A beautiful coloured fabric and gold foil blocked gift journal for your brother to capture and share his wonderful memories and stories. Designed to make it easy for every brother to capture his life story and aspirations, each journal includes 60 thoughtful questions to inspire your brother to enjoy telling his story by describing the past, the present and thinking about the future. With space for accompanying photos and memorabilia alongside his handwritten memories these classic, yet contemporary books, are covered in soft fabric making these tactile editions truly timeless keepsakes. Finished with gold foil and gold ribbons they make fabulous gifts for any brother on his birthday, at Christmas, or simply to show him you care. The Timeless Collection is available in 9 titles: Mum, Dad, Grandma, Grandad, Daughter, Son, Sister, Brother & Friend.

Originally published in 1961. The essays in this volume focus on the awareness of science and art, evolution and Freudian psychology. Besides the chapter on Darwin and Freud, the author discusses criticism, the fantasy element in drama and popular literature, the history of the novel, the motivation of science and the function of erotic art.

Tackling the unclimbed west face of the remote Siula Grande in the Andes, Joe Simpson and his partner Simon Yates achieved the summit before disaster struck. A few days later, an exhausted Simon staggered into base camp to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out, where they found Joe, badly injured, crawling through the snowstorm. Far from causing Joe's death, Simon had saved his friend's life when he was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope.

Agatha Christie's Complete Secret Notebooks brings together for the first time Secret Notebooks and Murder in the Making, two volumes that explore the fascinating contents of her 73 notebooks. This includes illustrations, deleted extracts, unused ideas, two unpublished Poirot stories and a lost Miss Marple. When Agatha Christie died in 1976, aged 85, she had become the world's most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide in more than 100 countries, she had achieved the impossible - more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller. So prolific was Agatha Christie's output - 66 crime novels, 20 plays, 6 romance books under a pseudonym and over 150 short stories - it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this true? Or did she resort over those 55 years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimes? Following the death of Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable secret was revealed. Unearthed among her affairs at the family home of Greenway were Agatha Christie's private notebooks, 73 handwritten volumes of notes, lists and drafts outlining all her plans for her many books, plays and stories. Buried in this treasure trove, all in her unmistakable handwriting, are revelations and details that will fascinate anyone who has ever read or watched an Agatha Christie story. Christie archivist and expert John Curran leads the reader through the six decades of Agatha Christie's writing career, unearthing some remarkable clues to her success and a number of never-before-published excerpts and stories from her archives. This book features Agatha's original ending of her very first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. It also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker's Wife.

You had better shove this in the stove, Mark Twain said at the top of an 1865 letter to his brother, 'for I don't want any absurd 'literary remains' and 'unpublished letters of Mark Twain' published after I am planted'. He was joking, of course. But when Mark Twain died in 1910, he left behind the largest collection of personal papers created by any nineteenth-century American author. Here, for the first time in book form, are twenty-four remarkable pieces by the American master - pieces that have been hand picked by Robert Hirst, General Editor of The Mark Twain Project at UC Berkeley. In "Jane Austen", Twain wonders if Austen's goal is to make the reader detest her people up to the middle of the book and like them in the rest of the chapters? "The Privilege of the Grave" offers a powerful statement about the freedom of speech while "Happy Memories of the Dental Chair" will make you appreciate modern dentistry. In "Frank Fuller" and "My Fist New York Lecture" Twain plasters the city with ads to promote his talk at the Cooper Union (he is terrified no one will attend). Later that day, Twain encounters two men gazing at one of his ads. One man says to the other: Who is Mark Twain? The other responds: God Knows-I Don't. Wickedly funny and disarmingly relevant, "Who is Mark Twain?" shines new light on one of America's most beloved literary icons - a man who was well ahead of his time.

