An intrepid voyage out to the frontiers of the latest thinking about love, language and family. Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts is a genre-bending memoir, a work of 'autotheory' offering fresh, fierce and timely thinking about desire, identity and the limitations and possibilities of love and language. At its centre is a romance: the story of the author's relationship with the fluidly gendered artist Harry Dodge. The book is also notable for the sheer quality of its writing.
>> "Artistry trumps mastery."
A collection of interesting and affecting stories from an outstanding science fiction author.
"Gracefully written and often profoundly moving, these stories are high-water marks of contemporary speculative fiction." – Publishers Weekly
>> A sample, read by the author.
"Sooyong's magical prose led me into little-known and breathtakingly beautiful forests, exposed me to the bitter cold of long winter months, and revealed the secret life of that most mysterious of cats, the Siberian tiger." - Jane Goodall
"Wonderful. Deserves to become a classic of wildlife literature." - The Times
"If you read one nature book this year, make it this one." - Spectator
The French Revolution was an extension of scientific thinking into the political sphere. It was accompanied by outstanding discoveries, advances and inventions across the sciences. This is an interesting book.
How did an electrician from New Zealand with a few mediocre grades in sociology write the second most cited economics article in the world, build the MONIAC - a revolutionary hydraulic computing machine - and quickly rise to become one of the world's leading economists? From a remote Dannevirke farm to wartime POW camps to London's intellectual world, this is a fascinating story, compellingly told.
When Wolf finds a fact-filled book in the library, he thinks he will at last outsmart his clever friend, Dog. The two friends spar as they learn all about mummies and skeletons; robots, knights, and pirates; dinosaurs and dragons; rockets and the moon. As always with Wolf and Dog, there is just as much to learn about getting along together; about friends and enemies, food and fleas.
>> Have you read Wolf and Dog?
"An endearing story about a 10-year-old girl who wants her father to come home. In a bid to win his attention, she decides she needs to win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition. To do this she has to learn to baton-twirl! Lessons begin and she meets two rivals – Louisiana Elefante, a girl with a show-business heritage, and Beverly Tapinksi, whose goal is to sabotage the contest. As the contest draws closer, the three girls find themselves drawn into an unlikely friendship – a friendship gathered together by loneliness, loss and unfathomable questions. I loved the characters that DiCamillo has created, the three girls are quirky and distinctive, and each has strengths which the others rely on. The setting in suburban Florida is excellent and suits this small-scale story with its large heart." - Stella
Knife throwers! Ominous fortresses! Angry mimes! Snack festivals! Morose contortionists! Guillotines! Smiling journalists! Lonely young women! Lingering hope! Incompetence! Desperation! Funny disguises! Plus two hardcover books in a gold-encrusted slipcase, twenty full-color illustrations, and an "unprecedented feat of interactive book design".
New Georgetown, West Virginia, 1879. A mysterious figure known only as 'The Maker' has entered this small community and, almost immediately upon doing so, started entering the minds of the townsfolk.
A leading paleobiologist charts her path to the laboratory in this inspiring account of one woman's adventures in science and in life.
"Some people are great writers, while other people live lives of adventure and importance. Almost no one does both. Hope Jahren does both. She makes me wish I'd been a scientist." - Ann Patchett
The First World War is widely conceived as a pointless conflict that destroyed a generation. Hardship and death were all too common, but there were positive experiences, too. Vast numbers of people, for example, travelled to new parts of the world and encountered new cultures, inspiring a sense of wonder and respect. Military tactics were improved, and great military commanders of the inter-war and Second World War periods came to prominence during the First World War. The conflict also had a formative influence on politicians, writers, artists, union leaders, businessmen and some ethnic minorities, who used their participation to press for equal rights and full citizenship.
>> Extract.
Drawing on the latest research and twenty years of working with overweight patients, this short and punchy book dispels myths and tells the tough truths about our obesity epidemic. Does dieting work? (No.) Is exercise the answer? (No.) Can we change our genes? (Unfortunately not.) How about pills and surgery? (Sometimes, but we can't operate on everyone.) Why are the rich thinner than the poor? (You'll find out.) Toomath shows how our modern world is making us fat. And while governments and individuals keep trying things that science shows do not work - from dieting to education campaigns - she outlines what just might make a difference in ending the obesity epidemic. Robyn Toomath is the Clinical Director of General Medicine at Auckland Hospital.
