'dreaming of bears or fire or water' The greatest of Elizabethan pamphleteers Nashe had a magical ability with words never more so than in The Terrors of the Night where he mulls over ghosts demons nightmares & the supernatural Introducing Little Black Classics 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range & diversity of Penguin Classics with books from around the world & across many centuries They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California & the Russian steppe Here are stories lyrical & savage; poems epic & intimate; essays satirical & inspirational; & ideas that have shaped the lives of millions Thomas Nashe (1567-?1601) Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller & Other Works is available in Penguin Classics ...

The three films in this Terry Thomas Collection--The Naked Truth Too Many Crooks & Make Mine Mink--are each an unalloyed delight from beginning to end Though produced on slim budgets they possess witty scripts by Michael Pertwee deft direction in two instances by Mario Zampi inventive music scores & marvellous casts featuring two generations of British actors from Athene Seyler to a young Kenneth Williams Individually & as an ensemble these players are a pleasure to watch But of course Terry Thomas the catalyst of the collection runs the gamut with a plethora of facial expressions body language & verbal repartee that contribute so much to the unbuttoned joy of each film In the earliest of them The Naked Truth (1957) TT plays a dodgy peer of the realm being blackmailed in the company of Peter Sellers Peggy Mount & Shirley Eaton by a gutter press journalist Dennis Price (" Don&t try to appeal to my better nature because I haven&t one") The moments of slapstick are brought off to a tee as when the larger-than-life Peggy Mount attempts a suicide drop from her window to be saved by an awning on a shop front Too Many Crooks (1959) has TT being blackmailed once again this time for the hoards he&s stashed away as a renowned tax dodger Look out for the very funny court scene where TT makes three appearances on separate charges before a bemused magistrate John Le Mesurier Make Mine Mink (1960) the odd one out in this collection was adapted from a West End stage farce Breath of Spring TT leads a gang of middle-aged biddies who decide to brighten up "the dullness of the tea time of life" by staging a series of robberies on furriers then donating the proceeds to charitable concerns The splendid cast

Includes:: Hattie Jacques & Kenneth Williams On the DVD The Terry Thomas Collection comes in an attractive box containing the three discs All are 43 ratio & with mono sound The only extras are a trailer for each film which in the instance of Make Mine Mink is introduced by Terry Thomas himself who presents us to his gang of fur thieves as the voice on the soundtrack announces him as "fur fur funnier than you&ve seen him before" --Adrian Edwards

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Collecting hundreds of quips "es & beautifully illustrated throughout The Test Match Special Book of Cricket"es is a cricket fan's indispensable guide to bats beards boundaries & bowls From witty sayings & wise words to doubles entendres & legendary moments from cricketing history you'll find the perfect line for every occasion I've never got to the bottom of streaking'- Jonathan Agnew On the first day Logie decided to chance his arm & it came off'
- Trevor Bailey Bill Frindall has done a bit of mental arithmetic with a calculator'- John Arlott' Strangely in slow motion the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer'
- David Acfield'I'm not into caps with lots of diamonds on them like KP'
- James Anderson' How can you tell your wife you are just popping out to play a match & then not come back for five days?'
- Rafa Benitez on test cricket I don't think we choked this time We never played well enough to choke'
- Craig Matthews Flintoff starts in his shadow beside him Where else would it be?'- Henry Blofeld I once delivered a simple ball which I was told had it gone far enough would have been considered a wide'
- Lewis Carroll





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The Testament of Gideon Mack is James Robertson's acclaimed novel exploring faith & belief For Gideon Mack faithless minister unfaithful husband & troubled soul the existence of God let alone the Devil is no more credible than that of ghosts or fairies Until the day he falls into a gorge & is rescued by someone who might just be Satan himself Mack's testament
- a compelling blend of memoir legend history & quite probably madness
- recounts one man's emotional crisis disappearance resurrection & death It also transports you into an utterly mesmerising exploration of the very nature of belief' Fascinating extraordinary strange rich' Sunday Telegraph' Overwhelmingly compassionate & thought-provoking Demands another read' Irvine Welsh Guardian' Hugely enjoyable very funny deeply refreshing its touch of devilry makes it even more of a joy' Herald' Fabulous a work of the highest literary quality' Scotland on Sunday' Astonishingly accomplished utterly compelling from start to finish could well be the best novel published anywhere this year' Big Issue' James Robertson is a brilliant novelist It's a long time since I read a novel in which the contemporary notions of faith & belief were so frankly tested' Ali Smith James Robertson is the author of the novels The Fanatic Joseph Knight The Testament of Gideon Mack & the Land Lay Still & The Professor of Truth The Testament of Gideon Mack was longlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize picked by Richard & Judy's Book Club & shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year award & And the Land Lay Still was the winner of the Saltire Book of the Year Award 2010

