`I have never read such a stimulating short guide to art. It should be issued as a set text in every school` Lynn Barber, Sunday Times Now Grayson Perry is a fully paid-up member of the art establishment, he wants to show that any of us can appreciate art (after all, there is a reason he`s called this book Playing to the Gallery & not ` Sucking up to an Academic Elite`). Based on his hugely popular BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures & full of pictures, this funny, personal journey through the art world answers the basic questions that might occur to us in an art gallery but seem too embarrassing to ask. ...

Just when you think you`ve saved the world...” You will kill her?” the Torment asked. Skulduggery sagged. ” Yes.” He hesitated, then took his gun from his jacket. ”I`m sorry, Valkyrie, ” he said softly. ” Don`t talk to me, ” Valkyrie said. ” Just do what you have to do.” Valkyrie parted her tunic, & Skulduggery pointed the gun at the vest beneath. ” Please forgive me, ” Skulduggery said, then aimed the gun at the girl & pulled the trigger. With Serpine dead, the world is safe once more. At least, that`s what Valkyrie & Skulduggery think, until the notorious Baron Vengeous makes a bloody escape from prison, & dead bodies & vampires start showing up all over Irel&. With Baron Vengeous after the deadly armour of Lord Vile, & pretty much everyone out to kill Valkyrie, the daring detective duo face their biggest challenge yet. But what if the greatest threat to Valkyrie is just a little closer to home...? ...

` One June day in 1953 aged twelve I sat in a classroom & drew a map.` The map that the young Hamilton-Paterson drew was of a tropical isl&, & it prefigured with uncanny accuracy the Philippine island on which, thirty years later, he would spend a full third of each year, entirely alone. It had a coral str&, a field of grass, vertical volcanic cliffs & no water. He survived by fishing & by drinking rainwater. This is a book about a remarkable & self-sufficient writer`s `desire to be lost`, & the journey of a conventionally educated Englishman to an island on the far side of the world that aroused in him a feeling of discovering a place he always knew. Hamilton-Paterson writes with incomparable skill about the hard beauty of the sea, of coral reefs & the animals that live in them, & about the fishermen who eke a living among the labyrinth of islands that make up the Philippines. ...

A moving, poignant, compelling YA debut, as a 15-year-old boy struggles to understand his best friend`s suicide through the list of songs he leaves behind. Here`s what Sam knows: There was a party. There was a fight. The next morning, his best friend, Hayden, was dead. & all he left Sam was a playlist of songs, & a suicide note: For Sam
- listen & you`ll underst&. As he listens to song after song, Sam tries to face up to what happened the night Hayden killed himself. But it`s only by taking out his earbuds & opening his eyes to the people around him that he will finally be able to piece together his best friend`s story. & maybe have a chance to change his own. Part mystery, part love story, & part coming-of-age tale in the vein of Stephen Chbosky`s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Playlist for the Dead is an honest & gut-wrenching first novel about loss, rage, what it feels like to outgrow a friendship that`s always defined you
- & the struggle to redefine yourself.

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Oscar Wilde took London by storm with his first comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan. The combination of dazzling wit, subtle social criticism, sumptuous settings & the theme of a guilty secret proved a winner, both here & in his next three plays, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husb&, & his undisputed masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. This volume

Includes:: all Wilde's plays from his early tragedy Vera to the controversial Salome & the little known fragments, La Sainte Courtisane & A Florentine Tragedy. The edition affords a rare chance to see Wilde's best known work in the context of his entire dramatic output, & to appreciate plays which have hitherto received scant critical attention.

