Category Archives: Travel Guides
Sylvia Plath Poems Chosen by Carol Ann Duffy
Sylvia Plath was one of the defining voices of the twentieth century, and one of the most appealing: few other poets have introduced as many new readers to poetry. The poems in this fresh and inviting edition were chosen by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.In my selection, which is roughly chronological to shadow her progress,
The Iron Wolf: Collected Animal Poems Vol 1
“The Iron Wolf, the Iron WolfStands on the world with jagged fur.The rusty Moon rolls through the sky.The iron river cannot stir.The iron wind leaks out a cry”Animals of air, land and sea are brilliantly imagined in this perfect introduction for young readers to the work of Ted Hughes. Part of Hughes`s `Collected Animal Poems`,
What is the Truth?: Collected Animal Poems Vol 2
Why is itThe roustabout Rooster, raging at the dawnWakes us so early?A warrior king is on fire!His armour is all crooked daggers and scimitarsAnd it`s shivering red-hot – with rage!First published in 1984, this book of prose-linked animal poems won both the Guardian Children`s Fiction Award and the Signal Poetry Award. This new, illustated edition
Fire Girl, Forest Boy
Winner of the 2020 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award`s Children`s Travel Book of the YearMaya has to escape. She`s on the run in a country she doesn`t know and has no idea who to trust.Raul is escaping too – travelling back to his home where a terrible tragedy happened, ready to stir up trouble.When their
Out of Egypt
`[A] mesmerizing portrait of a now vanished world. Aciman`s story of Alexandria is the story of his own family, a Jewish family with Italian and Turkish roots that tied its future to Egypt and made its home there for three generations, only to find itself peremptorily expelled by the Government in the early 1960`s. It
Transit
In the wake of her family`s collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions – personal, moral, artistic, and practical – as she endeavours to construct a new reality for herself and her children. In the city, she is made to confront
Wittgenstein`s Nephew: A Friendship
Reissued with stunning artwork by Leanne Shapton and a new afterword by Ben Lerner, `Wittgenstein`s Nephew` is a memento mori of restless genius.It is 1967. Two men lie bedridden in separate wings of a Viennese hospital. The narrator, Thomas Bernhard, is stricken with a lung ailment; his friend Paul, nephew of Ludwig Wittgenstein, is suffering
Outline: A Novel
Outline is a novel in ten conversations. Spare and lucid, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing over an oppressively hot summer in Athens. She leads her student in storytelling exercises. She meets other writers for dinner. She goes swimming in the Ionian Sea with her seatmate from the place. The people
Woodcutters
Reissued with stunning artwork by Leanne Shapton and a new afterword by Anne Enright, `Woodcutters` is a blistering European classic.An unnamed writer arrives at an `artistic dinner` hosted by a composer and his society wife: a couple he once admired, but has now come to detest. They have been brought together by their friend Joana`s
I May Be Some Time: The Story Behind the Antarctic Tragedy of Captain Scott
When Captain Scott died in 1912 on his way back from the South Pole, his story became a myth embedded in the national imagination. Everyone remembers the doomed Captain Oates`s last words: `I`m just going outside, and I may be some time.` Francis Spufford`s celebrated and prize-winning history shows how Scott`s death was the culmination
My Hair
My birthday`s coming up so soon,I`ll need new clothes to wear.But most of all, I need to know,How shall I style my hair?Will it be dreads or a twist out? Braids or a high-top fade? Joyous and vibrant, this captures perfectly the excitement of getting ready for a celebration, as well as showcasing a dazzling
Unsheltered
Meet Willa Knox, a woman who stands braced against a world which seems to hold little mercy for her and her family – or their old, crumbling house, falling down around them. Willa`s two grown-up children, a new-born grandchild, and her ailing father-in-law have all moved in at a time when life seems at its
The Expedition to the Baobab Tree
Wearily, I take the path to the river, there in the cool to fill my being with the sounds of my sister-being, to refresh myself in the modest scents of pigeonwood and mitzeerie, to let my gaze end in a tangle of monkey ropes and fern arches and the slowly descending leaves, and to find
The Pebbles on the Beach: A Spotter`s Guide
This edition includes a foreword by Robert Macfarlane. There is a handy illustrated guide to identifying pebbles on the reverse of the book jacket.Pebble-hunting is a pleasant hobby that makes little demand upon one`s patience and still less upon one`s physical energy. (You may even enjoy the hunt from the luxurious sloth of a deck
Your House Will Pay
Two families.One desperate to remember, the other to forget.Will the truth burn them both?”A writer with something to say.” Michael Connelly”Fresh, thoughtful, thrilling.” Ian RankinGrace Park and Shawn Mathews share a city – Los Angeles – but seemingly little else. Coming from different generations and very different communities, their paths wouldn`t normally cross at all.
The Sun on My Head
`The Sun on My Head` is a collection of thirteen stories set in Rio`s largest favela, gravitating around the lives of young boys and men who, in spite of having to deal with the anguish and difficulties inherent to their age, also struggle with the violence involved in growing up on the less favoured side
Something to Answer For
Winner of the inaugural Booker Prize in 1969.It is 1956 and Townrow is in Port Said – of these two facts he`s reasonably certain. He has been summoned by the widow of his deceased friend, Elie Khoury. She is convinced that Elie was murdered, but nobody seems to agree with her. What about Leah Strauss,
Walls: A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick
For thousands of years, humans have built walls and assaulted them, admired walls and reviled them. Great Walls have appeared on nearly every continent, accompanying the rise of cities, nations, and empires. In `Walls`, David Frye uncovers a story that is more than just bricks and stone: he reveals the startling link between what we
English, August: An Indian Story
Agastya Sen, known to friends by the English name August, is a child of the Indian elite. His friends go to Yale and Harvard. August himself has just landed a prize government job, which takes him to Madna – a town with the highest temperatures in India – deep in the sticks. There he finds
Death Is Hard Work
`Death Is Hard Work` is a tale of three people embarking on an absurd quest – an unforgettable journey into a contemporary heart of darkness.At a hospital in Damascus, Syria, Abdel Latif`s final wish is to be buried in the family plot near Aleppo – just a two-hour drive away. Bolbol, his youngest son, persuades
