As anyone who has spent time on the road knows you often have to depend on signs...to navigate through a town locate your hotel even obey the law a scary thought if youve ever come across any of the publicly posted absurdities that appear in this book. Signs about as easy to understand as a Swahili auctioneer (to a non-Swahili speaker) or as well-planned as the dance steps in a mosh pit with the help of signspotters around the globe weve assembled a collection of some of the most unintentionally entertaining postings on the planet
- we hope they confuse & amuse you!
...

Their garments are black as night. They carry torches in their hands darkness & anger in their hearts. They are coming. When a dark family secret is exposed Sigruns peaceful life is shattered. Forced to pay for her parents misdeeds she finds herself exiled from all she knows
- & from the boy she loves
- for three long years. Yet more secrets lie ahead; not least the power Sigrun finds awakening in herself seemingly passed to her from a mysterious amulet. Can she use her new-found gift to save herself & those around her from the dangers they face? & will true love wait until her return?

...

Louis E. Fenech offers a compelling new examination of one of the only Persian compositions attributed to the tenth Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708): the Zafar-namah or ' Epistle of Victory.' Written as a masnavi a Persian poem this letter was originally sent to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (d. 1707) rebuking his most unbecoming conduct. Incredibly Guru Gobind Singh's letter is included today within the Sikh canon one of only a very small handful of Persian-language texts granted the status of Sikh scripture. As such its contents are sung on special Sikh occasions. Perhaps equally surprising is the fact that the letter appears in the tenth Guru's book or the Dasam Granth in the standard Gurmukhi script (in which Punjabi is written) but retains its original Persian language a vernacular few Sikhs know. Drawing out the letter's direct & subtle references to the Iranian national epic the Shah-namah & to Shaikh Sa'di's thirteenth-century Bustan Fenech demonstrates how this letter served as a form of Indo-Islamic verbal warfare ensuring the tenth Guru's moral & symbolic victory over the legendary & powerful Mughal empire. Through analysis of the Zafar-namah Fenech resurrects an essential & intiguing component of the Sikh tradition: its Islamicate aspect. ...

The Sikh religion has a following of over 20 million people worldwide & is one of the largest religions in the world. However events such as the verbal & physical attacks on Sikhs just after September 11 indicated that Sikhs were being mistaken for Muslims & suggests that the raising of sufficient & appropriate awareness about Sikhism still needs to be addressed. This book will introduce newcomers to the meaning of Sikhism & its practices rituals & festivals. The key threads in the fascinating history of the religion will be highlighted from the Gurus & the development of the Sikh look to martyrdom & militarization in the 17th & 18th Centuries & the diaspora. Eleanor Nesbitt brings the subject completely up to date with an examination of gender & caste referring to contemporary film such as Bend It Like Beckham & media reports. ...

George Eliots tale of a solitary miser gradually redeemed by the joy of fatherhood Silas Marner" is edited with an introduction & notes by David Carroll in " Penguin Classics". Wrongly accused of theft & exiled from a religious community many years before the embittered weaver Silas Marner lives alone in Raveloe living only for work & his precious hoard of money. But when his money is stolen & an orphaned child finds her way into his house Silas is given the chance to transform his life. His fate & that of Eppie the little girl he adopts is entwined with Godfrey Cass son of the village Squire who like Silas is trapped by his past. " Silas Marner" George Eliots favourite of her novels combines humour rich symbolism & pointed social criticism to create an unsentimental but affectionate portrait of rural life. This text uses the Cabinet edition revised by George Eliot in 1878. David Carrolls introduction is complemented by the original " Penguin Classics" edition introduction by Q.D. Leavis. Mary Ann Evans (1819-80) began her literary career as a translator & later editor of the Westminster Review. In 1857 she published " Scenes of Clerical Life" the first of eight novels she would publish under the name of George Eliot including " The Mill on the Floss" " Middlemarch" & " Daniel Deronda". If you enjoyed " Silas Marner" you might like Nathaniel Hawthornes " The Scarlet Letter" also available in " Penguin Classics". "I think " Silas Marner" holds a higher place than any of the authors works. It is more nearly a masterpiece; it has more of that simple rounded consummate aspect...which marks a classical work". (Henry James)." ...

Silas Marner lives a friendless & isolated existence near the country village of Raveloe hoarding his gold. One night his fortune is stolen & Silas loses everything he holds dear. But then the golden-haired child Eppie appears in his home & Silas begins to reform bonds of faith & human connectedness that he once renounced forever. ...

Deep in the water lurks a new breed of Beast. The Robobeasts threatens the planet Nemos! Max & his new companion Lia plunge deeper into the depths on their mission to save his dad. But will Max survive the dangers that hide in the shadows? & can he defeat the shocking power of Silda the Electric Eel? Dive into Sea Quest & live the adventure! ...

The noise between Patch & Nora has gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past bridged two irreconcilable worlds & faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal loyalty & trust...and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven & earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another Patch & Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for
- & their love
- forever.

...

The noise between Patch & Nora has gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past bridged two irreconcilable worlds & faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal loyalty & trust...and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven & earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another Patch & Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for
- & their love
- forever.

...

Diarmaid Mac Culloch acknowledged master of the big picture in Christian history unravels a polyphony of silences from the history of Christianity & beyond. He considers the surprisingly mixed attitudes of Judaism to silence Jewish & Christian borrowings from Greek explorations of the divine & the silences which were a feature of Jesus's brief ministry & witness. Besides prayer & mystical contemplation there are shame & evasion; careless & purposeful forgetting. Many deliberate silences are revealed: the forgetting of histories which were not useful to later Church authorities (such as the leadership roles of women among the first Christians) or the constant problems which Christianity has faced in dealing honestly with sexuality. Behind all this is the silence of God; & in a deeply personal final chapter Mac Culloch brings a message of optimism for those who still seek God beyond the clamorous noise of over-confident certainties. ...