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Topographic survey of France at 1:25, 000 in IGN`s excellent TOP25 / Série Bleue series. All the maps are GPS compatible, with a 1km UTM grid plus latitude & longitude lines at 5’ intervals. Contours are at 5m intervals except for mountainous areas where the maps have contours at 10m intervals, vividly enhanced by hill shading & graphics for rocky terrain. Colouring with graphics indicates different types of vegetation or land use (deciduous or coniferous forests, moors, orchards, vineyards, etc). PLEASE NOTE: coverage of France at this scale is currently being revised – the format & the presentation of each title are indicated by the letters at the end of its Sheet Reference number (e.g. 0416ET, 3531ETR, 1923SB, etc.)MAPS WITH FULL TOURIST OVERPRINT & AN ENGLISH MAP LEGEND: all TOP25 maps & the SB editions of Série Bleue have an overprint highlighting waymarked walking trails including long-distance GR routes &, where appropriate, ski routes. Symbols indicate campsites, gîtes d’etape, refuges, equestrian centres & other recreational facilities or sites, tourist information centres, cultural heritage, etc. Towns & locations of particular interest are highlighted.- ET or OT = single-sided TOP25 map covering approx. 29x 21 km / 18x 13 miles.- ETR or OTR = waterproof & tear resistant TOP25 map covering the same area as the corresponding ET or OT number, but double-sided, printed on a smaller size sheet with a good overlap between the sides.- SB = Série Bleue map with full tourist overprint; these maps, first introduced in summer 2014, each cover approx. 29x 24km / 18x 15 miles.SÉRIE BLEUE maps with numbers ending in E (Est) or O (Ouest): most editions now indicate the GR routes, but do not show any other tourist information. Map legend is in French only. Each map covers approx. 14x 20km / 9x 12 miles. ...

The funny, disturbing & deeply affecting new book by the acclaimed author of Terms & Conditions Charlie, a curious boy with a dangerous dictaphone habit, eavesdrops on the eccentric guests of the Mirage Hotel, as the African nation of Bwalo prepares for the annual appearance of its Glorious Leader Tafumo. Sean, an Irishman who`s given his heart (and the best part of his liver) to Bwalo, struggles to write the great African novel
- if only his crazed fiancee & fierce thirst would stop distracting him. Josef, mythmaker & kingmaker, who paved the way for Tafumo`s rise to power, starts to hear the ominous rattle of skeletons in his closet. Hope, the nurse caring for the King, keeps the old man alive, maintaining the facade of the powerful ruler, as she mourns her own broken dreams. & in the countdown to the Big Day, storm clouds are gathering as petty criminal, Jack, smuggles something into Bwalo
- to the Mirage Hotel
- that will change the lives of all of them for ever...


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Please Enjoy Your Happiness is a beautifully written coming-of-age memoir based on the English author`s summer-long love affair with a remarkable older Japanese woman. Whilst serving as a seaman at the age of nineteen, Brinkley-Rogers met Kaji Yukiko, a sophisticated, highly intellectual Japanese woman, who was on the run from her vicious gangster boyfriend, a member of Japan`s brutal crime syndicate the yakuza. Trying to create a perfect experience of purity, she took him under her wing, sharing their love of poetry, cinema & music & many an afternoon at the Mozart Cafe. Brinkley-Rogers, now in his seventies, re-reads Yukiko`s letters & finally recognizes her as the love of his life, receiving at last the gifts she tried to bestow on him. Reaching across time & continents, Brinkley-Rogers shows us how to reclaim a lost love, inviting us all to celebrate those loves of our lives that never do end. ...

Please Enjoy Your Happiness is a beautifully written coming-of-age memoir based on the English author`s summer-long love affair with a remarkable older Japanese woman. Whilst serving as a seaman at the age of nineteen, Paul Brinkley-Rogers met Kaji Yukiko, a sophisticated, highly intellectual Japanese woman, who was on the run from her vicious gangster boyfriend, a member of Japan`s brutal crime syndicate the yakuza. Trying to create a perfect experience of purity, she took him under her wing, sharing their love of poetry, cinema & music & many an afternoon at the Mozart Cafe. Brinkley-Rogers, now in his seventies, re-reads Yukiko`s letters & finally recognizes her as the love of his life, receiving at last the gifts she tried to bestow on him. Reaching across time & continents, Brinkley-Rogers shows us how to reclaim a lost love, inviting us all to celebrate those loves of our lives that never do end. ...

With a Jon Klassen appeal, Steve Antony is the one to watch. Panda has a tray of doughnuts. Animal after animal tells him the one they want, but it`s only when Lemur says `please` politely that Panda will give any out! A witty & stylish lesson that manners will get you EVERYTHING. Even a trayload of doughnuts. `A simple morality tale...does the job beautifully.`
- The Times (Children`s Book of the Week) ` Households with toddlers may find a new family catchphrase. Simple yet funny enough for multiple readings.`
- Kirkus

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