Can cities solve the biggest problems of the twenty-first century better than nations? Is the city democracy's best hope? In the face of the most perilous challenges of our time-climate change terrorism poverty & trafficking of drugs guns & people-the nations of the world seem paralyzed The problems are too big too interdependent too divisive for the nation-state Is the nation-state once democracy's best hope today democratically dysfunctional? Obsolete? The answer says Benjamin Barber in this highly provocative & original book is yes Cities & the mayors who run them can do & are doing a better job Barber cites the unique qualities cities worldwide share pragmatism civic trust participation indifference to borders & sovereignty & a democratic penchant for networking creativity innovation & cooperation He demonstrates how city mayors singly & jointly are responding to transnational problems more effectively than nation-states mired in ideological infighting & sovereign rivalries Featuring profiles of a dozen mayors around the world-courageous eccentric or both at once-If Mayors Ruled the World presents a compelling new vision of governance for the coming century Barber makes a persuasive case that the city is democracy's best hope in a globalizing world & great mayors are already proving that this is so ...

WINNER OF THE BETTY TRASK AWARDWINNER OF THE SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARDLONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE On a street in a town in the North of England ordinary people are going through the motions of their everyday existence
- street cricket barbecues painting windows A young man is in love with a neighbour who does not even know his name An old couple make their way up to the nearby bus stop But then a terrible event shatters the quiet of the early summer evening That this remarkable & horrific event is only poignant to those who saw it not even meriting a mention on the local news means that those who witness it will be altered for ever Jon Mc Gregor's first novel brilliantly evokes the histories & lives of the people in the street to build up an unforgettable human panorama Breathtakingly original humane & moving If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things is an astonishing debut
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Sometimes just one person can change your whole world If not for her loving but controlling parents Beth might never have taken charge of her life If not for her friend Nichole Beth would never have met Sam Carney
- a tattooed mechanic who is her conservative parents' worst nightmare & if not for Sam
- who witnessed a terrible accident & rushed to her aid
- Beth might have never survived & fallen in love Yet there are skeletons in Sam's closet that prevent him from ever trusting a woman again Will he be able to overcome his past & fight for love?


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From the critically acclaimed poet & classicist Anne Carson a brilliant new translation of the work of Sappho together with the original Greek During her life on the island of Lesbos Sappho is said to have composed nine books of lyrics Only one poem has survived complete In IF NOT WINTER Carson presents all the extant fragments of Sappho's verse employing brackets & white space to denote missing text
- allowing the reader to imagine the poems as they were written Carson says of her method of translation 'I like to think that the more I stand out of the way the more Sappho shows through' & certainly her translation illuminates Sappho's reflections on love & desire her companions & rivals the goddess Aphrodite her own daughter Kleis IF NOT WINTER gives us an extraordinary ancient poet brought alive by a brilliantly empathetic contemporary poet Complete with Carson's introduction & notes it will become the standard translation of Sappho for our time
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If the Oceans Were Ink is Carla Power's eye-opening story of how she & her long-time friend Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi found a way to confront ugly stereotypes & persistent misperceptions that were cleaving their communities Their friendship-between a secular American & a madrasa
- trained sheikh
- had always seemed unlikely but now they were frustrated & bewildered by the battles being fought in their names Both knew that a close look at the Quran would reveal a faith that preached peace & not mass murder; respect for women & not oppression & so they embarked on a yearlong journey through the controversial text A journalist who grew up in the Midwest & the Middle East Power offers her unique vantage point on the Quran's most provocative verses as she debates with Akram at cafes family gatherings & packed lecture halls conversations filled with both good humour & powerful insights Their story takes them to madrasas in India & pilgrimage sites in Mecca as they encounter politicians & jihadis feminist activists & conservative scholars Armed with a new understanding of each other's worldviews Power & Akram offer eye-opening perspectives destroy long-held myths & reveal startling connections between worlds that have seemed hopelessly divided for far too long

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You go into a bookshop & buy If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino You like it But alas there is a printer's error in your copy You take it back to the shop & get a replacement But the replacement seems to be a totally different story You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure a romance a satire an erotic story a diary & a quest But the real hero is you the reader ...

A poignant & uplifting story about family & forgiveness that will appeal to readers who have loved Jojo Moyes' Me Before You & Ruth Hogan's The Keeper of Lost Things 368 pages Beckerman Hannah ...

'I grew up reading James Herriot's book & I'm delighted that thirty years on they are still every bit as charming heartwarming & laugh-out-loud funny as they were then' Kate Humble Fresh out of Veterinary College & shoulder-deep in an uncooperative cow James Herriot's first job is not panning out exactly as expected To a Glaswegian like James 1930s Yorkshire appears to offer an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world But even life in the sleepy village of Darrowby has its challenges On the one hand there are his new colleagues Siegfried & Tristan Farnon two brothers who attract a constant stream of local girls to whom James is strangely invisible On the other he must contend with herds of semi-feral cattle gruff farmers with incomprehensible accents & an overweight Pekingese called Tricki Woo Heartbreaking & hilarious in equal measure If Only They Could Talk is a book for all those who find laughter & joy in animals & who know & understand the magic & beauty of Britain's wild places ...

As the BBC's North America Editor Jon Sopel has had a pretty busy time of it lately In the 18 months it's taken for a reality star to go from laughingstock to leader of the free world Jon has travelled the length & breadth of the United States experiencing it from a perspective that most of us could only dream of he has flown aboard Air Force One interviewed President Obama & has even been described as a beauty' by none other than Donald Trump Through music film literature TV & even through the food we eat & the clothes that we wear we all have a highly developed sense of what America is & through our shared tangled history we claim a special relationship But America today feels about as alien a country as you could imagine It is fearful angry & impatient for change Reflecting on his journey across the continent to cover the most turbulent race in recent history Jon Sopel lifts a lid on the seething resentments profound anxieties & sheer rage that found its embodiment in a brash unpredictable & seemingly unstoppable figure In this fascinating insightful portrait of American life & politics Jon sets out to answer our questions about a country that once stood for the grandest of dreams but which is now mired in a storm of political extremism racial division & increasingly perverse beliefs ...

As the BBC's North America Editor Jon Sopel has had a pretty busy time of it lately In the 18 months it's taken for a reality star to go from laughingstock to leader of the free world Jon has travelled the length & breadth of the United States experiencing it from a perspective that most of us could only dream of he has flown aboard Air Force One interviewed President Obama & has even been described as a beauty' by none other than Donald Trump Through music film literature TV & even through the food we eat & the clothes that we wear we all have a highly developed sense of what America is & through our shared tangled history we claim a special relationship But America today feels about as alien a country as you could imagine It is fearful angry & impatient for change Reflecting on his journey across the continent to cover the most turbulent race in recent history Jon Sopel lifts a lid on the seething resentments profound anxieties & sheer rage that found its embodiment in a brash unpredictable & seemingly unstoppable figure In this fascinating insightful portrait of American life & politics Jon sets out to answer our questions about a country that once stood for the grandest of dreams but which is now mired in a storm of political extremism racial division & increasingly perverse beliefs ...