THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER PICKED BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT, IRISH TIMES, SPECTATOR, TLS, NEW STATESMAN, MAIL ON SUNDAY, I PAPER, PROSPECT, REVEW31 AND EVENING STANDARD AS A BOOK OF 2021 'A masterclass from a warm and engagingly enthusiastic companion' Guardian Summer Reading Picks 2021 'This book is a delight, and it's about delight too. How necessary, at our particular moment' Tessa Hadley ________________ From the New York Times-bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves - and our world today. For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. In his introduction, Saunders writes, "We're going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn't fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art-namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?" He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.

A short gift book of festive hospital diaries from the author of million-copy bestseller This is Going to Hurt

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat . . . but 1.4 million NHS staff are heading off to work. In this perfect present for anyone who has ever set foot in a hospital, Adam Kay delves back into his diaries for a hilarious, horrifying and sometimes heartbreaking peek behind the blue curtain at Christmastime.

Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas is a love letter to all those who spend their festive season on the front line, removing babies and baubles from the various places they get stuck, at the most wonderful time of the year.

'The perfect surgical stocking-filler' The Times

George Orwell set out 'to make political writing into an art', and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature - his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell's essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In The Prevention of Literature, the third in the Orwell's Essays series, Orwell considers the freedom of thought and expression. He discusses the effect of the ownership of the press on the accuracy of reports of events, and takes aim at political language, which 'consists almost entirely of prefabricated phrases bolted together.' The Prevention of Literature is a stirring cry for freedom from censorship, which Orwell says must start with the writer themselves: 'To write in plain vigorous language one has to think fearlessly.'

Hierdie bundel is saamgestel uit hoogtepunte van die laaste 15 jaar se "Laaste sê"-rubrieke deur Koos van der Merwe in Sarie. Koos weef meesterlik met woorde en het die vermoë om diep betekenis uit alledaagse situasies te haal. Koos vertel van mense, en hulle soeke na hoop, maar ook ons almal se verlange na die Een wat ons nooit sal laat gaan nie.

From Terry Castle, the brilliant cultural commentator whom Susan Sontag called "the most expressive, most enlightening literary critic at large today," comes a long-awaited collection of captivating personal essays. The title piece at the heart of the anthology--Castle's candid, wry, and rueful retelling of her romantic involvement with a female professor during graduate school--is a pitch-perfect recollection of the fiascoes of youth. Here, also, are classic Castle short works, including "Desperately Seeking Susan," a droll and bittersweet account of her friendship with Sontag; "My Heroin Christmas," a darkly humorous examination of addiction, her family and stepsiblings, and the late, great saxophonist Art Pepper; and the picaresque "Travels with My Mother," a rollicking tour through lesbianism, art, and the difficult yet transcendent paintings of Agnes Martin.

The Professor is Terry Castle at her best: utterly distinctive, wise, frank, and fearless.

The Fall of Boris Johnson is the explosive inside account of how a prime minister lost his hold on power. A New Statesman, The Times, Daily Mail and FT Book of the Year 'Delicious detail, break-neck pace' - Emily Maitlis 'Entertaining and illuminating' - Tim Shipman Boris Johnson was touted as the saviour of the country and the Conservative Party, obtaining a huge commons majority and finally getting Brexit done. But within three short years, he was deposed in disgrace, leaving the country in crisis. Sebastian Payne, Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times, tells the essential behind-the-scenes story, charting the series of scandals that felled Johnson: from the blocked suspension of Owen Paterson to partygate, and, then the final death blow: the Chris Pincher allegations. This is the full narrative of the betrayals, rivalries and resignations that resulted in the dramatic Conservative coup and set in motion events that saw the party sink to catastrophic new lows. With unparalleled access to those who were in the room when key decisions were made, Payne tells of the miscalculations and mistakes that led to Boris's downfall. This is a gripping and timely look at how power is gained, wielded and lost in Britain today. 'Genuinely page-turning' - Andrew Marr 'Brilliant' - Fraser Nelson