Originally adapted for the stage, Peter Meineck's revised translations achieve a level of fidelity appropriate for classroom use while managing to preserve the wit and energy that led The New Yorker to judge his Clouds The best Greek drama we've ever seen anywhere," and The Times Literary Supplement to describe his Wasps as "Hugely enjoyable and very, very funny. A general Introduction, introductions to the plays, and detailed notes on staging, history, religious practice and myth combine to make this a remarkably useful teaching text.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'A beautiful book' - Jo Good, BBC Radio London 'When Harry Met Minnie made me cry and made me dance with joy. It's an exquisite tale about heartbreak and healing, critters and humans, and the little miracles life hands us when we need them the most' - Jeannette Walls, New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses 'Teichner's main themes are sure to warm readers in this cold coronavirus winter: the steadfast devotion between dogs and their owners, and the essential role friendship plays in sustaining both humans and their beloved pets ... Teichner has learned that we all have the capacity to create and build new friendships and attachments at whatever age or stage of life. That such rewards are possible is the inspirational lesson for all the characters in - and readers of - this touching saga' - The Washington Post 'When Harry Met Minnie is a tour-de-force of storytelling. Martha Teichner not only charts the course of two remarkable friendships, between two people and two dogs, she invites us to consider our own relationships. The stars that had to align to put someone special in our life. This is a love story, masterful, warm and funny, heartfelt and heartbreaking. I absolutely loved this book' - Louise Penny, New York Times bestselling author of All the Devils Are Here 'When Harry Met Minnie is a story of laughter and tears, of friendship and dogs. It shows us the loyalty and resilience of Bull Terriers?and of two women who love them. A book of generosity and hope for an era badly in need of both' - Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of GOOD BOY: My Life in Seven Dogs 'When Harry Met Minnie belongs on the shelf next to Travels with Charley and Marley and Me. But the unforgettable dogs we meet in these pages don't just help the people in their lives, they save each other. Martha Teichner has written an extraordinary story filled with love and humor about the transformative power of friendship, among dogs and people, in the thick of life and at its end. I fell in love with Harry, Minnie, their humans, and this marvel of a book' - Will Schwalbe, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Your Life Book Club and Books for Living 'I decided to write this book, because I didn't want to stop living the story of what happened when Harry met Minnie. I didn't want to forget any of it, even the sad parts. This story of unexpected friendship, of love, was a wonderful gift, and in the end, it made me and Minnie happy' - Martha Teichner There are true fairy tales. Stories that exist because impossible-to-explain coincidences change everything. Except in real life, not all of them have conventional, happily-ever-after endings... Carol, who is dying of cancer caused by the toxic pollution in New York in the aftermath of 9/11, needs someone to take care of Harry, who is a 'great listener but does have a problem with large dogs. He is great with smaller dogs. If he sees a hose he will destroy it to protect you. He will figure out ways to let you know exactly how he feels'. When Martha has a chance encounter with Carol's friend, he can't help but notice Minnie, 'oh those chunky little legs', and so the matchmaking begins. After a disastrous first meeting, when Minnie doesn't appear to think much of Harry (who is super keen), things improve and soon they are inseparable. As Carol's illness progresses, so a new friendship and community blossoms, Carol's Club. The bonds that grew changed Martha's life, Carol's life, Minnie's life and Harry's life. And they changed Carol's death as well. In this rich and touching narrative, Martha considers the ways our stories are shaped by the people we meet, and the profound love we can find by opening our hearts to unexpected encounters.

In Long Players, fifty of our finest authors write about the albums that changed their lives, from Deborah Levy on Bowie to Daisy Johnson on Lizzo, Ben Okri on Miles Davis to David Mitchell on Joni Mitchell, Sarah Perry on Rachmaninov to Bernardine Evaristo on Sweet Honey in the Rock. Part meditation on the album form and part candid self-portrait, each of these miniature essays reveals music's power to transport the listener to a particular time and place. REM's Automatic for the People sends Olivia Laing back to first love and heartbreak, Bjork's Post resolves a crisis of faith and sexuality for a young Marlon James, while Fragile by Yes instils in George Saunders the confidence to take his own creative path. This collection is an intoxicating mix of memoir and music writing, spanning the golden age of vinyl and the streaming era, and showing how a single LP can shape a writer's mind. Featuring writing from Ali Smith, Marlon James, Deborah Levy, George Saunders, Bernardine Evaristo, Ian Rankin, Tracey Thorn, Ben Okri, Sarah Perry, Neil Tennant, Rachel Kushner, Clive James, Eimear McBride, Neil Gaiman, Daisy Johnson, David Mitchell, Esi Edugyan, Patricia Lockwood, among many others.

Shortlisted for the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 'Utterly, utterly perfect and brilliant - I think it is, simply, a new classic, and the book every woman will be able to trust to make her happy when she picks it up' - Caitlin Moran 'Utterly wonderful ... full of love. Enormously uplifting, funny and witty and wry' - Marian Keyes 'A glorious, outrageously funny retelling of E.M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady. At once, a celebration of the joy of family life and a cry of anguish at the utter hell of it. Laugh out loud, compulsive reading' - Nina Stibbe Meet Liz: all she wants is some peace and quiet so she can read a book with her cat Henry, love of her life, by her side. But trampling all over this dream is a group of wild things also known as Liz's family. Namely: Richard - a man, a husband, no serious rival to Henry. Thomas - their sensitive seven year old son, for whom life is a bed of pain already. Evie - five year old acrobat, gangster, anarchist, daughter. And as if her family's demands (Where are the door keys? Are we made of plastic? Do 'ghost poos' really count?) weren't enough, Liz must also contend with the madness of parents, friends, bosses, and at least one hovering nemesis. Are We Having Fun Yet? is a year with one woman as she faces all the storms of modern life (babysitters, death, threadworms) on her epic quest for that holy grail: a moment to herself.

