Archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, mountaineer & nation builder, Gertrude Bell was born in 1868 into a world of privilege & plenty, but she turned her back on all that for her passion for the Arab peoples, becoming the architect of the independent kingdom of Iraq & seeing its first king Faisal safely onto the throne in 1921. Daughter of the Desert is her story, vividly told & impeccably researched, drawing on Gertrude's own writings, both published & unpublished. It is a compelling portrait of a woman who transcended the restrictions of her class & age & in so doing created a remarkable & enduring legacy. ...

Although one in every six women in the world live in India, most of the western world knows little about them. ” Daughters of India” is a collection of the stories of twenty Indian women, ranging from the traditional to the contemporary, the repressed & the highly innovative, the outcast & the entrepreneur. Each story highlights the woman`s creative expression as her means of empowerment. The author seeks to dispel Western myths about ”repressed” Indian women & reveal their phenomenal fortitude & their determination to improve their lives & those of their children. From a woman preparing for her son`s wedding to a leading female IT entrepreneur, from Hindu to Christian to Muslim, Huyler introduces his readers to the many female faces of India. ...

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Secrets & lies linger in the very walls of the solid old Normandy house where Therese & Leonie, French & English cousins, grow up after the war. Intrigued by adults` guilty silences & the broken shrine they find in the woods, the girls weave their own fantasies, unwittingly revealing the village`s buried shame, a shame that will haunt them both for the rest of their lives. ...

Remember when you were a kid, & you used to go round to a friend`s house to see if they were playing? Well, as adults we`re not supposed to do that. Which is a shame...because Dave Gorman likes playing. He really likes games. So he knocked on the biggest door you could ever imagine
- the internet
- & asked 76, 000 people if they fancied a game. This is the story of what happened next. Dave was up for anything & gamely played them at whatever they chose. He played some classics
- Monopoly, Scrabble, dominoes & cribbage. He played many games he`d never heard of before
- Khet, Kubb, Tikal or Smite anyone? He played board games & physical games. He`s thrown sticks, balls, frisbees & darts. He`s rolled dice & he`s drawn cards. From Liverpool to Hampstead & from Croydon to Nottingham, Dave travelled the length & breadth of Britain meeting strangers in strange places
- their homes, at work, in the back rooms of pubs
- & getting some hardcore game action. From casual players to serious game geeks, from the rank amateur to the world champion, he discovered a nation of gamers more than happy to welcome him into their midst. He`s travelled all around the country & met all sorts of people
- & it turns out us Brits are a competitive bunch! & it seems that playing games can teach you a lot about what makes the British tick. Of course, Dave hasn`t been keeping score. Much.






...

Remember when you were a kid, & you used to go round to a friend`s house to see if they were playing? Well, as adults we`re not supposed to do that. Which is a shame.. .because Dave Gorman likes playing. He Really likes games. So he knocked on the biggest door you could ever imagine
- the internet
- & asked 76, 000 people if they fancied a game. This is the story of what happened next. Dave was up for anything & gamely played them at whatever they chose. He played some classics
- Monopoly, Scrabble, dominoes & cribbage. He played many games he`d never heard of before
- Khet, Kubb, Tikal or Smite anyone? He played board games & physical games. He`s thrown sticks, balls, frisbees & darts. He`s rolled dice & he`s drawn cards. From Liverpool to Hampstead & from Croydon to Nottingham, Dave travelled the length & breadth of Britain meeting strangers in strange places
- their homes, at work, in the back rooms of pubs
- & getting some hardcore game action. From casual players to serious game geeks, from the rank amateur to the world champion, he discovered a nation of gamers more than happy to welcome him into their midst. He`s travelled all around the country & met all sorts of people
- & it turns out us Brits are a competitive bunch. & it seems that playing games can teach you a lot about what makes the British tick. Of course, Dave hasn`t been keeping score. Much.






...

