After nearly two decades in Britain Bill Bryson took the decision to move back to the States for a while but before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain. His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face & private parts (as it were) & to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy place names like Farleigh Wallop & Shellow Bowells people who said ' Mustn't grumble' & Gardeners' Question Time. ...

Swedish cuisine is delicious varied & often unexpected & in this delightful book Margareta Schildt Landgren shares wonderful stories from her own Swedish kitchen along with over 100 fabulous recipes. Here Margareta

Includes:: both traditional & modern recipes from Gravalax with Herbs & Swedish Meatballs to St Lucia Buns & Elderflower Cordial. The mouth-watering recipes are interspersed with captivating narrative on Swedens food traditions the development of regional cuisine the importance of seasonal eating & celebration foods. Margaretas text is illustrated beautifully with stunning recipe & location photography from Tine Guth Linse as well as photographs from her own archive. This is essential reading for anyone with a passion for food or a love of Swedish culture.

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From the author of A Perfectly Good Man the bestselling story of an artist tormented by depression & the toll of creativity. When troubled artist Rachel Kelly dies she leaves behind an extraordinary body of work
- but for her family there is a legacy of secrets & painful revelations. Rachel exerts a power that outlives her. To her children she is both curse & blessing as they cope with the inheritance of her passions
- & demons. Only their father's gift of stillness can withstand Rachel's destructive influence & the suspicion that they all came a poor second to her art. Piecing together the clues of her life
- as artist lover mother wife & patient
- takes the reader from Cornwall to Canada across a span of forty years. What emerges is a tender story of enduring love & a portrait of a family coping with the sometimes too dazzling brilliance of a genius.



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The Academy-Award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow is an icon of style & taste around the world. But for her family comes above everything & cooking & eating together are the key ingredients of a happy home. Now she has put her passion for food into her first cookbook which is full of 150 fresh original & practical recipes (both healthy & indulgent) that all the family will love. Both accessible & inspiring this beautifully illustrated & easy-to-use cookbook is full of lavish photographs many featuring Gwyneths family & friends. This is Gwyneth Paltrow as you have never seen her before
- a busy working mum who understands the time pressures on all of us as well as the desire to cook delicious & original food. Inspired by precious memories of cooking with her father it is a truly personal book that celebrates cooking with
- & for
- the ones you love.


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Three years ago award-winning actress Angelina Jolie took on a radically different role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Here are her memoirs from her journeys to Sierra Leone Tanzania Pakistan Cambodia & Ecuador where she lived & worked & gave her heart to those who suffer the worlds most shattering violence & victimization. Here are her revelations of joy & warmth amid utter destitution compelling snapshots of courageous & inspiring people for whom survival is their daily work & candid notes from a unique pilgrimage that completely changed the actresss worldview
- & the world within herself.
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This title comes from the award-winning translators of Crime & Punishment" Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky. The apology & confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official " Notes from Underground" is a half-desperate half-mocking political critique & a powerful at times absurdly comical account of mans breakaway from society & descent underground." ...

How far would you go to escape the real world? The underground man had always felt like an outsider. He doesnt want to be like other people working in the ant-hill of society. So he decides to withdraw from the world scrawling a series of darkly sarcastic notes about the torment he is suffering. Angry & alienated his only comfort is the humiliation of others. Is he going mad? Or is it the world around him thats insane? ...

When Roger Deakin died in August 2006 his death was considered by many to be a great loss to literature. Notes From Walnut Tree Farm" collects together the jottings musings & observations with which he filled a series of notebooks for the last six years of his life. In this beautiful illustrated collection descriptions of walks on Mellis Common & thoughts on the importance of nature sit side by side with memories of the past & musings about literature while perfectly rendered observations of the tiny missable visual details of everyday life are skilfully woven with a gentle wise philosophy. Organized into twelve months of impressions the notes reveal a passionate but gentle character & his extraordinary restless curiosity. Capturing Deakins unique turn of phrase & inspired use of language & infused throughout with the magically meditative tranquility of Walnut Tree Farm this is a charming introduction to one of the most important of modern nature writers or the perfect follow-up to " Wildwood" & " Waterlog"." ...

Beginning in 1967 Bukowski wrote the column Notes of A Dirty Old Man" for the underground newspaper " Open City". Perennially drunk broke & in search of a woman Bukowski takes on the guise of a wise fool as he ventures through Americas seedy lowlife. Peopled by Kerouac Burroughs & other much less salubrious characters his exploits provoke humour & despair whilst highlighting the inherent beauty & futility of life." ...

' As a sniper I've killed more than a few Nazis. I have a passion for observing enemy behaviour. You watch a Nazi officer come out of a bunker acting all high & mighty ordering his soldiers every which way & putting on an air of authority. The officer hasn't got the slightest idea that he only has seconds to live.' Vassili Zaitsev's account of the hell that was Stalingrad is moving & harrowing. This was a battle to the death
- fighting street by street brick by brick living like rats in a desperate struggle to survive. Here the rules of war were discarded & a psychological war was being waged. In this environment the sniper was king
- an unseen enemy who frayed the nerves of brutalised soldiers. Zaitsev volunteered to fight at Stalingrad in 1942. His superiors recognized quickly his talent & made him a sniper. He adapted his hunting skills to the ruins of the city watching his prey with nerves of steel. In his first 10 days Zaitsev killed 40 Germans. He achieved at least 225 kills & the tactics he developed are still being studied. Zaitsev was used a symbol of Russian resistance against the Nazis. His exploits including a famous 'duel' with a Nazi sniper remain the stuff of legend. His account is absorbing to anyone interested in World War II & seeing how one person could survive in the most extreme of conditions. Vassili Zaitsev was born in 1915 & spent his early life as a hunter in the Urals. He joined the Russian navy in 1937 & volunteered for Stalingrad after hearing about the appalling losses. Zaitsev's mastery as a sniper became legendary & he was awarded several times for his skill including the coveted gold star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. He died in 1991.

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