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The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club
By Marlena De Blasi. 2015
'If you loved Under the Tuscan Sun, you’ll love this' Red Magazine Every week on a Thursday evening, a group…
of four rural Italian women gather in an old stone house in the hills above Italy’s Orvieto. There – along with their friend, Marlena – they cook together, sit down to a beautiful supper, drink their beloved local wines, and talk. Surrounded by candle light, good food and friendship, the four women tell Marlena their evocative life stories, and of cherished ingredients and recipes whose secrets have been passed down through generations.Trans-Europe Express: Tours of a Lost Continent
By Owen Hatherley. 2018
'A scathing, lively and timely look at the "European city", from one of our most provocative voices on culture and…
architecture today' Owen JonesA searching, timely account of the condition of contemporary Europe, told through the landscapes of its citiesOver the past twenty years European cities have become the envy of the world: a Kraftwerk Utopia of historic centres, supermodernist concert halls, imaginative public spaces and futuristic egalitarian housing estates which, interconnected by high-speed trains traversing open borders, have a combination of order and pleasure which is exceptionally unusual elsewhere.In Trans-Europe Express, Owen Hatherley sets out to explore the European city across the entire continent, to see what exactly makes it so different to the Anglo-Saxon norm - the unplanned, car-centred, developer-oriented spaces common to the US, Ireland, UK and Australia. Attempting to define the European city, Hatherley finds a continent divided both within the EU and outside it. 'The latest heir to Ruskin.' - Boyd Tonkin, Independent 'Hatherley is the most informed, opinionated and acerbic guide you could wish for.' - Hugh Pearman, Sunday Times 'Can one talk yet of vintage Hatherley? Yes, one can. Here are all the properties that have made him one of the most distinctive writers in England - not just 'architectural writers', but writers full stop: acuity, contrariness, observational rigour, frankness and beautifully wrought prose.' - Jonathan MeadesA Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain
By Daniel Defoe. 1971
Britain in the early eighteenth century: an introduction that is both informative and imaginative, reliable and entertaining. To the tradition…
of travel writing Daniel Defoe brings a lifetime's experience as a businessman, soldier, economic journalist and spy, and his Tour (1724-6) is an invaluable source of social and economic history. But this book is far more than a beautifully written guide to Britain just before the industrial revolution, for Defoe possessed a wild, inventive streak that endows his work with astonishing energy and tension, and the Tour is his deeply imaginative response to a brave new economic world. By employing his skills as a chronicler, a polemicist and a creative writer keenly sensitive to the depredations of time, Defoe more than achieves his aim of rendering 'the present state' of Britain.Ancient Greeks and Athens (Time Travel Guides #5)
By Sarah Ridley. 2024
Step back in time to discover life in the ancient Greek city-state of Athens with this handy time travel guidebookTravel…
back in time to the ancient Greek city-state of Athens and find out all about ancient Greek life and culture. Get ready to visit the temples at the Acropolis, socialise at a symposium, see democracy in action, get fit at a local gymnasium and watch a brand new play at an outdoor theatre. Like modern travel guides, the books in this series highlight must-see features and explain local culture. Each highlighted destination contains an explanation of what took part in these areas, as well as a look at important artefacts found there providing a bigger picture of life in the past. Typical travel guide notes include, 'best time to visit', 'what to eat' and 'where to stay'. Perfect for the KS2 history curriculum, and for readers aged 7 and up.Titles in the series:The Ancient Egyptians and ThebesThe Ancient Greeks and AthensThe Maya and Chichén ItzáRoman Britain and LondiniumThe Shang Dynasty and YinxuThe Stone Age and Skara BraeThe Victorians and LondonViking Britain and Jorvik"A windswept, wave-tossed, altogether irresistible novel of literary suspense - I truly didn't want it to end" A. J. FINN"In…
its scale, scope and ambition, The Sea Cemetery is truly epic" COLIN WALSH"This saga will delight fans of 'Succession'" Elle"The strength of its storytelling and its romantic energy make it a perfect example of an authentic page turner" Livres HebdoThere is no love lost between the Oslo and Bergen branches of the powerful Falck family. So when its steely matriarch dies with no will to be found, the seeds of an inheritance dispute are sown.Yet her legacy could be more damaging still. A manuscript confiscated by the secret police in the seventies holds devastating secrets about the Falcks' activities during the war. Her granddaughter Sasha is set on uncovering the truth, whatever the cost, bringing her into conflict with her father, whose family loyalty is matched only by his patriotic fervour. And in the wings waits Hans Falck, war doctor and philanderer, head of the impoverished Bergen branch, who has a few secrets of his own.It all leads back to the sinking of the SS Prinsesse Ragnhild, lost to a British mine in 1940. But can the official verdict be trusted? The shocking truth lies 300 metres under the sea.Part literary thriller, part sweeping family saga, The Sea Cemetery is a dark and dramatic tale of secrets, betrayals and doomed love, drawing on the true story of one of Norway's most devastating maritime disasters.Translated from the Norwegian by Deborah DawkinTo the Baltic with Bob: An Epic Misadventure
By Griff Rhys Jones. 2003
In the summer of 2002, two profoundly amateur sailors, Griff and Bob, set off in an elderly yacht for Russia,…
because, on the map, it looked easier than sailing to Cornwall. They took Baines with them, as he knew how to mend the engine. And this is their story.Over four long months of applied bickering in a vessel no bigger than a London taxi, they visited most of the geographically interesting restaurants on the Baltic seaboard. They sailed, over, and, even at one point, onto the mysterious heart of the Nordic world. They pushed themselves to the very limits of human endurance, before finally agreeing to wash their sleeping bags on a cool cycle at number six.To the Baltic with Bob is the full account of their stirring journey through the longest heat wave the frozen north has ever suffered; of three men in search of the answer to a troubling question: can you really outmanoeuvre a mid-life crisis by running away to sea?These Silent Mansions: A life in graveyards
