Category Archives: Travel Guides
The Tunnel
Infamous for the murder of Maria Iribarne, the artist Juan Pablo Castel is now writing a detailed account of his relationship with the victim from his prison cell: obsessed from the first moment he saw her examining one of his paintings, Castel had become fixated on her over the next months and fantasized over how
The Snows of Yesteryear
The Snows of Yesteryear (1989) is Gregor von Rezzori`s haunting evocation of his childhood in Czernowitz, in present-day Ukraine. Growing up after the First World War, Rezzori portrays a twilit world suspended between the dying ways of an imperial past and the terrors of the twentieth century. He recalls his volatile, boar-hunting father, his earthy
Jules et Jim
In free-spirited Paris, Jules and Jim live a carefree, bohemian existence. They write in cafes, travel when the mood takes them, and share the women they love without jealousy. Women like Lucie, flawless, an abbess, and Odile, impulsive, mischievous, almost feral. But it is Kate – with a smile the two friends had determined to
How I Came to Know Fish
How I Came to Know Fish (1974) is Ota Pavel`s magical memoir of his childhood in Czechoslovakia. Fishing with his father and his Uncle Prosek – the two finest fishermen in the world – he takes a peaceful pleasure from the rivers and ponds of his country. But when the Nazis invade, his father and
Voices of Marrakesh
Voices of Marrakesh is Elias Canetti’s 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature winner. The book is an account of a stay in the city, during the course of which Canetti uncovers the street life hidden beneath the city’s maze-like medley of sounds, gestures and faces. Voices of Marrakesh is a vivid, artistic portrait of the languages
A Poet`s Guide to Britain
Introduced and selected by the poet-presenter Owen Sheers, “A Poet`s Guide to Britain” is a major poetry anthology in its own right. Owen Sheers passionately believes that poems, and particularly poems of place, not only affect us as individuals, but can have the power to mark and define a collective experience – our identities, our
The Mountains of My Life
The Mountains of My Life collects Walter Bonatti`s classic writings detailing his exploits on numerous expeditions to different mountains of the world, as well as the real story behind the controversy over the events on K2 that changed his life. Bonatti is one of the greatest mountaineers of all time, and these awe-inspiring writings capture
Life is a Dream
“Life is a Dream (1931) is Gyula Krudy`s magical collection of ten short stories. Creating a world where editors shoot themselves after a hard day`s brunching, men attend duels incognito and lovers fall out over salad dressing, “Life is a Dream” is a comic, nostalgic, romantic and erotic glimpse into the Hungary of the early
The Elephant
The Elephant (1957) is Slawomir Mrozek`s award-winning collection of hilarious and unnerving short stories, satirizing life in Poland under a totalitarian regime. The family of a wealthy lawyer keep a `tamed progressive` as a pet; a zoo saves money for the workers by fashioning their elephant from rubber; a swan is dismissed from the municipal
Scent of a Woman
Although this has been the inspiration for two popular films, “Scent of a Woman” is a great read in it`s original form, a comfortably far cry from the “hoo-ha” of Pacino and the Hollywood tale it came to be.Two soldiers travel across Italy at the height of summer, passing through Genoa, Rome and Naples. One
The Gold-Rimmed Spectacles
Into the insular town of 1930s Ferrara, a new doctor arrives. Fadigati is hopeful and modern, and more than anything wants to fit into his new home. But his fresh, appealing appearance soon crumbles when the townsfolk discover his homosexuality, and the young man he pays to be his lover humiliates him publicly. As anti-Semitism
The Anatomy of Melancholy
A new Penguin Classics edition of Burton`s masterpiece – ostensibly a guidebook to melancholia or depression, in reality an all-encompassing examination of the human condition.The Anatomy of Melancholy is the vast and only work by Robert Burton, the 17th-century English priest and scholar. It `opens and cuts up` the condition of melancholy, or depression as
We Will All Go Down Fighting to the End
`Wars are not won by evacuations`. `We can take it`! `Westward look, the land is bright`. This collection of speeches from one of the great modern orators includes Churchill`s famous words on the declaration of war with Germany, as well as his rousing call to the British in June 1940 after Dunkirk, and his immortal
An Image of Africa/ The Trouble with Nigeria
Beautifully written yet considered by some controversial, “An Image of Africa” asserts Achebe`s belief in Joseph Conrad as a `bloody racist` and his conviction that Conrad`s novel Heart of Darkness only serves to perpetuate damaging stereotypes of black people, while “The Trouble with Nigeria” is a searing outpouring of Achebe`s frustrations with his country.Throughout history,
Thousand Cranes
Kikuji has been invited to a tea ceremony by a mistress of his dead father. He is shocked to find there the mistress`s rival and successor, Mrs. Ota, and that the ceremony has been awkwardly arranged for him to meet his potential future bride. But he is most shocked to be drawn into a relationship
Beauty and Sadness
The successful writer Oki has reached middle age and is filled with regrets. He returns to Kyoto to find Otoko, a young woman with whom he had a terrible affair many years before, and discovers that she is now a painter, living with a younger woman as her lover. Otoko has continued to love Oki
The Sound of the Mountain
Ogata Shingo is growing old, and his memory is failing him. At night he hears only the sound of death in the distant rumble from the mountain. The relationships which have previously defined his life – with his son, his wife, and his attractive daughter-in-law – are dissolving, and Shingo is caught between love and
Petersburg
Andrei Bely`s masterpiece, “Petersburg” is a vivid, striking story set at the heart of the 1905 Russian revolution. This “Penguin Classics” edition is translated from the Russian by David McDuff with an introduction by Adam Thirlwell. St Petersburg, 1905. An impressionable young university student, Nikolai, becomes involved with a revolutionary terror organization, which plans to
The Well of Loneliness
New to Penguin Modern Classics, the seminal work of gay literature that sparked an infamous legal trial for obscenity and went on to become a bestseller. The Well of Loneliness tells the story of tomboyish Stephen, who hunts, wears trousers and cuts her hair short – and who gradually comes to realise that she is
The Smell of Hay
A new translation of Giorgio Bassani`s haunting collection of short stories that evoke 1930s Ferrara, with an introduction by Ali Smith. Isolated lives and a lost world are evoked in these memorable stories set in the Jewish-Italian community of 1930s Ferrara. A young man`s unrequited love; a strange disappearance; a faded hotel; a lonely funfair;
