Few people now get married because they feel they ought to, as there is little social stigma in living together or having children outside wedlock. Most now get married for themselves, because they want to make a statement about their relationship. In the same way, the traditional top-hat, vintage car wedding is in sharp decline. Now, people want their weddings to be individual, different, about them. Sophie Vincenzi has produced a lively, informative, budget-conscious, but above all inspiring guide on how to do things your own way. From choosing a special venue, to writing your own vows & selecting readings that haven't been used thousands of times before, here is all the information you need to make your day different & special. ...

Youth's narrator, a student in 1950s South Africa, has long been plotting an escape from his native country. Studying mathematics, reading poetry, saving money, he tries to ensure that when he arrives in the real world he will be prepared to experience life to its full intensity, & transform it into art. Arriving at last in London, however, he finds neither poetry nor romance. Instead he succumbs to the monotony of life as a computer programmer, from which random, loveless affairs offer no relief. Devoid of inspiration, he stops writing & begins a dark pilgrimage in which he is continually tested & continually found wanting. Set against the background of the 1960s, Youth is a remarkable portrait of a consciousness turning in on itself. J. M. Coetzee explores a young man's struggle to find his way in the world with tenderness & a fierce clarity. ...

The narrator of Youth, a student in the South Africa of the 1950s, has long been plotting an escape from his native country: from the stifling love of his mother, from a father whose failures haunt him, & from what he is sure is impending revolution. Studying mathematics, reading poetry, saving money, he tries to ensure that when he arrives in the real world, wherever that may be, he will be prepared to experience life to its full intensity, & transform it into art. Arriving at last in London, however, he finds neither poetry nor romance. Instead he succumbs to the monotony of life as a computer programmer, from which random, loveless affairs offer no relief. Devoid of inspiration, he stops writing. An awkward colonial, a constitutional outsider, he begins a dark pilgrimage in which he is continually tested & continually found wanting. Set against the background of the 1960s
- Sharpeville, the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam
- Youth is a remarkable portrait of a consciousness, isolated & adrift, turning in on itself. J. M. Coetzee explores a young man's struggle to find his way in the world with tenderness & a fierce clarity.

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Auntie Sue is getting married & she has asked Daisy to be her bridesmaid. But Daisy doesn't do dresses & she certainly doesn't do lovely. Every dress Daisy tries on is ' Yuk!', until she finally manages to strike a deal & design her own dress... If you liked Eat Your Peas, Really, Really & You Do, you will love this book! ...

Flowing over 6275 km (3900 miles) from one end of China to the other, the Yangtze is vast, varied, & mysterious, like China itself. It rises in the highlands of Tibet, where glaciers drip & ooze to create a network of icy channels that join to form what the Chinese call simply Chang Jiang, the Long River. From here it snakes & cascades its way through some of the worlds most spectacular scenery precipitous mountains, narrow gorges, & lush lowlands of eastern China, made fertile by the mud spread by the rivers frequent flooding. Yangtze follows the river on this fascinating & varied course. As it does so it explores many aspects of the river that have intrigued Chinese & westerners alike. It looks at the rivers unique wildlife, from the dazzling colours of rhododendrons & camellias on its banks to the endangered creatures, such as the baiji river dolphin, that dwell in or on the banks of its waters. It describes the teeming human activity along the river the fishing, farming, & trade that make it a lifeline & a livelihood for millions. & it looks at the rivers role in some of the turning points in Chinese history, such as the wars of the Three Kingdoms Period, the culture of the Tang dynasty, the Taiping Rebellion, & the Long March of Mao & his communist allies. Finally, Yangtze looks at the changes & challenges affecting the river today. For the Yangtze stands at a turning point. The worlds biggest civil engineering project, the construction of the Three Gorges dam across the river, is nearing completion. Chinas government hopes that the enormous dam will control the rivers floods, open up further reaches to big ships, & generate hydro-electricity. Opponents of the scheme point to the damage to the environment, the human costs, & the enormous risks involved. Beautifully illustrated with outstanding photographs & specially created maps, Yangtze pictures the river at a crucial time in its long & absorbing history. ...

The charismatic god-king Sukarno has brought Indonesia to the edge of chaos
- to an abortive revolution that will leave half a
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YEARS OF HOPE is a kind of 'prequel' to the published series of DIARIES, & will cover fully the peerage renunciation, as well as revealing his early career, touching on schooldays, RAF service during the war, early involvement with politics etc. As a young man he had dealings with Atlee, Bevan, Morrison, Gaitskill & all the major politicians of the post-war Labour Government. This book will be more personal than earlier volumes & will draw on letters & other documents as well as the DIARIES themselves. It will reveal the extraordinary consistency of Benn's political views, as well as showing how he came to acquire them. ...