Engelstalig

Sir Edward Elgar is a distinguished composer of the first rank, celebrated by the critics and his public, honored by the Crown. But in 1923 he is 66, and his talent and his zest for life are ebbing, yielding to age and the changing times. England is in the throes of postwar disillusionment; he is widowed and idle.  The world he knew has been swept away, leaving him oddly entombed by his own immense reputation and jealous of the even greater artist he might have been, had it not been for... for what? He doesn't truly know, or doesn't want to. On impulse, Eglar books passage on a cruise to Brazil and the Amazon port city of Manaos. It is as far from himself as he can get. Yet, there in the jungle, he wil encounter a figure from his past, the woman who inspired one of his major works...

One Cosmos under God is an extraordinary book that takes the reader on an intellectual and spiritual journey through the whole of creation. It dares to venture where language cannot go, into the "mind of God" prior to the creation, through to the "mind of the saint" who transcends the culturally conditioned ego, escapes history, and merges with the divine mind.
This book is intended to be both serious and entertaining, like an intellectual amusement park ride through the whole of creation. It operates under the premise that if God exists, He has a very sophisticated sense of humor, and the book makes many important points in an ironic or punning way, including in the opening "creation story" and the closing "Cosmobliteration" of language into mystical oneness.

Born with the new century, Princess Asya is drawn at an early age into the turbulent destiny of her country. After the idyllic splendor of her childhood is shattered by the outbreak of the Russian civil ar, she meets Sergei a dashing artillery officer, and falls in love for the first time. But their ecstatic love is brief. Fleeing the Bolsheviks, Asya moves to Paris bearing a fatherless son, and here amoung the community of exiled Russians Sergei reappears, only to draw her into a web of political intrigue, espionage and betrayal. A powerful love story that bears witness to the complex forces, both deeply private and harshly public, that shape our lives.

A gut-wrenching love story set in the underbelly of New York, about the unexpected connection between an illegal Uyghur migrant and a damaged Iraq veteran.
Set in the underbelly of New York, Preparation for the Next Life exposes an America as seen from the fringes of society and, in devastating detail, destroys the myth of the American Dream through two of the most remarkable characters in contemporary fiction. Powerful, realistic and raw, this is one of the most ambitious - and necessary - novels of our time.

-Winner of the New York City Book Award for Fiction
-Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Fiction

In this frank memoir, John Bayley describes the life he has shared with his wife, Iris Murdoch, afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. He explains how he has coped emotionally and practically with the illness that has beset the woman he loves and cherishes.

A line illustrated, room-by-room guide to decluttering and organising your home, from bedrooms and kitchens to bathrooms and living rooms as well as a wide range of items in different categories, including clothes, photographs, paperwork, books, cutlery, cosmetics, shoes, bags, wallets and valuables.

Tom Michell is in his roaring twenties: single, free-spirited and seeking adventure. He has a plane ticket to South America, a teaching position in a prestigious Argentine boarding school, and endless summer holidays.
What he doesn't need is a pet. What he really doesn't need is a pet penguin.
But while on holiday in Uruguay he spots a penguin struggling in an oil slick and knows he has to help. And then the penguin refuses to leave his side . . .
Clearly Tom has no choice but to smuggle it across the border, through customs, and back to school. He names him Juan Salvador.
Whether it's as the rugby team's mascot, the housekeeper's confidant, the host at Tom's parties or the most flamboyant swimming coach in world history, Juan Salvador transforms the lives of all he meets - including Tom, who discovers a compadre like no other . . .
'One of the most touching tales we've read all year' Heat

In 1291, the Crusaders face their final stand in Acre as the Saracens seek revenge after two centuries of Christian rule. Defenders, including Grand Master William of Beaujeu and a diverse group of allies, prepare for battle. With no help from Europe and Assassins in their midst, Acre faces destruction, but is there hope for survival?