” Gladwell`s most enjoyable book so far. It is a feel-good extravaganza, nourishing both heart & mind”. (Financial Times). ”I devoured in a single reading”. (Richard E. Grant). ” When you read it, you feel like you can topple giants”. (Jon Ronson). What if everything we thought about power was wrong? What if, in the ancient story of the shepherd boy who topples a giant, David actually had the advantage? This thought sets Malcolm Gladwell on an extraordinary journey that takes him from art to basketball, the brain to revolutions, along the way weaving unforgettable stories of misfits, outsiders, tricksters & underdogs who have faced outsized challenges & won. With his trademark warmth, humour & gift for showing us the world through new eyes, Gladwell lets us see why the powerful aren`t always what we think they are
- & that some of us have more strength & purpose than we could ever imagine. ” Intoxicating, powerful & morally engaged”. (Guardian). ” Truly intriguing & inspiring”. (Los Angeles Times). ” Breath-taking & thought-provoking”. (The New York Times). ” An energetic, counterintuitive exploration of why (and how) underdogs succeed”. (Guardian, Books of the Year).” Continuing to gently but persistently blow my mind”. (Lauren Laverne).
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` This book is an absolute delight, to browse through, to absorb the superb & evocative images, sketches & watercolours ...

** Shortlisted for the NME Best Music Book Award 2018 **THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARA GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEARA HERALD BOOK OF THE YEARAN IRISH INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR` The definitive book on Bowie` The Times Drawn from a series of conversations between David Bowie & Dylan Jones across three decades, together with over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers, & collaborators
- some of whom have never before spoken about their relationship with Bowie
- this oral history is an intimate portrait of a remarkable rise to stardom & one of the most fascinating lives of our time. Profoundly shaped by his relationship with his schizophrenic half-brother Terry, Bowie was a man of intense relationships that often came to abrupt ends. He was a social creature, equally comfortable partying with John Lennon & dining with Frank Sinatra, & in Dylan Jones`s telling
- by turns insightful & salacious
- we see as intimate a portrait as could possibly be drawn. Including illuminating, never-before-seen material from Bowie himself, drawn from a series of Jones`s interviews with him across two decades, DAVID BOWIE is an epic, unforgettable cocktail-party conversation about a man whose enigmatic shapeshifting & irrepressible creativity produced one of the most sprawling, fascinating lives of our time.***NOW REVISED & EXPANDED***



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Dickens wrote of David Copperfield: ' Of all my books I like this the best'. Millions of readers in almost every language on earth have subsequently come to share the author's own enthusiasm for this greatly loved classic, possibly because of its autobiographical form. Following the life of David through many sufferings & great adversity, the reader will also find many light-hearted moments in the company of a host of English fiction's greatest stars including Mr Micawber, Traddles, Uriah Heep, Creakle, Betsy Trotwood, & the Peggoty family. ...

Drawing on Charles Dickens`s own, often difficult childhood, to create a compelling story of personal success, ” David Copperfield” is edited with an introduction & notes by Jeremy Tambling in ” Penguin Classics”. ” David Copperfield” is the story of a young man`s adventures on his journey from an unhappy & impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone; his brilliant, but ultimately unworthy school-friend James Steerforth; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble, yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora Spenlow; & the magnificently impecunious Wilkins Micawber, one of literature`s great comic creations. In ” David Copperfield”
- the novel he described as his `favourite child`
- Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of the most exuberant & enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy & comedy in equal measure. This edition uses the text of the first volume publication of 1850, &

Includes:: updated suggestions for further reading, original illustrations by ` Phiz`, a revised chronology & expanded notes. In his new introduction, Jeremy Tambling discusses the novel`s autobiographical elements, & its central themes of memory & identity. Charles Dickens is one of the best-loved novelists in the English language, whose 200th anniversary was celebrated in 2012. His most famous books, including ” Oliver Twist”, ” Great Expectations”, ”A Tale of Two Cities”, ” David Copperfield” & ” The Pickwick Papers”, have been adapted for stage & screen & read by millions. If you enjoyed ” David Copperfield”, you might like Dickens` ” Great Expectations”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” The most perfect of all the Dickens novels.” (Virginia Woolf).



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