” The Brother Gardeners” begins one January morning in 1734, when cloth merchant Peter Collinson hurried down to the docks at London`s Custom House to collect cargo just arrived from John Bartram in the American colonies. But it was not bales of cotton that awaited him, but plants & seeds. Over the next forty years, Bartram would send hundreds of American species to Engl&, where Collinson was one of a handful of men who would foster a national obsession & change the gardens of Britain forever: Philip Miller, author of the bestselling ” Gardeners Dictionary”; the Swede Carl Linnaeus, whose standardised botanical nomenclature popularised botany; &, the botanist-adventurer Joseph Banks & his colleague Daniel Solander who both explored the strange flora of Tahiti & Australia on Captain Cook`s Endeavour. This is the story of these men
- friends, rivals, enemies, united by a passion for plants. Set against the backdrop of the emerging empire & the uncharted world beyond, ” The Brother Gardeners” tells the story how Britain became a nation of gardeners.
...

Finl&, 1809. Henrik & Erik are brothers who fought on opposite sides in the war between Sweden & Russia. With peace declared, they both return to their snowed-in farm. But who is the master? Sexual tensions, old grudges, family secrets: all come to a head in this dark & gripping saga. ...

” The Brothers Karamazov” is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, & an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving Karamazov & his three sons
- the impulsive & sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; & the healthy young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the social & spiritual strivings in what was both a golden age & a tragic turning point in Russian culture.
...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky`s powerful meditation on faith, meaning & morality, ” The Brothers Karamazov” is translated with an introduction & notes by David Mc Duff in ” Penguin Classics”. When brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov is murdered, the lives of his sons are changed irrevocably: Mitya, the sensualist, whose bitter rivalry with his father immediately places him under suspicion for parricide; Ivan, the intellectual, whose mental tortures drive him to breakdown; the spiritual Alyosha, who tries to heal the family`s rifts; & the shadowy figure of their bastard half-brother Smerdyakov. As the ensuing investigation & trial reveal the true identity of the murderer, Dostoyevsky`s dark masterpiece evokes a world where the lines between innocence & corruption, good & evil, blur & everyone`s faith in humanity is tested. This powerful translation of ” The Brothers Karamazov” features & introduction highlighting Dostoyevsky`s recurrent themes of guilt & salvation, with a new chronology & further reading. 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 Idiot” & ” Demons”. If you enjoyed ” The Brothers Karamazov” you might like Nikolai Gogol`s ” Dead Souls”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” There is no writer who better demonstrates the contradictions & fluctuations of the creative mind than Dostoyevsky, & nowhere more astonishingly than in ” The Brothers Karamazov”. (Joyce Carol Oates). ” Dostoyevsky was the only psychologist from whom I had anything to learn: he belongs to the happiest windfalls of my life”. (Friedrich Nietzsche). ” The most magnificent novel ever written”. (Sigmund Freud). ...

The novel of the famous Georgian writer, poet & playwright Tamaz Chiladze focuses on moral problems/issues, arisen as a result of too great a self-assuredness of psychologists. Its main character is an up-to-now successful psychotherapist, whose wife has left him. One day she suddenly realised that her marriage is nothing more than ”fact/reality born out of habit” & her family is a branch of a hospital. For her husband she wasn`t a beloved wife but just a patient. The heroine finds an exit from the vicious circle of misunderstanding & insensitivity. ...

We all have things we d like to do one day but work, family, school, money, & responsibilities get in the way. This invaluable guide to fun, fantastic, & life-affirming activities features an eclectic range of ideas such as self-improvement, sports-related endeavors, natural wonders, cultural experiences, culinary delights, & more. From glassblowing in the Czech Republic to swimming with dolphins in New Zeal&, The Bucket List is the perfect gift for the passionate traveler an around-the-world, continent-by-continent listing of beaches, museums, monuments, islands, inns, restaurants, mountains, & more. Each activity is location-specific & as geographically unique as bird-watching in Kenya or driving through clouds in Sri Lanka, as well as other to-dos that can be done anywhere, such as sketching a sunset behind an architectural monument. In addition to classic outdoor pursuits, the book contains advice on how to achieve some of the most popular goals for people of all ages: direct a movie, learn to play an instrument, make pottery, protect an endangered species, name a star, try a new cuisine, or learn a new language. Whether you are more active or laid-back, serious-minded or lighthearted, you are bound to discover new, stimulating activities. ...

A fun, whimsical fill-in-yourself book to help you create your ultimate bucket list. Have you ever thought about what you want to do before you turn 20, 30, 40, or before you die? Write them down in a list & there you have it
- your very own bucket list! But how do you start fulfilling those wishes, & how do you make the whole endeavour more exciting? That`s where this book comes in. This playful interactive guide gives you 500 cool, spectacular & often very simple ideas for your bucket list, always presented in an original way. Tick things off within its pages, & add your own exciting ideas as they come to you to create a unique document of your own hopes for the future. This is the perfect book to boost your creativity & make all your dreams come true!
...

Julie Otsuka`s ” The Buddha in the Attic”, the follow-up to ” When the Emperor Was Divine” was shortlisted for the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction & the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, & winner of the Pen Faulkner Award for Fiction 2012. Between the first & second world wars a group of young, non-English-speaking Japanese women travelled by boat to America. They were picture brides, clutching photos of husbands-to-be whom they had yet to meet. Julie Otsuka tells their extraordinary, heartbreaking story in this spellbinding & poetic account of strangers lost & alone in a new & deeply foreign l&. ” Sweeping, symphonic, empathic.. .subtle, infinitely skilful.. .an exhilarating, compulsive read. Otsuka`s haunting, heartbreaking conclusion, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, is faultless”. (” Daily Mail”). ”A tender, nuanced, empathetic exploration of the sorrows & consolations of a whole generation of women.. .the distaff equivalent of a war memorial”. (” Daily Telegraph”). ”A haunting & heartbreaking look at the immigrant experience... Otsuka`s keenly observed prose manages to capture whole histories in a sweep of gorgeous incantatory sentences”. (” Marie Claire”).” An understated masterpiece.. .she conjures up the lost voices of a generation of Japanese American women without losing sight of the distinct experience of each”. (” San Francisco Chronicle”). Julie Otsuka was born & raised in California. She is the author of the novel ” When the Emperor Was Divine”, & a recipient of the Asian American Literary Award, the American Library Association Alex Award, & a Guggenheim fellowship. Her second novel, ” The Buddha in the Attic”, was nominated for the 2011 National Book Award. She lives in New York City. ...

Karim lives with his Mum & Dad in a suburb of south London & dreams of making his escape to the bright lights of the big city. But his father is no ordinary Dad, he is `the buddha of suburbia`, a strange & compelling figure whose powers of meditation hold a circle of would-be mystics spellbound with the fascinations of the East. Among his disciples is the glamorous & ambitious Eva, & when `the buddha of suburbia` runs off with her to a crumbling flat in Barons Court, Karim`s life becomes changed in ways that even he had never dreamed of. ...

” My name is Karim Amir, & I am an Englishman born & bred, almost...” The hero of Hanif Kureishi`s debut novel is dreamy teenager Karim, desperate to escape suburban South London & experience the forbidden fruits which the 1970s seem to offer. When the unlikely opportunity of a life in the theatre announces itself, Karim starts to win the sort of attention he has been craving
- albeit with some rude & raucous results. With the publication of Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi landed into the literary landscape as a distinct new voice & a fearless taboo-breaking writer. The novel inspired a ground-breaking BBC series featuring a soundtrack by David Bowie.
...