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Bill Bryson has the rare knack of being out of his depth wherever he goes
- even (perhaps especially) in the land of his birth
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NOTES FROM A FRIEND is a concise & easy-to-understand guide to the most powerful & life-changing tools & principles that make Anthony Robbins an international leader in peak performance Based on the concepts & stories in the bestselling AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN & UNLIMITED POWER Anthony Robbins shows us how quick & simple it can be to take charge of your life ' Vintage Tony Robbins It distils the complexity of human potential movement into one single but powerful idea' JAMES REDFIELD THE CELESTINE PROPHECY ' Tony's warmth passion & commitment will inspire you to truly master your life & touch others in the process' KENNETH BLANCHARD PHD AUTHOR OF THE ONE MINUTE MANGER ...

In 1995 before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire to move back to the States for a few years with his family Bill Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain a sort of valedictory tour of the green & kindly island that had so long been his home His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face & private parts (as it were) & to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite; a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy; place names like Farleigh Wallop Titsey & Shellow Bowells; people who said ' Mustn't grumble' & Ooh lovely' at the sight of a cup of tea & a plate of biscuits; & Gardeners' Question Time Notes from a Small Island was a huge number-one bestseller when it was first published & has become the nation's most loved book about Britain going on to sell over two million copies ...

The 900-day siege of Leningrad (1941-44) was one of the turning points of the Second World War It slowed down the German advance into Russia & became a national symbol of survival & resistance An estimated one million civilians died most of them from cold & starvation Lydia Ginzburg a respected literary scholar (who meanwhile wrote prose 'for the desk drawer' through seven decades of Soviet rule) survived Using her own using notes & sketches she wrote during the siege along with conversations & impressions collected over the years she distilled the collective experience of life under siege Through painful depiction of the harrowing conditions of that period Ginzburg created a paean to the dignity vitality & resilience of the human spirit This original translation by Alan Myers has been revised & annotated by Emily van Buskirk This edition

Includes:: A Story of Pity & Cruelty' a recently discovered documentary narrative translated into English for the first time by Angela Livingstone

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Notes from the Underground (1864) is one of the most profound works of nineteenth-century literature A probing speculative book often regarded as a forerunner of the Existentialist movement it examines the important political & philosophical questions that were current in Russia & Europe at the time The Gambler (1866) set in the fictional town of Roulettenberg explores the compulsive nature of gambling one of the author's own vices & a subject he describes with extraordinary acumen & drama Specially commissioned for the World's Classics this new translation

Includes:: a full editorial apparatus ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more

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Lou Reed who died in 2013 was best known to the general public as the grumpy New Yorker in black who sang ' Walk on the Wild Side' To his dedicated admirers however he was one of the most innovative & intelligent American songwriters of modern times a natural outsider who lived a tumultuous & tortured life In this in-depth meticulously researched & very entertaining biography respected biographer Howard Sounes examines the life & work of this fascinating man from birth to death including his time as the leader of The Velvet Underground
- one of the most important bands in rock'n'roll Written with a deep knowledge & understanding of the music Sounes also sheds entirely new light on the artist's creative process his mental health problems his bisexuality his three marriages & his addictions to drugs & alcohol In the course of his research Sounes has interviewed over 140 people from every part of Lou Reed's life
- some of whom have not spoken publicly about him before
- including music industry figures band members fellow celebrities family members former wives & lovers This book brings Lou Reed & his world alive


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With an Introduction & Notes by David Rampton Department of English University of Ottowa Notes from Underground & Other Stories is a comprehensive collection of Dostoevsky's short fiction Many of these stories like his great novels reveal his special sympathy for the solitary & dispossessed explore the same complex psychological issues & subtly combine rich characterization & philosophical meditations on the (often) dark areas of the human psyche all conveyed in an idiosyncratic blend of deadly seriousness & wild humour In Notes from Underground the Underground Man casually dismantles utilitarianism & celebrates in its stead a perverse but vibrant masochism A Christmas Tree & a Wedding recounts the successful pursuit of a young girl by a lecherous old man In Bobok one Ivan Ivanovitch listens in on corpses gossiping in a cemetery & ends up deploring their depravity In A Gentle Spirit the narrator describes his dawning recognition that he is responsible for his wife's suicide In short as a commentator on spiritual stagnation Dostoevsky has no equal ...

Collected here in Penguin Classics are two of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's shorter works Notes from Underground & The Double translated by Ronald Wilks with an introduction by Robert Louis Jackson Alienated from society & paralysed by a sense of his own insignificance the anonymous narrator of Dostoyevsky's groundbreaking Notes from Underground tells the story of his tortured life With bitter irony he describes his refusal to become a worker in the 'anthill' of society & his gradual withdrawal to an existence 'underground' The seemingly ordinary world of St Petersburg takes on a nightmarish quality in The Double when a government clerk encounters a man who looks exactly like him
- his double perhaps or possibly the darker side of his own personality Like Notes from Underground this is a masterly tragicomic study of human consciousness Ronald Wilks's extraordinary new translation is accompanied here by an introduction by Robert Louis Jackson discussing these pivotal works in the context of Dostoyevsky's life & times This edition also contains a chronology bibliography table of ranks & notes on each work Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow From 1849-54 he lived in a convict prison & in later years his passion for gambling led him deeply into debt His other works available in Penguin Classics include Crime & Punishment The Brothers Karamazov The Idiot & Demons If you enjoyed Notes from Underground & The Double you might like Dostoyevsky's Demons also available in Penguin Classics' Notes from Underground with its mood of intellectual irony & alienation can be seen as the first modern novel That sense of meaninglessness of existence that runs through much of twentieth-century writing
- from Conrad & Kafka to Beckett & beyond
- starts in Dostoyevsky's work' Malcolm Bradbury


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Presenting the apology & confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official this title offers a half-desperate half-mocking political critique & an account of man's breakaway from society & descent 'underground' ...