treasure cache: 93 chessmen carved from walrus ivory. Norse netsuke, each face individual, each full of quirks, the Lewis Chessmen are probably the most famous chess pieces in the world. Questions abounded: Who carved them? Where? This book demonstrates the interconnectedness of Norway and Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, and Greenland and North America in the Viking era, and reveals the artist who made these chess pieces in the 12th century: Margret the Adroit of Iceland.
First published in 1986, Other Americas established Salgado's credentials as visionary reportage photographer. It assembles images from Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala, and Mexico, ranging in subject from spiritual and religious practices to changing rural landscapes to intimate domestic life. Salgado's sincerity and sympathetic eye helps us see the Americas anew.
Covers both the engineering history to interest railway enthusiasts, and a political, economic and social history, from the 1860s until the workshops' closure in 2012. Illustrated.
Numbers are everywhere, and underpin our thinking about the world in often unexpected ways.
>> He talks with Kim Hill.
Five years ago, Gabis discovered an unthinkable dimension to her family story: from 1941 to 1943, her grandfather had been the chief of security police under the Gestapo in the Lithuanian town of Svencionys, near the killing field of Poligon, where eight thousand Jews were murdered over three days in the fall of 1941. In 1942, the local Polish population was also hunted down. Gabis felt compelled to find out the complicated truth of who her grandfather was and what he had done.
A perceptive, sympathetic look at lives on both (or all) sides of the divide. Murphy finds compassion and empathy in both communities, but is also appalled by instances of its lack on both sides. Holding onto hope, she comes to believe that despite its difficulties the only viable future lies in a single democratic state of Israel/Palestine, based on one person, one vote - a One-State Solution.
51 popular canyons are given the full treatment: canyon overviews, access maps, cross sections, water level recommendations; over 100 further canyons are given briefer treatment.
Although proposed as a decluttering tool, the 'sparks joy' test could be usefully employed in (for instance) our bookshop as a method of choosing new things to take home and add to what you already have there.
>> You can use it on books (especially with the hand movements).
A woman whose recently deceased husband was the prime suspect in a horrific crime struggles with how—and if—she wants to step out from behind his shadow.
McCall Smith has taken 15 found, anonymous photographs and imagined the stories of their subjects.
We wish you all the very best for 2016! (There will be yet more wonderful books).