Agter hierdie boek le die verwondering oor ons vermoe om stip na letters op papier te kyk en dan te ervaar dat ons 'n ander wereld betree. Hoe kry ons dit reg om na aanleiding van die woorde wat ons lees, nie alleen inligting te bekom nie, maar 'n hele wereld tot stand te verbeel en daarheen te reis? Wat is die rol van die teks hierin? Wat is die rol van die leser? Waarom doen ons dit? Hoe help 'n begrip van ons reise na storiewerelde om ons "leefwereld" beter te verstaan? 'n Fokus op die werelde van stories maak dit moontlik om tekste krities binne hulle kontekste te lees, sonder om die spesifiekheid van elke teks te verwaarloos of om die betowering van storiewerelde te verloor. Willie Burger is professor in Afrikaanse letterkunde aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. Hy is die outeur van talle navorsingsartikels in verskeie akademiese tydskrifte en was ook as redakteur by publikasies oor vooraanstaande Afrikaanse skrywers betrokke: Sluiswagter by die dam van stemme (2002 - saam met Helize van Vuuren) oor Karel Schoeman; Die oop gesprek (2006) oor N.P. van Wyk Louw; en Contrary: Critical responses to the novels of Andre Brink (2013 - saam met Karina Szczurek). Willie het die Caxton Excellence Award in 2015 vir sy resensies in Vrouekeur ontvang, en in 2016 die kykNet-Rapport-toekenning as "Boekresensent van die jaar". Met sy resensies en rubrieke oor die letterkunde in verskeie populere publikasies probeer hy om literere navorsing ook buite die grense van die akademie te versprei.

When Steven Winn and his wife, Sally, finally gave in to their onlychild Phoebe's pleas for a dog, they adopted a scraggly terriermutt from a local animal shelter. The new familypet, Como, turned out to hate men--especially theauthor--and proved to be a cunning escape artist.Traumatized, single-minded, and exceptionallyclever, Como was bent on breaking Winn's sanityand self-respect, his bank account, and his heart.

An international sensation, Come Back, Como is the story of one man's hilarious andpoignant quest to win the trust of a dog whowanted nothing to do with him. With humorand pathos, Winn describes the maddening butultimately rewarding effects Como had on hisfamily; the misadventures, ordeals, and terrifyingevents he and his dog endured together; and thegreatest lesson Como taught him: that loving adog can make us more human.

Maps and Legends is an essay collection by American author Michael Chabon that was scheduled for official release on May 1, 2008, although some copies shipped two weeks early from various online bookstores. The book is Chabon's first book-length foray into nonfiction, with 16 essays, some previously published. 1] Several of these essays are defenses of the author's work in genre literature (such as science fiction, fantasy, and comics), while others are more autobiographical, explaining how the author came to write several of his most popular works.

In hierdie knap versameling literere essays le die skrywer nie net verbande tussen tekste uit die Afrikaanse en Nederlandse letterkunde nie, maar ook tussen die letterkunde en ander kunsvorme: meer bepaald die musiek en die skilderkuns. Vir die student en die liefhebber-leser bewys Elsa Nolte in haar weldeurdagte en uistekend gestruktureerde essays hoe die rykdom van die literere teks nie deur ’n eenmalige leesoefening ontsluit kan word nie, maar dat 'n mens as leser “beloon” word in die mate waarin jy jouself as geoefende en ervare leser teenoor die teks stel.

In Dolf van Niekerk se sesde digbundel kyk hy terug op mense, dinge en gebeurtenisse wat 'n betekenisvolle rol in sy lewe gespeel het. Die digbundel word as 't ware 'n klein galery van skilderye wat momente in die skrywer se lewe vasvang. Die openingsgedig “Vergange” bevat 'n sleutel: Die gedigte handel wesenlik oor daardie oomblikke wat huiwer tussen “aankoms en vertrek”, oomblikke waarin die tyd “saamvloei in die nou / se durende verlede.” Daarom dra die beroemdheid of uiterlike belangrikheid van die onderwerp nie gewig nie: Gedigte oor figure soos pous Julius II, Albert Schweitzer en Peter Blum staan naas gedigte oor die skrywer se moeder wat hy vroeg verloor het, oor sy vader, 'n stoere wildeseringboom en 'n gunsteling-posduif. Daar is ook gedigte oor magiese oomblikke, soos 'n besondere orkesuitvoering in Tel Aviv, 'n nag by die see en 'n oesdag in die Overberg wat herinner aan 'n Van Gogh-skildery. Dit is 'n ontroerende bundel waarin die digter nie net sin uit sy eie lewe probeer maak nie, maar ook besin oor beskawing en by monde van Bartolomeus Dias “vermoed: Afrika duld nie vreemde goed”.