The border town of Hay-on-Wye is famous for two things: the annual Festival of Literature and its stunning location. Jim Saunders' book is a photographic record of the town which celebrates its environs and people.

Stirring reflections on the human condition from a warrior and emperor provide a fascinating glimpse into the mind and personality of a highly principled Roman of the 2nd century. Recognizing that suffering is at the core of life, he counsels stoic detachment in the face of inevitable pain, loss and death.

'This is the real globalism, a glorious cacophony that seeks no common ground other than attitude.' Marlon James, winner of the Booker Prize So Many Islands breaks out bold new writing from the distant shores of countries in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Here you will find poems about revolution and protest. You will be transported to Marakei,'the women's island', and join the battle to save a beached whale. Alongside family politics, So Many Islands tackles nuclear testing and climate change global issues that are close to the heart of these precariously poised communities. Giving voice to their challenges and triumphs, these writers create a vibrant portrait of what it is like to live and love on the small islands they call home. Readers everywhere will find universal connections with these words and worlds. Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, Cyprus, Grenada, Jamaica, Kiribati, Malta, Mauritius, Niue, Rotuma (Fiji), Soma, Singapore, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago

This is the first fully annotated old-spelling edition of the entire text of the autograph English journal of Robert Bargrave (1628-61), recording his extensive travels as a merchant. This manuscript (now Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson C 799), describes four separate journeys made by Bargrave: his sea voyage from England to Constantinople; an arduous return journey overland from Constantinople to England, via Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Germany, and the Low Countries; extensive travels, for both commercial and cultural purposes, in Spain, Sicily, Italy and the Morea; and a return journey from Venice to Margate, via Trento, Innsbruck, and Augsburg, including his visit to Heidelberg where he met the exiled English royalist community at the court of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. The introduction to the edition gives detailed consideration to the political, religious, and personal affiliations of the Bargraves, a prominent Kentish family, with special reference to their experiences of overseas travel. While abroad, Robert also twice met up with his cousin, John Bargrave (c. 1610-80), the noted traveller and antiquarian. The introduction also provides an assessment of the historical, literary, and geographical importance of Robert Bargrave's journey; a survey of his extensive musical and dramatic interests; and the first detailed account of the provenances of both MS Rawlinson C 799 and now a lost earlier draft of this journal, identified here as the Eastry Court Manuscript. The edition includes seventeen illustrations, Bargrave family trees, and a selective bibliography of primary and secondary sources consulted.

The climate crisis is here. Our chance to stop it has come and gone, but this doesn't have to mean the world is ending. 'If you care about the planet, and about the people and animals who live on it, there are two ways to think about this. You can keep on hoping that catastrophe is preventable, and feel ever more frustrated or enraged by the world's inaction. Or you can accept that disaster is coming, and begin to rethink what it means to have hope.' The honesty and realism of Jonathan Franzen's writings on climate have been widely denounced and just as widely celebrated. Here, in his definitive statement on the subject, Franzen confronts the world's failure to avert destabilising climate change and takes up the question: Now what?

Like her five literary sisters, Diana Mitford has written widely not only on her own fascinating, controversial life, but has recorded her intimately-placed observations of friends who also happened to have been leading political and social figures of the day. The majority of these scintillating articles circulated privately to a small group of people are published for the very first time in this volume.

The woman's place of power within each of us is neither white nor surface; it is dark, it is ancient, and it is deep The revolutionary writings of Audre Lorde gave voice to those 'outside the circle of this society's definition of acceptable women'. Uncompromising, angry and yet full of hope, this collection of her essential prose - essays, speeches, letters, interviews - explores race, sexuality, poetry, friendship, the erotic and the need for female solidarity, and includes her landmark piece 'The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House'. 'The truth of her writing is as necessary today as it's ever been' Guardian

After helping Tony Blair to secure a historic third term in office, Alastair Campbell might have hoped to make good his long-planned escape from Downing Street. Blair, and Gordon Brown, had other ideas. Having negotiated Brown's pivotal role in the 2005 election victory, Campbell then became fundamental in the transition from one Prime Minister to another. As this volume opens, Blair's joy at his election victory is short-lived and he knows he is running out of road. By the volume's close, two years later, Brown is Prime Minister - and leaning on Campbell almost as much as Blair had done. Meanwhile, a fresh-faced young PR man named David Cameron becomes the new Leader of the Opposition and struggles to unite his party over Europe. Beyond Westminster, a psychiatrist enters Campbell's life; we follow his attempts to rebuild a normal family life, and a plethora of new challenges, from advising the British and Irish Lions to playing a charity match with footballing legend Diego Maradona. Packed with revelations, this latest instalment in the bestselling and critically acclaimed series of diaries is an intimate account of the last days of the Blair government, and the power struggles along the way.

