Category Archives: Travel Guides
The Corfu Trilogy: Three Classic Tales of Childhood on an Island Paradise
The Corfu Trilogy by Gerald Durrell consists of the popular classic My Family and Other Animals and its delightful sequels, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods. All three books are set on the enchanted island of Corfu in the 1930s, and tell the story of the eccentric English family who moved
And The Land Lay Still
“And the Land Lay Still” is the sweeping Scottish epic by James Robertson. “And the Land Lay Still” is nothing less than the story of a nation. James Robertson`s breathtaking novel is a portrait of modern Scotland as seen through the eyes of natives and immigrants, journalists and politicians, drop-outs and spooks, all trying to
Boy with the Topknot
“The Boy with the Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton” is a hilarious and heart-rending reinvention of the modern British memoir. “It`s 1979, I`m three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down
Sound Bites
In September 2005, Alex Kapranos began writing about what he ate while touring the world with the rock band Franz Ferdinand. The writing is as much about where he eats and the people he eats with as the unusual flavours he tastes on the road. Whether it`s munching donuts with cops in Brooklyn, swallowing bull`s
The Manchester Compendium
In the same format as the successful London Compendium, the Manchester Compendium relates the remarkable and diverse history of England`s second city with Ed Glinert`s usual detailed approach. Manchester`s town hall and its Royal Exchange epitomise the city`s architectural grandeur and its industrial heritage, Peterloo and Engel`s treatise on the conditions of the working classes
Anatomy of a Disappearance
In Egypt, Nuri, a teenage boy, falls in love with Mona – the woman his father will marry. Consumed with longing, Nuri wants to get his father out of the way – to take his place in Mona`s heart. But when his father disappears, Nuri regrets what he wished for. Alone, he and Mona search
The Painter of Shanghai
In 1913, an orphan girl boards a steamship bound for Wuhu in South East China. Left in the hands of her soft-hearted but opium-addicted uncle she is delivered to The Hall of Eternal Splendour which, with its painted faces and troubling cries in the night, seems destined to break her spirit. And yet the girl
Book of Longing
Leonard Cohen made his name as a poet before he came to worldwide attention as a singer and songwriter. “Book of Longing”, his collection of poetry, was twenty years in the making and written in Montreal, Mumbai and during his retirement in Mt Baldy. Enhanced by Cohen`s own playful and provocative illustrations, these poems show
The Ghost Map
In ‘Ghost Map”, Steven Johnson tells the story of the terrifying cholera epidemic that engulfed London in 1854, and the two unlikely heroes – anaesthetist Doctor John Snow and affable clergyman Reverend Henry Whitehead – who defeated the disease through a combination of local knowledge, scientific research and map-making. In telling their extraordinary story, Johnson
Salt
`These were the nights when the German bombers growled through the sky, their bellies full with steel and cordite. When the moon was low their dark shapes and still darker shadows came over the coast. Several hours later they`d return again, wearily, lighter in weight, fewer in number, dropping the occasional bomb on the forgotten
Real Fast Food
Discover quick and tasty dishes from Nigel Slater in “Real Fast Food”. Nigel Slater presents over 350 creative, delicious and nourishing recipes and suggestions for those who`d rather spend more of their time eating than cooking. From simple snacks to dinner-party desserts, all the dishes in Nigel Slater`s “Real Fast Food” can be ready to
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
At a cafe table in Lahore, a Pakistani man converses with a stranger. As dusk deepens to dark, he begins the tale that has brought him to this fateful meeting…Among the brightest and best of his graduating class at Princeton, Changez is snapped up by an elite firm and thrives on New York and the
The Second World
At the end of the Cold War, we found ourselves living in a world with one superpower, the United States. Now, at the start of the twenty-first century, Parag Khanna argues powerfully that the moment of American supremacy is over, brought about by the increasing influence of what he terms the Second World: Eastern Europe,
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914
Christopher Clark’s ‘Sleepwalkers” is a highly acclaimed study of the causes of World War I. Charting the problems leading up to the Great War, from the polarization of Europe in 1887 ‘“ 1907 to the actual commencement of the fighting, the book presents the personalities and the unfolding events in London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg,
West End Chronicles
The West End is historically the beating heart of London life and in West End Chronicles Ed Glinert looks at the glorious triumphs of this thriving district.From Mayfair to Soho, Shaftesbury Avenue to Fitzrovia, the West End has always been at the glittering heart of London’s social life, lit by cosy cafes, brothels, drinking dens
How to be Both
How to be both is the dazzling new novel by Ali Smith. Winner of the GoldSmiths Prize 2014 Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014 Winner of the 2014 Costa Novel Award Winner of the Saltire Society Literary Book of the Year Award 2014 Nominated for the Folio Prize 2015. Passionate, compassionate, vitally inventive and
The English Rebel – One Thousand Years of Troublemaking from the Normans to the Nineties
From the Peasants` Revolt to the suffragettes, from Oliver Cromwell to Arthur Scargill, “English Rebel” describes a rich and continuous tradition of resistance, rebellion and radicalism, of violent and charismatic individuals with axes to grind, and of social eruptions and political earthquakes that have shaped England`s whole culture and character.The English have a rich and
Disobedience
By the age of 32, Ronit has left London and transformed her life. She has become a cigarette-smoking, wise-cracking, New York career woman, who is in love with a married man. But when Ronit`s father dies she is called back into the very different world of her childhood, a world she thought she had left
Colour Bar
Sir Seretse Khama, the first President of Botswana and heir apparent to the kingship of the Bangwato people, brought independence and great prosperity to his nation after colonial rule. But for six long years from 1950, Seretse had been forced into exile in England, banned from his own country. His crime? To fall in love
The Weather Makers
“The Weather Makers” tells the dramatic story of the earth`s climate, of how it has changed, how we have come to understand it, and of what that means for the future. Tim Flannery`s gripping narrative takes the reader on an extraordinary journey into the past and around the globe, bringing us closer to the science