Bulgakov's writing is a pyroclastic flow of satire, fantasy and savage wit. Best known for The Master and Margarita, there is much else to enjoy in his oeuvre.
Love! Death! Duelling! Bored and aloof, tired of St Petersburg high society, Yevgeny Onegin goes to live on the country estate he has just inherited from his uncle. There he encounters Tatyana, who becomes hopelessly infatuated with him. A new translation of the 'lodestone of Russian literature' (and published by Pushkin Press!).
>> Pushkin as scapegoat.
The sect was said to harbour dark designs to overthrow the government. Its teachers used a dead language that was impenetrable to all but the innermost circle of believers. Its priests preached love and kindness, but helped local warlords acquire firearms. They encouraged believers to cast aside their earthly allegiances and swear loyalty to a foreign god-emperor, before seeking paradise in terrible martyrdoms. The cult was in open revolt, led, it was said, by a boy sorcerer. Farmers claiming to have the blessing of an alien god had bested trained samurai in combat and proclaimed that fires in the sky would soon bring about the end of the world. The Shogun called old soldiers out of retirement and sent 125,000 troops to suppress the rebellion. Japan then sealed its borders to foreigners in 1639.
Miss Ona Vitkus has - aside from three months in the summer of 1914 - lived unobtrusively, her secrets fiercely protected. The boy, with his passion for world records, changes all that. He is eleven. She is one hundred and four years, one hundred and thirty three days old (they are counting). And he makes her feel like she might be really special after all. Better late than never...Only it's been two weeks now since he last visited, and she's starting to think he's not so different from all the rest. Then the boy's father comes, for some reason determined to finish his son's good deed. And Ona must show this new stranger that not only are there odd jobs to be done, but a life's ambition to complete...
Planet Earth teems with trillions of life-forms, each going about their own business; eating, reproducing, thriving ...Yet the life of almost every single entity draws nearer and nearer to certain death. Why? Why is death such a universal companion to life on Earth? Why haven't animals evolved to break free of its shackles?
Scruff the dog is a stray, who just loves to dig. It doesn't make him the most popular dog in the neighbourhood. But when he sniffs out a pile of old bones, he gets all the neighbourhood dogs to help him. They uncover not one, not two, not three...but 100 bones. It is the most exciting dinosaur discovery of all time!
For Miri and her family, life in Warsaw is full of simple joys. The smell of freshly baked challah, the pink flowers that bloom in their courtyard, the promise of summer holidays, and Fridays when everyone comes together to celebrate Shabbat. But the Nazis have a hold on Europe, and have stepped up their discrimination and attacks on Jews. How can Miri's family stay together, when the invading Nazis come to destroy them? Miri's world closes in on her, as she and her family are forced into the ghetto, where they must try to survive, against impossible odds.
"Taken from her bed in the middle of the night by her Father, Lilia has been on the run most of her life. She can't remember anything about her past, but she's happy with her life on the road. But then she meets Eli and things get complicated, and Lilia has to make the choice to leave, or keep running away. Eli is not the only one impacted by Lilia's choices. Michaela's detective father has been tasked with finding the missing girl, to the detriment of his marriage and his daughter. As months turn into years, his obsession grows, leaving Michaela to raise herself, and to learn to hate Lilia for the destruction of her family. If you have read Station Eleven, you will see similarities, but where Station Eleven was expansive, Last Night in Montreal is introspective and personal." - Lucy
Berlin 1941. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a nineteen-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary decision. All around her, Jews are being rounded up for deportation, forced labour and extermination. Marie takes off the yellow star and vanishes into the city. In the years that follow, Marie lives under an assumed identity, moving between almost twenty different safe houses. She is forced to accept shelter wherever she can find it, and many of those she stays with expect services in return. She stays with foreign workers, committed communists and even convinced Nazis.
"The most extraordinary account of World War Two I've ever encountered." - Washington Post
The farm stood at the foot of the hill. Around it, an aching emptiness of fields and wind. Within, a weight, a sense of being occupied, with more than its inhabitants. The Clares got it cheap. George knew why, though he didn't let on -- he didn't want to give Catherine any excuses. He'd given her an easy excuse to get married. He wasn't prepared to give away much more. Catherine, at home with their young daughter, has the feeling they're not alone.