A literary exploration that asks seeks to answer the question: Have I lived the life I intended?Jesse Browner, a novelist with a full-time job at the United Nations, has written a book reminiscent of the Talking Heads classic song "Once in a Lifetime." Based on an essay he wrote for Poets and Writers Magazine, Browner asks hard questions about life choices, about the tendency to believe there is a parallel life that might have been more fulfilling or more free. He wonders: Is the true artist made by single-minded devotion to his craft? Do we compromise our dreams in service to responsibilities to family and jobs?These questions prompted Browner to take a hard look at himself and the evolution that brought him to this moment of existential doubt. In How Did I Get Here? he divides his adult life into five distinct phases--ambition, love, work, fulfillment, and serenity. Sketching portraits of himself at every stage, he looks for idiosyncrasies, commonalities, and clues--signposts that lead him to today. He also draws on the lives of others, from Franz Kafka to his sister to indie rocker Elliott Smith, in search of understanding. What he finds in his courageous quest is bravely honest and inspiring, touching on what it means to live a life with intention and meaning.

Trees are guiding symbols for Yelizaveta P. Renfro in her life and in her work. Combining memoir and nature writing, this book comprises nine essays that represent different seasons and slices of time, not unlike the rings of a tree. No two rings are alike, but each accretes to the next, creating, section by section, a life.

"In these profound and moving essays, Yelizaveta Renfro applies a scientist's eye for detail and a reporter's investigative prowess to the essential questions of our nature, human and otherwise. Her personal and botanical inquiries into the themes of growth, death, and time evoke Annie Dillard and Edward Abbey."--Justin St. Germain, author Son of a Gun: A Memoir

"A book of raw power and unflinching wisdom, the kind that cannot be relegated to any particular time or period but which seems to speak out of eternity itself. Like Annie Dillard's For the Time Being, it dares to look without blinking at humanity's peculiar and brief place on this earth, and does so with integrity and poetical insight."--Robert Vivian, author of The Least Cricket of Evening

Why read non-fiction? Is it just to find things out? Or is it for pleasure, challenge, adventure, meaning? Here, in seventy new pieces, some of the most original writers and thinkers of our time give their answers. From Hilton Als on reading as writing's dearest companion to Nicci Gerrard on reading for her life; from Malcolm Gladwell on entering the minds of others to Michael Lewis on books as secret discoveries; and from Lea Ypi on the search for freedom to Slavoj Zizek on violent readings, each offers their own surprising perspective on the simple act of turning a page. The result is a celebration of seeing the world in new ways - and of having our minds changed.

From Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri: twelve of his most controversial non-fiction pieces form this collection on the theme of freedom. Ranging from the personal to the analytical, covering subjects such as art, politics, storytelling and creativity, A WAY OF BEING FREE confirms Okri's place as one of the most inspiring of contemporary writers. 'All I wanted to do was to remind myself at all times to just sing my song. To just sing it through all the difficulties and silences' BEN OKRI.

Bump to Birthday - a beautifully designed, colour illustrated, combined pregnancy and first year baby journal - will inspire any parent-to-be to capture the unique story of the journey of pregnancy and baby's precious first year. During pregnancy Bump to Birthday provides week- by-week information on the developing bump and provides prompts to enable parents to tell their own remarkable story and record unique, unrepeatable experiences. The pregnancy journey, hopes and dreams, the birthing experience, and all the special moments with the new baby - from first movements to first smile, first Christmas to first birthday - with spaces for photos and scan images, will all be treasured forever in one beautiful journal.

'It was the most liberating thing that ever happened to me, having children. The children's demands on me were things that nobody else ever asked me to do.' -Toni Morrison Children are a miracle, and everyone has an opinion on how we should raise them. From novelists to paediatricians; from Enlightenment philosophers to experimental psychologists; from parenting 'experts' to people whose expertise is simply - and powerfully - being a parent, Tiny Feet is the first anthology of its kind, showcasing a range of influential writing about children over the past four hundred years. Introduced by Lauren Child, and with contributions from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Maria Montessori, Dr Spock, D. W. Winnicott, Toni Morrison and many more, this ideal gift book for soon-to-be parents shows the extent to which some of our attitudes have changed while others remain absolute, and reminds us of the joy that children bring to our lives.