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2013 Colm Toibin's The Testament of Mary is the moving story of the Virgin Mary told by a novelist famous for writing brilliantly about the family From the author of Brooklyn in a voice that is both tender & filled with rage The Testament of Mary tells the story of a cataclysmic event which led to an overpowering grief For Mary her son has been lost to the world & now living in exile & in fear she tries to piece together the memories of the events that led to her son's brutal death To her he was a vulnerable figure surrounded by men who could not be trusted living in a time of turmoil & change As her life & her suffering begin to acquire the resonance of myth Mary struggles to break the silence surrounding what she knows to have happened In her effort to tell the truth in all its gnarled complexity she slowly emerges as a figure of immense moral stature as well as a woman from history rendered now as fully human Praise for The Testament of Mary' This is a short book but it is as dense as a diamond It is as tragic as a Spanish pieta but it is completely heretical Toibin maintains all the dignity of Mary without subscribing to the myths that have accumulated around her' Edmund White Irish Times' Depicting the harrowing losses & evasions that can go on between mothers & sons Toibin creates a reversed Pieta he holds the mother in his arms' Independent 'A beautiful & daring workit takes its power from the surprise of its language its almost shocking characterization' Mary Gordon New York Times ...

It's graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale & the entire Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating All Cia can think about-hope for-is whether she'll be chosen for The Testing a United Commonwealth program that selects the best & brightest new graduates to become possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization When Cia is chosen her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories of The Testing Armed with his dire warnings (Cia trust no one) she bravely heads off to Tosu City far away from friends & family perhaps forever ...

Cia Vale is now seventeen & has everything she ever dreamed of a boy she loves a place at the University & a future as one of the leaders of the United Commonwealth The Testing should be nothing more than a blank space in her mind; an achievement to be celebrated & then forgotten But Cia remembers As further evidence of the government's murderous programmes comes to light Cia must choose whether to stay silent & protect herself & her loved ones or expose The Testing for what it is Above all the University is a dangerous place & Cia must remember the advice her father gave her TRUST NO ONESecond instalment of this critically acclaimed futuristic trilogy ...

The United Commonwealth teeters on the brink of all-out civil war Testing survivor Cia Vale knows that she alone can lead the rebellion against the government but to do so she must risk the lives of those she loves & gamble on the loyalty of her lethal classmates In the electrifying conclusion to this bestselling trilogy Cia must use all she's learned to fight for a future that's free from fear & the stakes are higher than ever Ready or not it's Graduation Day ...

' Charming intelligent fast-moving beautifully atmospheric' Genevieve Cogman author of The Invisible Library'I raced through this exquisite debut in three days & adored it' Fantasy Book Review In the Raverran Empire magic is scarce & those born with power are strictly controlled
- taken as children & conscripted into the Falcon Army Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate hiding her mage-mark & thieving to survive But hers is a rare & dangerous magic one that could threaten the entire empire Lady Amalia Cornaro was never meant to be a Falconer Heiress & scholar she was born into a treacherous world of political machinations But fate has bound the heir & the mage & as war looms on the horizon a single spark could turn their city into a pyre Set in a rich world of political intrigue & dangerous magic The Tethered Mage is a spellbinding debut from a major new talent' Absolutely recommended & on my shortlist for favorite books so far in 2017' Book Smugglers'A brilliant novel' The Eloquent Page' Fantastically readable incredibly addictive & intelligently plotted I loved it' Liz Loves Books' If you like fantasy you'll love this book' The Tattooed Book Geek
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In the dying days of the USSR battlelines have shifted from spycraft to the cut-throat capitalism & it's intellectual property not state secrets that are to be bought sold stolen & fought over 272 pages Ackerman Dan ...