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize and winner of the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss explores the enduring power of love and the written word.
Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer seeks a cure for her mother's loneliness by searching for the author of an old book her mother is translating. Meanwhile, Leo Gursky, an aging man in New York, reflects on lost love that inspired the book. Unknowingly, their lives are intertwined through the book that has traveled across generations.
A tender tribute to human resilience, The History of Love is a powerful testament to the written word's impact.

This wonderful anthology contains some of the nation's all-time favourite comic poetry. From much-loved classics such as Lewis Carroll's curious 'Jabberwocky' to lesser known and forgotten gems such as Gelett Burgess's 'The Purple Cow', Griff Rhys Jones takes us on a poetic tour of witty, nonsensical and plain laugh-out-loud funny poems.

The sole survivor of a crew sent to explore a new planet, Jesuit priest Emilio Sandoz discovers an alien civilization that raises questions about the very essence of humanity, an encounter that leads Sandoz to a public inquisition and the destruction of his faith.

SMOOTH STORYTELLING AND GORGEOUS CHARACTERIZATION . . . Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them. Entertainment Weekly

One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year—a gothic masterpiece from the best-selling author of The Quincunx.
Christmas 1863. Seventeen-year-old Richard Shenstone, sent down from Cambridge under suspicion, is addicted to opium and troubled by disturbing desires. He seeks refuge in an old mansion with his impoverished mother and sister Effie, whose behavior becomes increasingly bizarre.
Threatening letters circulate, with nearly everyone a suspect in crimes ranging from vivisection to murder. Fans of Charles Palliser’s work, as well as readers of Sarah Waters and Michel Faber, will enjoy this first novel in over ten years. Hailed for his "mesmerizing, meticulous" fiction (Entertainment Weekly), Palliser remains "our leading contemporary Victorian novelist" (The Guardian).

Peel My Love Like an Onion is Ana Castillo’s breakthrough novel, set in the passionate world of flamenco dancing. Carmen "La Coja" Santos, a flamenco dancer in Chicago with a handicap from polio, has been having an affair with Agustin, the married director of her troupe. But when she begins a romance with the younger, talented Manolo, tension rises, sparking a rivalry. Carmen also faces the return of her crippling disease and struggles with her difficult relationship with her mother. The novel blends soap opera, tragicomedy, and romance, offering sharp observations and exploring the complexities of love.

Dreams and Nightmares: A Book of Gestalt Therapy Sessions, edited by Jack Downing and Robert Marmorstein, offers a unique glimpse into the world of Gestalt therapy. The book presents actual transcripts of therapy sessions conducted by Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt therapy. Through these sessions, readers witness Perls' therapeutic techniques and his interaction with clients, addressing issues such as dreams, personal struggles, and self-awareness. The editors provide insightful commentary, offering analysis and context to help readers better understand the principles of Gestalt therapy. This book serves as both a practical guide for therapists and an insightful look at the therapeutic process.

This study divides the history of anthropology into three phases: building the scientific foundation, addressing emerging issues, and a complete reconstruction. The first phase, from the late 19th century to the 1950s, laid the discipline’s foundation. The second phase, around the 1960s, focused on new theories and methods to address doubts about the scientific nature of culture and the reality of change and conflict. The third phase, starting in the 1970s, is shaped by postmodernism and feminist anthropology. A key argument is that, since phase two, a gap has emerged between our theories and methods, with recent theories moving away from science and aligning more with the humanities.

The author contends that religious, modern-day hoaxes erode the credibility of Christians in a world where Christian influence is being met by increasing skepticism. He dispels many of the common urban legends and myths popular with Christians as well as other issues.

A collection of outstanding short stories by masterful voices in Southern literature features twenty works by both established authors and new writers, including A. Manette Ansay, Clyde Edgerton, Robert Olen Butler, Allan Gurganus, Chris Offutt, Melanie Summer, and many others. Original.

Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell often promoted themselves or denounced their enemy, the Philistine. Unconventional and aristocratic, they were bold, talented, and provocative, making them media targets. This book celebrates their lives and artistic crusade, which brought them into contact with key figures of the early 20th century, including Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and Evelyn Waugh, while clashing with enemies like Wyndham Lewis, Noel Coward, and D.H. Lawrence.
It starts with their childhood at Renishaw in Derbyshire and their eccentric parents, Sir George and Lady Ida. The book follows them to London’s Bloomsbury and Paris’ art scene, their involvement with the Russian ballet, early literary ventures, and collaboration with composer William Walton on Facade.
In 1925, Sacheverell married Georgia Doble, leading to the breakup of the trio. The final chapters cover their individual lives, friendships, successes, and continuing battles.

Model. Muse. Lover. Artist. This sweeping debut novel is based on the true story of Lee Miller's journey to become an artist and her lover affair with Man Ray in bohemian 1930s Paris.

"This book is like How to Win Friends and Influence People - only better for today's world" - ADAM GRANT, author of Give and Take and Originals
"People skills can't be outsourced or reduced to a rubric. That's why The Art of People is more important than ever - it teaches irreplaceable skills for every area of your life" - DANIEL H. PINK, author of To Sell Is Human and Drive.
What does it take to win success and influence?
In a world where we're always connected, those with the best people skills win. They build the right relationships, truly connect, and earn respect and trust.
The Art of People reveals eleven skills to get more of what you want at work, home, and in life. These include:
-The most important question to win attention in a meeting
-Why giving bad news can be a good move
-How to make everyone want to be around you with one word
No matter who you are, The Art of People shows you how to charm and win over anyone.

Irene Beckman appears to have a perfect life: two grown children, a house in a prosperous suburb of Copenhagen, and a successful career as a family lawyer. She is cool, sophisticated, and still exotically good-looking, the dyed hair her only concession to time.
Then her husband announces that he's leaving her, and her mother reveals some unexpected information about Irene's father. Suddenly, Irene Beckman is neither wife nor daughter. Nor, she realizes, is it at all clear who she has been all these years. It is time to find out.
From the internationally acclaimed author of Silence in October, An Altered Light is another fascinating exploration of the nature of chance and relationships-between parents and children, husbands and wives, friends and strangers.

The fantasy novel "Tinker" introduced the inventor-heroine of the same name, who lives in a near-future Pittsburgh, which shares an interdimensional border with the land of the elves. This book tells the story of how the elven noble whose destiny is intertwined with Tinker, finds himself besieged from all sides.

This book is an introductory explication on the theme of knot and link invariants as generalized amplitudes (vacuum-vacuum amplitudes) for a quasi-physical process. The demands of the knot theory, coupled with a quantum statistical frame work create a context that naturally and powerfully includes an extraordinary range of interelated topics in topology and mathematical physics. The author takes a primarily combinatorial stance toward the knot theory and its relations with these subjects. This has the advantage of providing very direct access to the algebra and to the combinatorial topology, as well as the physical ideas. This book is divided into 2 parts: Part I of the book is a systematic course in knots and physics starting from the ground up. Part II is a set of lectures on various topics related with and sometimes based on Part I. Part II also explores some side-topics such as frictional properties of knots, relations with combinatorics, knots in dynamical systems.

Across the world millions of people are members of street gangs. In groups they fight, stab, rob, rape and murder anyone who isn't one of their own. And when rival gangs meet what you get is warfare.

Ross Kemp, whose dad was a copper and taught him right from wrong, decided to infiltrate these secret underworld organizations to discover who they are, what makes them tick and what the law is doing to curb their criminal activity. On his harrowing journey he:

- meets murderous members of the Number gang in a Cape Town jail

- crosses paths with warlords in Guatemala

- gets shot at in El Salvador

- is set on fire as an initiation test for Russian Neo-Nazis

Only TV hardman Ross Kemp could get this close to the world's most violent street gangs: he's tough enough to earn their trust and so get them to confide their innermost secrets. It's a wild ride - and not for the faint hearte