Miniature books eighteenth-century novels Tom Thumb weddings tall tales & objects of tourism & nostalgia: this diverse group of cultural forms is the subject of On Longing " a fascinating analysis of the ways in which everyday objects are narrated to animate or realize certain versions of the world. Originally published in 1984 (Johns Hopkins University Press) & now available in paperback for the first time this highly original book draws on insights from semiotics & from psychoanalytic feminist & marxist criticism. Addressing the relations of language to experience the body to scale & narratives to objects Susan Stewart looks at the "miniature" as a metaphor for interiority & at the "gigantic" as an exaggeration of aspects of the exterior. In the final part of her essay Stewart examines the ways in which the "souvenir" & the "collection" are objects mediating experience in time & space." ...

When Malachi was diagnosed with diabetes in 2009 just a few months before his sixtieth birthday he knew he had to take hold of his life & make some changes; dusting down the oily old bicycle in his backyard was the first of these. This memoir tells the personal story of how the author challenged himself to cycle around Ireland during the summer of 2011 following many of the same routes that he took as a keen cyclist thirty years earlier. The book uses the journeys made by Malachi on his bicycle to discuss the authors reflections on growing older & the challenges ageing presents in terms of being able to do what you used to do. & of not losing sight of the pleasure riding a bicycle can give. The book moves between past & present
- as the author looks back to a younger self & his first journeys & compares it to an older self & the second journeys
- & to his father who was a champion cyclist. This book is accessible & will appeal to a popular audience. The tone is direct frank funny & reflective.

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Having lost her family in the Second World War Elin relocates to a quiet rural community that holds many a happy childhood memory. Lonely & vulnerable she marries a local farmer & attempts to rebuild her life. However her happiness is soon shattered. Family ties & unspoken truths lay in wait ready to unravel her dreams. Unhappy in her marriage Elin finds herself becoming a pawn in a wider history wrapped in the secrets of the very hills in which she sought shelter. ...

First published in 1973 this is a study of the force of photographic images which are continually inserted between experience & reality. Sontag develops further the concept of transparency. When anything can be photographed & photography has destroyed the boundaries & definitions of art a viewer can approach a photograph freely with no expectations of discovering what it means. This collection of six lucid & invigorating essays the most famous being In Platos Cave " make up a deep exploration of how the image has affected society." ...

Susan Sontag's On Photography is a seminal & groundbreaking work on the subject. Susan Sontag's groundbreaking critique of photography asks forceful questions about the moral & aesthetic issues surrounding this art form. Photographs are everywhere & the 'insatiability of the photographing eye' has profoundly altered our relationship with the world. Photographs have the power to shock idealize or seduce they create a sense of nostalgia & act as a memorial & they can be used as evidence against us or to identify us. In these six incisive essays Sontag examines the ways in which we use these omnipresent images to manufacture a sense of reality & authority in our lives. Sontag offers enough food for thought to satisfy the most intellectual of appetites". (The Times). "A brilliant analysis of the profound changes photographic images have made in our way of looking at the world & at ourselves". (Washington Post). " The most original & illuminating study of the subject". (New Yorker). One of America's best-known & most admired writers Susan Sontag was also a leading commentator on contemporary culture until her death in December 2004. Her books include four novels & numerous works of non-fiction among them Regarding the Pain of Others On Photography Illness as Metaphor At the Same Time Against Interpretation & Other Essays & Reborn: Early Diaries 1947-1963 all of which are published by Penguin. A further eight books including the collections of essays Under the Sign of Saturn & Where the Stress Falls & the novels The Volcano Lover & The Benefactor are available from Penguin Modern Classics." ...

A magisterial one-volume history of political thought from Herodotus to the present Ancient Athens to modern democracy
- from author
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Weaving together natural history & investigative reporting with mythological & cultural material On Rare Birds tells the compelling stories of ten rare or extinct bird species
- from the tragic demise of the once-abundant Passenger Pigeon to the shooting death of the last Carolina Parakeet in the wild & from the startling natural defences of the wilful Nightjar A to the diverse cultural significance of the Kingfisher. Some stories bear sad witness to precious species we have lost but they are all fascinating & often heartwarming or humorous depictions of the unique lives & loves of birds. On Rare Birds is a visually stunning volume illustrated by author Anita Albuss own superb artwork & by images ranging over five centuries. It will delight anyone who loves birds laments the depletion of their populations by human hands & cares about the survival of those species that still stand a chance. With knowledge devotion & a true artists eye Albus explains in graceful precise prose why the decline of these bird species is a great loss both to the natural world & unavoidably to culture. With each species lost a world is lost to human understanding-to our arts our mythology & our environment."
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A masterpiece
- Sunday Times" Terrific
- " Guardian" Sparkling
- " Telegraph" Beautiful
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On the Banks of Plum Creek" is the third book in the classic " Little House" series telling the story of the Ingalls familys extraordinary life. Laura & her family have finally found a place to settle & their new home on the banks of Plum Creek is full of excitement. Laura loves playing in the water hole picking plums & milking the cows but when shes told she has to go to school life is all of a sudden a lot less carefree..." ...

After the war is over a radioactive cloud begins to sweep southwards on the winds gradually poisoning everything in its path. An American submarine captain is among the survivors left sheltering in Australia preparing with the locals for the inevitable. Despite his memories of his wife he becomes close to a young woman struggling to accept the harsh realities of their situation. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up transmitting from the United States & the submarine must set sail through the bleak ocean to search for signs of life. On the Beach" is Nevil Shute's most powerful novel. Both gripping & intensely moving its impact is unforgettable." ...