A Guardian Book of the Year Maggie Nelson is one of the most electrifying writers at work in America today among the sharpest & most supple thinkers of her generation
- Olivia Laing Bluets winds its way through depression divinity alcohol & desire visiting along the way with famous blue figures including Joni Mitchell Billie Holiday Yves Klein Leonard Cohen & Andy Warhol While its narrator sets out to construct a sort of pillow book' about her lifelong obsession with the colour blue she ends up facing down both the painful end of an affair & the grievous injury of a dear friend The combination produces a raw cerebral work devoted to the inextricability of pleasure & pain & to the question of what role if any aesthetic beauty can play in times of great heartache or grief Much like Roland Barthes's A Lover's Discourse Bluets has passed between lovers in the ecstasy of new love & been pressed into the hands of the heartbroken Visceral learned & acutely lucid Bluets is a slim feat of literary innovation & grace never before published in the UK
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Instantly acquire all the knowledge you need to prosper in the frothy world of beer appreciation Never again confuse your grist with your gruit your wort with your yeast or your butt with your firkin (108 gallons versus nine gallons since you ask) 136 pages Goodall Jonathan ...

Written by experts & offering readers the opportunity to pass off appropriated knowledge as their own the Bluffer's Guides provide hard fact masquerading as frivolous observation in one witty easy read 128 pages Starling Boris ...

Instantly acquire all the knowledge you need to become an expert in the arcane & labyrinthine game of cricket Never again confuse a square leg with a very fine leg a doosra with a jaffa or a long hop with a leg break 128 pages Trollope James ...

Instantly acquire all the knowledge you need to pass as an expert in the world of cycling Written by experts & offering readers the opportunity to pass off appropriated knowledge as their own the Bluffer's Guides provide hard fact masquerading as frivolous observation in one witty easy read 136 pages Ainsley Rob ...

Instantly acquire all the knowledge you need to pass as an expert in the world of fishing Never again confuse a bonefish with a kipper a PVA bag with a popper or a gozzer with a Hairy Mary Written by experts & offering readers the opportunity to pass off appropriated knowledge as their own 128 pages Beattie Rob ...

Instantly acquire all the knowledge you need to pass as an expert in the high-octane world of Formula 1 Never again confuse a prancing horse with a red bull an airbox with a halo a bargeboard with an endplate or a blast of G-force with a burst of downforce 128 pages Smith Roger ...

Instantly acquire all the knowledge you need to pass as an expert in the world of horseracing The Bluffer's Guides provide hard fact masquerading as frivolous observation in one witty easy read 128 pages Ashforth David ...

Written by experts & offering readers the opportunity to pass off appropriated knowledge as their own the Bluffer's Guides provide hard fact masquerading as frivolous observation in one witty easy read 128 pages Courtis John ...

Instantly acquire all the knowledge you need to pass as an expert in the world of rugby Know what to say & what to do in the company of rugby fans & what excuses to make when the drinking games start 128 pages Gauge Steven ...