A timely collection of essays on issues of race, culture, family and what is tearing modern America apart.
The Turners have lived on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Their house has seen thirteen children grown and gone - and some returned; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit's East Side, the loss of a father. Despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs, the house still stands. But now, as ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunt - and shape - their family's future.
The debut novel of the author of All the Light We Cannot See traces the fate of a young man whose life is crippled by a recurring dream.
"Doerr's sublime renditions of Winkler's attunement to the world around him turn his story into a prolonged epiphany, a blissful parable about grace. This is a formidable literary achievement that, link Winkler's snow crystals, integrates facets and dimensions into near-perfect whole." - Independent
A nuanced examination of the life and context of the enigmatic soul singer and Black Power icon, Nina Simone.
>> I Got a Life.
The first book in a new series about an orphan boy who discovers he is part of a secret army that protects the world from a race of shadowy monsters.
"An interesting, dark, complex story with a good ending." - Cosmo (13)
Moving beyond and against the current postcolonial orthodoxy, Lalvani argues that Britain made a crucial contribution in providing India with its lasting physical and institutional infrastructure which continues to underpin the world's largest democracy.
Darkus is miserable. His dad has disappeared, and now he is living next door to the most disgusting neighbours ever. A giant beetle called Baxter comes to his rescue. But can the two solve the mystery of his dad's disappearance, especially when links emerge to cruel Lucretia Cutter and her penchant for beetle jewellery?
>> Giant beetles sometimes don't feel very useful.
Claire is a young single mother working in one of England's last remaining shoe factories, her adult life formed by a teenage relationship. Is she ready to move on from memory and the routine of her days? Arun makes hand-sewn chappals at his home in Kolhapur. A recovered alcoholic, now a grandfather, he negotiates the newfound indignities of old age while returning in thought to the extramarital affair he had years earlier.
Kabul, Afghanistan. William Carver, a veteran but unpredictable BBC hack, is thrown into the unknown when a bomb goes off killing a local official. Warned off the story from every direction, Carver won't give in until he finds the truth. Patrick, a young producer, is sent out on his first foreign assignment to control the wayward Carver, but as the story unravels it looks like the real story lies between the shadowy corridors of the BBC, the perilous streets of Kabul and the dark chambers of Whitehall.
"A tremendous novel - shot-through with great authenticity and insider knowledge - wholly compelling and shrewdly wise." - William Boyd
"A deeply insightful, humane, funny and furious novel. This is both a timely reflection on how Britain does business and a belting good read." - A.L. Kennedy
Stephan, the thirteen-year-old son of King Minos of Crete, stumbles across a terrifying conspiracy. Is the Minotaur, a half man half bull who eats human flesh, real? Or is something even more dangerous threatening to engulf both the palace and the world?
For Maggie Rayburn, wife, mother and secretary at a munitions plant, life is pleasant, predictable and secure. When she finds proof of a high-level cover-up on her boss's desk, she impulsively takes it, turning her world upside down. Propelled by a desire to do good - and a new-found taste for excitement - Maggie starts to see injustice everywhere. Soon, her bottom drawer is filled with 'evidence', her town has turned against her, and she must decide how far she will go for the truth. Meanwhile, in Iraq, Captain Penn Sinclair's hasty orders have disastrous results. In an attempt at atonement, he reunites with three survivors to expose the truth about the war. From the author of The Lifeboat.
A book of inspiration and versatile, easy sewing patterns for clothes and accessories with clean, fresh, modern Scandinavian style.
"The clothing patterns are suitable for women of all body types and ages." - Louise
Ben Jewell has hit breaking point. His ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken. So when Ben and Jonah are forced to move in with Ben's elderly father, three generations of men - one who can't talk; two who won't - are thrown together.
Lucy Muir is leaving her husband. It's complicated. They're joint owners and chefs at one of the best restaurants in town, so making a clean break is tough. But, let's face it, a woman can only take so much cheating, recipe stealing and lack of good grace. Despondently driving around the back streets of Woolloomooloo one night, Lucy happens upon an old, empty terrace that was once the city's hottest restaurant: Fortune. One minute she's peering through grimy windows into an abandoned space, the next she's planning a pop-up bistro. When Lucy fires up Fortune's old kitchen she discovers a little red recipe book that belonged to the former chef, the infamous Frankie Summers. As she cries over the ingredients for Frankie's French Onion Soup, she imagines what Fortune was like in its heyday. It's strange, Lucy can sense Frankie beside her, almost see him there...
