I like to hear his name especially when he says it. His voice is rich & dark like those jams they sell in tiny pots at twice the price of normal jars & they call preserves" to justify the cost. I chose him for his name in fact -- half Mayfair hairdresser & half Vatican incumbent. So speaks Nial a woman with a mans name & confused about her gender -- uncertain about most things save her obsession with John-Paul. She shares this obsession with modest Mary & conscientious Bryan. All three lead secret lives. Mary a conventional housewife with a dream-home in the suburbs is inflicting burns on her genitals & stockpiling vibrators; Bryan a mother-harried city clerk updates his Disaster Scrapbook & takes his snake to bed seeking refuge from Chaology & the horrors of the quantum revolution; Nial swaps sex for blood-drenched dreams of an ex-Naxi butcher in the High Street. All seek help & healing from the mysterious John-Paul but is he sage & saviour or untrained unlicensed con-man? In her powerful & hilarious new novel Wendy Perriam mixes the blackest of black comedy with a serious examination of madness in its many forms -- the religious excesses of miracles & visions; the crazy chaos of modern phsyics; & especially the distortions of the fifty-minute hour itself; those wild or weeping sessions on the analysts couch. With her usual wit & gusto she explores the murky world of the psychologically disturbed -- a world as comically bizarre as it is genuinely tragic. A screamingly funny book which almost blows the mind & will outrage the prudish. Sunday Telegraph" ...

Norman Mailers The Fight" focuses on the 1975 World Heavyweight Boxing Championship in Kinshasa Zaire. Muhammad Ali met George Foreman in the ring. Foremans genius employed silence serenity & cunning. He had never been defeated. His hands were his instrument & he kept them in his pockets the way a hunter lays his rifle back into its velvet case. Together the two men made boxing history in an explosive meeting of two great minds two iron wills & monumental egos." ...

The deeply unpleasant Korean War began in 1950 with an unprovoked attack by North Korea. Hostilities went on for three long years followed by an uneasy armistice that continues to this day. United Kingdom casualties amounted to some 300 Officers & 4 000 Other Ranks many of them conscripts while a total of over 100 000 United Nations soldiers were killed & three times that number wounded.A Royal Engineer Field Squadron deployed to Korea in late 1950 & this was expanded to a Regiment the following year. Often involved in fierce fighting the Sappers suffered grievous casualties including 42 killed & several hundred wounded. Their gallantry was rewarded by numerous awards including a CBE an OBE & eight MBEs two DSOs thirteen MCs eight MMs & most notably a Distinguished Conduct Medal second only to the Victoria Cross. It was a vicious war whose intensity neverslackened; in the last two months alone the Communist artillery fired over 700 000 rounds against just under five million fired back by United Nations forces. The Royal Engineers among them the Author were indispensible at all levels from the forward areas where they were often involved in close-quarter fighting right back to the base in Japan. Their skills & roles varied from patrolling river crossing & road building to mine-clearing & -laying defence works bridging & postal services so vital for morale. Other tasks included blowing things up (always a favourite occupation) & clearing booby traps (less popular). In a war zone with one of the most inhospitable climates in the world merely keeping alive was a challenge. This book is not merely a gripping yet thoroughly readable account of the Sappers achievement but a tribute to the sacrifice of those who did not return. ...

Every weekend in basements & parking lots across the country young men with good white-collar jobs & absent fathers take off their shoes & shirts & fight each other barehanded for as long as they have to. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes & loosened teeth & the sense that they can handle anything. Fight Club is the invention of Tyler Durden projectionist waiter & dark anarchic genius. & it's only the beginning of his plans for revenge on a world where cancer support groups have the corner on human warmth. ...

Its not only food & inactivity that can make you fat in midlife
- so can stress. After the age of forty the accrued stresses of
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Jonah Delacroix cant stand the real world
- so he lives most of his life inside a global computer-based virtual world called the
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Pen & Sword Books are proud to be re-issuing this the only book that the legendary legless ace Douglas Bader (immortalised by the film Reach For The Sky) wrote. He tells the inspiring story of the Battle of Britain from the viewpoint of The Few. Using superb illustrations he traces the development of the Spitfire & Hurricane & describes the nail-biting actions of those who flew them against far superior numbers of enemy aircraft. As an added bonus other well-known fighter aces including Johnnie Johnson Laddie Lucas & Max Aikten contribute to Douglass book no doubt out of affection & respect. This is a really important contribution to RAF history by one of the greatest -and certainly the most famous
- pilot of the Second World War.
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This Self Defence book for women & children is a must for those who wish to walk the streets safely be able to identify dangerous situations & avoid them. You can learn how to stop these thugs from wrecking your family's stability happiness & more importantly lives. Fight For Your Life" has been specifically written for women & children who have no previous martial arts training & who would just like to remain safe on today's streets. This detailed step-by-step guide accompanied by 170 photographs covers all the situations we may find ourselves in & then shows you how to deal with them. Violent people walk past us every day many looking for their next victim; don t let it be you. There are chapters that deal specifically with child attacks school bullies sex attacks violent attacks safe travel abduction & importantly what should you do if you or your child are the intended victim. In short if you want to gain the knowledge & skills to help prevent you or one of your family from being another rape or violence statistic this guide has the lot. Don't take the chance
- Be Safe!"
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Gutsy & funny
- Daily Telegraph". Catherine Fox is not your typical martial artist. Her initiation into the sacred rites of
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In this official account of Manchester Uniteds 2011-12 season the players bring you inside the dressing room to hear about every moment of their Premier League campaign. With in-depth contributions from the key members of the squad & the backroom staff this book is the definitive account of Uniteds season. ...