Jane Austen is without question one of England's most enduring & skilled novelists. With her wit social precision & unerring ability to create some of literature's most charismatic & believable heroines she mesmerises her readers as much today as when her novels were first published. Whether it is her sharp ironic gaze at the Gothic genre invoked by the adventures of Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey; the diffident & much put-upon Fanny Price struggling to cope with her emotions in Mansfield Park; her delightfully paced comedy of manners & the machinations of the sisters Elinor & Marianne in Sense & Sensibility; the quiet strength of Anne Elliot in Persuasion succeeding in a world designed to subjugate her very existence; & Emma
- 'a heroine whom no one but myself will like' teased Austen
- yet another irresistible character on fire with imagination & foresight. Indeed not unlike her renowned creator. Jane Austen is as sure-footed in her steps through society's whirlpools of convention & prosaic mores as she is in her sometimes restrained but ever precise & enduring prose.

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Peanuts" is the most popular comic strip in the history of the world. Its characters
- Charlie Brown Snoopy Lucy Linus Schroeder
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As Peanuts concludes its first decade a new character makes her appearance: Charlie Browns little sister Sally. This volume covers her earliest days from her proud brothers announcement of her birth to her first words (and crush on Linus)! Also: the initial Great Pumpkin sequence; Lucys first appearance as a nickel psychiatrist; Linuss short-lived & one-sided romance with his beloved teacher Miss Othmar; & Snoopys battle with the doghouse-destroying freeway bypass. All this plus two of the most famous Peanuts strips of all time: the clouds Sunday that Schulz cites as his personal favourite & Happiness is a warm puppy. ...

I have naturally curly hair. With those fateful words The Complete Peanuts introduces another main character to the gang the vain Frieda (not to mention her cat Faron). Also in this volume which collects two full years from the early 1960s
- one of Schulzs most fertile periods
- Sally begins to grow up Snoopy endures an avian family crisis Linus develops a crush on Miss Othmar & loses his blanket again (when lucy turns it into a kite & then lets it fly away) amd more baseball routs. Aaaugh!!

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In The Complete Peanuts 1963-64: this volume is particularly rich in never-before-reprinted strips: Over 150 (more than one fifth of the book!) have never seen the light of day since their original appearance over 40 years ago so this will be a trove of undiscovered treasures even for avid Peanuts collectors. These lost" strips include Linus making a near-successful run for class president that is ultimately derailed by his religious beliefs (two words: "great" & "pumpkin") & Snoopy getting involved with a group of politically fanatical birds. One wonders: Was it the political edge in these stories that got them consigned to oblivion for so long? Also worthy of note is an extended never-reprinted sequence in which Snoopy gets ill & heads to the veterinarian hospital... Also in this

Volume: Lucy's attempts at improving her friends branches out from her increasingly well-visited nickel psychiatry booth to an educational slideshow of Charlie Brown's faults (it's so long there's an intermission!). Also Snoopy's doghouse begins its conceptual expansion as Schulz reveals that the dog owns a Van Gogh & that the ceiling is so huge that Linus can paint a vast (and as it turns out unappreciated) "history of civilisation" mural on it. With an introduction by Bill Melendez."

