Panina Manina a trapeze artist falls & breaks her neck. As the ringmaster bends over her he notices an amulet of amber around her neck the same trinket he had given his own lost child who was swept away in a torrent some sixteen years earlier. This tale is narrated by Petter a precocious child & fantasist & perhaps Jostein Gaarders most intriguing character since Sophie. As an adult Petter makes his living selling stories & ideas to professionals suffering from writers block. But as Petter sits spinning his tales he finds himself in a trap of his own making. ...

The Rings of Saturn" begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia. From Lowestoft to Bungay Sebalds own story becomes the conductor of evocations of people & cultures past & present: of Chateaubriand Thomas Browne Swinburne & Conrad of fishing fleets skulls & silkworms. The result is an intricately patterned & haunting book on the transience of all things human." ...

Piersons puppeteers strange three-legged two-headed aliens have discovered an immense structure in a hitherto unexplored part of the universe. Frightened of meeting the builders of such a structure the puppeteers set about assembling a team consisting of two humans a puppeteer & a kzin an alien not unlike an eight-foot-tall red-furred cat to explore it. The artefact is a vast circular ribbon of matter some 180 million miles across with a sun at its centre
- the Ringworld. But the expedition goes disastrously wrong when the ship crashlands & its motley crew faces a trek across thousands of miles of the Ringworlds surface.
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Rio De Janeiro Stroll barefoot on the world-famous Ipanema & Leblon beaches Reach the top of Pao de Acucar by ropes then take the cable car down Learn to shake it like the locals in a samba school Indulge in feijoada" (pork & black-bean stew) the requisite Saturday feast In This Guide: One expert author + 50 days of in-depth research = our bestselling guide to Rio Dedicated Carnaval chapter gets you to the heart of the festivities More than 150 mouth-watering restaurant reviews for all budgets plus extensive nightlife options" ...

Ideal for business or leisure City Pack Rio de Janeiro is succinct with all the practical information you need for a perfect trip. Presented in a handy compact format the guide also contains a separate fold-out map within a concealed poppered pocket to help you navigate the city. This new edition lists Top 25 sights & experiences in one chapter & features 3 new sections; City Tours section contains self-guided tours that show you the best of the city; More To See sights is ideal if you have extra time on your hands & Focus On helps you get know the city in more depth." ...

Rip up this book & unleash your hidden potential Most self-help books encourage you to think differently; to think yourself thin imagine a richer self or to visualize the perfect you. This is difficult time consuming & often doesnt work. Drawing on a dazzling array of scientific evidence psychologist Richard Wiseman presents a radical new insight that turns conventional self-help on its head: simple physical actions represent the quickest easiest & most powerful way to instantly change how you think & feel. So dont just think about changing your life. Do it. * Discover the simple idea that changes everything * Lose weight * Stop smoking * Feel instantly younger ...

When pirates attack a cargo ship off the Somalian coast & one of them is found to be a British-born Pakistani alarm bells start ringing at Londons Thames House. MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle is brought in to establish how & why a young British Muslim could go missing from his well-to-do family in Birmingham & end up onboard a pirate skiff in the Indian Ocean armed with a Kalashnikov. After an undercover operative connected to the case turns up dead in the shipping office of an NGO in Athens it looks like piracy may be the least of the Services problems. Liz & her team must unravel the connections between Pakistan Greece & Somalia relying on their wits
- & the judicious use of force
- to get to the truth. & they dont have long as trouble is brewing closer to home: the kind of explosive trouble that MI5 could do without.. . Stella Rimington former Director General of MI5 returns with a tense & heart-stopping spy thriller where the secrets are deep the stakes are high & the enemy is always just out of sight.

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Rip van Winkle is an amiable man whose home & farm suffer from his lazy neglect; a familiar figure about the village he is loved by all except his wife. One autumn day he escapes her nagging to wander up into the mountains & there after drinking some liquor offered to him by a band of very strange folk he settles down under a shady tree & falls asleep. He wakes up twenty years later & returns to his village to find that not only is his wife dead but war & revolution have changed many things. He on the other hand although older is not appreciably wiser & soon slips back into his idle habits. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow tells of conscientious schoolmaster Ichabod Crane. Orderly & strict in school out of school his life is disorderly & his head full of fearful fantasies. He is in love with the beautiful Katrina but has a rival for her hand a dashing young hero who together with his prankster friends plays on Ichabods superstitions notably with the story of a headless horseman who haunts the region. Tragedy strikes when their hapless victim encounters just such an apparition when returning home one dark & especially dismal night.. . Three equally compelling stories The Spectre Bridegroom The Pride of the Village & Mountjoy complete this collection of classic tales from the inspired pen of Washington Irving one of Americas greatest writers. ...

Acclaimed Parisian chef Stephane Reynaud writes beautiful recipes that combine his passion for traditional French cooking with his enthusiasm for modern cuisine. His range extends from simple home cooking to more complex intricate dishes. In Ripailles which loosely translates into English as 'feast' Stephane presents the very best of the French kitchen & delves into the origins of French cuisine. With a unique & delicious array of recipes this is the most comprehensive French cooking collection you will find."" ...

Ripley had kept his name & reputation clean amazingly clean considering. It would be most embarrassing for him if his interest in the Buckmaster Gallery were made public. The gallery is staging another Derwatt exhibition. But now an American collector claims that the expensive masterpiece he bought three years ago is a fake it is of course. & he wants to talk to Derwatt. But he inconveniently is dead. Ripley needs the perfect solution. But not everyone's nerves are as steady as his. Especially if it comes to murder... ...