Newly retired Philip returns home to Cologne and is thrown into emotional turmoil upon bumping into his long-lost sweetheart. In the midst of a domestic crisis, Ricarda confides in Philip that she is looking for somewhere to live. And there and then, Philip suggests that she move in with him - he is setting up a flatshare. Will she join him with his mischievous dachshund named Ralf? To his surprise, Ricarda agrees, leaving Philip to scramble together a crew of retires in time for spring, for the most unlikely of social experiments.
For too long the Neanderthals have been seen as dim-witted evolutionary dead-enders who looked and behaved completely differently from us, but in recent years their story has been transformed thanks to new discoveries and advances in scientific techniques.
Quoting extensively from poetry and prose as well as drawing on new interviews, archives, and previously undisclosed memoirs, Crawford shows how Eliot's background in Missouri, Massachusetts and Paris made him a lightning conductor for modernity.
"Compelling and revelatory." - Guardian
>> An unfortunate anagram.
It is 1977. Leila Ashrawi, from a middle-class Palestinian family dispossessed during the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, and John Ferris, a New Zealand Army captain serving as a UN military observer on the Israel-Lebanon border, meet and fall in love. Amidst confusion and violence the couple's plan to make a new life together on the other side of the world comes only at the expense of great anguish and desperation. Written by a New Zealand Army captain who served as a UN military observer on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Through world wars and civil strife, the Bangor Express has never missed an issue, but now it is losing money hand-over-fist and Rob Cullen, fresh off the plane from his London news desk, has absolutely no idea that he's the man to save it.
"Genuinely hilarious. Exciting, exhilarating, a whirlwind of invention." - Benedict Cumberbatch
Finlay's mother vanished two years ago. And ever since then his stutter has become almost unbearable. Bullied at school and ignored by his father, the only way to get out the words which are bouncing around in his head is by writing long letters to his ma which he knows she will never read, and by playing Scrabble online. But when Finlay is befriended by an online Scrabble player called Alex, everything changes.
After thirty years at St Oswald's Grammar in North Yorkshire, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go. Each class has its clowns, its rebels, its underdogs, its 'Brodie' boys who, whilst of course he doesn't have favourites, hold a special place in an old teacher's heart. But every so often there's a boy who doesn't fit the mould. A troublemaker. A boy with hidden shadows inside. With insolvency and academic failure looming, a new broom has arrived at the venerable school, bringing Powerpoint, sharp suits and even sixth form girls to the dusty corridors. But while Straitley does his sardonic best to resist this march to the future, a shadow from his past is stirring.
"A masterpiece of misdirection." - Val McDermid
A heartwarming story of enduring friendship. And chips.
No mortal can deny a god and no man can ever stand against Dionysus.
"Robin Robertson is the great Euripides translator of our time. The clarity and power of his Medea is unmatched, and his Bacchae is just as direct, unhindered and fluid, perfect for revealing such madness." - David Vann
The moment she learned the horrible truth about her life on Australia, the derelict ship overrun with violent gangs, Chan Aitch made it her mission to save everyone she could from their fate worse than death. But her efforts were in vain. Now, everyone she cares about is dead or in prison, and Chan is more alone than ever before.
As the only person to have escaped Australia's terrible crash-landing back to Earth, Chan is now living in poverty on the fringes of a huge city. She believes Mae, the little girl she once rescued on the Australia, is still alive - but she has no idea where Mae is, or how to find her. Everything on Earth is strange and new, and Chan has never felt more lost. A sequel to Way Down Dark: "A tightly written, fast-paced and scary young adult/sci fi cross-over novel, written in the style of the ‘Wool’ trilogy. I highly recommend it." - Lucy
>> The Rainbow Warrior, thirty years on.
Women in sport are fighting for equality with more vigour than ever, but are they actually breaking down the barriers that stand in their way?
Moliere, for instance, died while playing the role of a hypochondriac in one of his plays.
More than 35,000 people from a wide range of countries joined the International Brigades to defend the Spanish Republic from the fascists and other right-wing nationalists.
You know you want to.