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As we rush toward the end of Peanuts' second full decade Snoopy finds himself almost completely engrossed in his persona as the World War I Flying Ace. Still Snoopy looms large so this volume (a particularly Snoopy-heavy one) sees him arm-wrestling Lucy as the Masked Marvel" & then taking off for Petaluma for the national arm-wrestling championship; impersonating a vulture & a " Cheshire Beagle"; enjoying golf & hockey; attempting a jaunt to France for an ice-skating championship; running for office on the " Paw" ticket; being traded to Peppermint Patty's baseball team then un-traded & installed as team manager by a guilt-ridden Charlie Brown; as well as dealing with the return of his original owner Lila. Peppermint Patty working toward her ascendancy as one of the major Peanuts players in the 1970s & 1980s also has several major turns including a storyline in which she's the tent monitor for three little girls (who call her " Sir"
- a joke Schulz would pick up later with Peppermint Patty's friend Marcie). Linus's flippant comment to his Gramma that he'll kick his blanket habit when she kicks her smoking habit backfires; Lucy bullies Linus pesters Schroeder & organizes a "crab-in"; plus Charlie Brown copes with Valentine's Day depression the Little Red-Haired Girl the increasingly malevolent kite-eating tree & baseball losses. In other words: Vintage Peanuts! All this plus an introduction by beloved transgressive filmmaker John Waters & award-winning design by Seth."
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Peanuts surges into the 1970s with Schulz at the peak of his powers & influence: a few jokes about Bob Dylan Women's Liberation & Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex" aside these two years are as timeless as Peanuts ever was. Sally Brown elbows her way to center stage at least among the humans & is thus the logical choice for cover girl.. .and in her honour the introduction is provided by Broadway television & film star Kristin Chenoweth who first rose to Tony-winning fame with her scene-stealing performance as Sally in You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. Two long Summer-camp sequences involve Charlie Brown & Peppermint Patty who has decided that Charlie Brown is madly in love with her much to his clueless confusion. Snoopy shows up at camp as well as does Peppermint Patty's new permanent sidekick the one & only Marcie. The eternally mutable Snoopy mostly shakes off his World War I Flying Ace identity & turns into Joe Cool college hipster extraordinaire. He writes a fan letter to his favourite author Miss Helen Sweetstory then goes on a journey to meet her & finally enlists Charlie Brown's help when her latest opus " The Six Bunny-Wunnies Freak Out " falls afoul of censors. Also Woodstock attends worm school falls in love with a worm (perhaps the most doomed unrequited Peanuts love story ever!) & is nearly eaten by the neighbours' cat.. . Peppermint Patty is put on trial for another dress code violation.. . Snoopy turns Linus's blanket into not one but two sportcoats.. . Lucy hits a home run.. .and the birth of one Rerun Van Pelt!" ...

The 12th volume of Peanuts features a number of tennis strips & several extended sequences involving Peppermint Patty's friend Marcie (including a riotous rarely seen sequence in which Marcie's costume-making & hairstyling skills utterly spoil a skating competition for PP) so it seems only right that this volume's introduction should be served up by Schulz's longtime friend tennis champion (and 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient) Billie Jean King. This volume also picks up on a few loose threads from the previous year as the mysterious Poochie" shows up in the flesh; Linus & Lucy's new kid brother " Rerun" makes his first appearance is almost immediately drafted onto the baseball team (where thanks to his tiny strike zone he wins a game) & embarks on his first terrifying journey on the back of his mom's bike; & in one of Peanuts' oddest recurring storylines the schoolhouse Sally used to talk to starts talking or at least thinking back at her! The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 also

Includes:: one of the all-time classic Peanuts sequences in which Charlie Brown's baseball-oriented hallucinations finally manifest themselves in a baseball-shaped rash on his head. Forced to conceal the embarrassing discoloration with a bag worn over his head Charlie Brown goes to camp as " Mister Sack" & discovers that shorn of his identity he's suddenly well liked & successful."

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Is there a God should I eat meat where does the universe come from could I live for ever as a robot? These are the big questions readers will be wrestling with in this thoroughly enjoyable book. Dip into any chapter & you will find lively scenarios & dialogues to take you through philosophical puzzles ancient & modern involving virtual reality science fiction & a host of characters from this & other planets. The text is interspersed on every page with lively cartoons & there is a list of philosophical jargon at the end. Stephen Law has a gift for communicating complex ideas. He offers few answers but his unstuffy highly personal approach will have the reader thinking & arguing with as much pleasure as he does himself. ...

Sections include choosing the right tools & notions using conventional machines & sergers fashion sewing tailoring & home decor projects. Included are step-by-step instructions for basic projects like pillows tablecloths & window treatments. Sewers from beginners to the skilled will turn to this book again & again. ...