By Jean Sprackland. 2020
'A refreshingly original meditation... I wish I had written it myself' Literary ReviewGraveyards are oases: places of escape, peace and…
reflection. Liminal sites of commemoration, where the past is close enough to touch. Yet they also reflect their living community - how in our restless, accelerated modern world, we are losing our sense of connection to the dead.Jean Sprackland - the prize-winning poet and author of Strands - travels back through her life, revisiting her once local graveyards. In seeking out the stories of those who lived and died there, remembered and forgotten, she unearths what has been lost.From the bestselling author of The Robin, The Wren and The Twelve Birds of Christmas. With around 700,000 breeding pairs,…
the swallow is one of the most familiar birds in Britain. Though we consider the swallow to be 'our' bird, we also share this beloved creature with millions of others across the globe. Whilst we see it on a daily basis for half the year, the swallow then flies south to Africa, living on only in our memory in the long, dark winter.In The Swallow Stephen Moss documents a year of observing the swallow close to home and in the field to shed light on the secret life of this extraordinary bird. We trace the swallow's life cycle and journey, including the epic 12,000-mile round trip it takes every year, to enable it to enjoy a life of almost eternal sunshine, and the key part the swallow plays in our traditional and popular culture.With beautiful illustrations throughout, this captivating year-in-the-life biography reveals the hidden secrets of this charismatic and beautiful bird.PRAISE FOR STEPHEN MOSS: 'A superb naturalist and writer' Chris Packham'Inspired, friendly and blessed with apparently limitless knowledge' Peter Marren'Moss has carved out an enviable niche as a chronicler of the natural world' Daily MailMy Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises: From the bestselling author of A MAN CALLED OVE
By Fredrik Backman. 2015
A must-read for fans of Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fryand Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette'A touching,…
sometimes funny, often wise portrait of grief.' Kirkus Heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure, by the author of the New York Times bestselling phenomenon A Man Called Ove will charm and delight anyone who has ever had a grandmother. Everyone remembers the smell of their grandmother's house. Everyone remembers the stories their grandmother told them.But does everyone remember their grandmother flirting with policemen? Driving illegally?Breaking into a zoo in the middle of the night? Firing a paintball gun from a balcony in her dressing gown?Seven-year-old Elsa does.Some might call Elsa's granny 'eccentric', or even 'crazy'. Elsa calls her a superhero. And granny's stories, of knights and princesses and dragons and castles, are her superpower. Because, as Elsa is starting to learn, heroes and villains don't always exist in imaginary kingdoms; they could live just down the hallway.As Christmas draws near, even the best superhero grandmothers may have one or two things they'd like to apologise for. And, in the process, Elsa can have some breath-taking adventures of her own . . .No Sale
By Patrick Conrad, Jonathan Lynn. 2007
For Victor Cox, a professor of film history, the Hollywood films noirs of the 1940s and 1950s are more real…
than his daily life. When his wife is found drowned, Cox is the first murder suspect. He falls in love with a student who looks like the 1920s film star Louise Brooks, but she disappears at a Belgian seaside resort. Smeared in lipstick in their hotel room are the words "No Sale," the same words Elizabeth Taylor wrote on a mirror in Butterfield 8. Subsequently, a series of gruesome killings of young women, all modeled on violent deaths in films that he knows and loves, lead the police back to Cox, who starts to doubt his own sanity and innocence.With its stylish writing, pointed references to cinema classics, and blend of horror and humor, this is a powerful psychological thriller. It won the Diamond Bullet Award, the Edgar Award for Belgium.'We all know about life imitating art, but what about novels imitating film-film noir in particular? Patrick Conrad's No Sale (the words written in lipstick on a mirror by Gloria Wandrous, the Elizabeth Taylor character in Butterfield 8) is only the latest in a short list of crime fiction that draws on film noir for both plot and mood. It makes a peculiar kind of fictional sense that characters obsessed with film noir would find the worlds of the films they adore superimposed upon their personal lives. Make sure your subscription to Netflix is up-to-date before sampling this hypnotic novel.' Booklist'Imagine a metafiction serial-killer thriller written by Paul Auster on speed.When even the investigating cop sees himself as Dirty Harry, this amusing, teasing, film-crazy novel keeps you guessing through every reel.' Crime Time'Surprisingly zippy read which moves at a fair clip, the pace maintained by cinematic scene shifts and splashes of black humour. Who was it said that crime fiction in translation was never fun?That was probably me.' ShotsmagPatrick Conrad, born in 1945 in Antwerp, is a Flemish poet, screenwriter, film director, and novelist. He lives in Provence, in the south of France. Limousine, a previous novel, is being made into a film with Kelsey Grammar, to be released in 2012.This WWII history and battleground guide offers a fascinating look at the vital and infamous stretch of road through the…
Netherlands. After the Allied victory at Normandy, Operation Market Garden was intended to cut a path to Germany through the Netherlands. Essential to the plan was a two-lane road that came to be known as Hell's Highway. This was the route that the British 3rd Guards Armored Division had to advance down rapidly to relieve the American Paratroopers of the 82d Airborne at Nijmegen and the British I st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Beginning with the famous capture of Joe&’s Bridge by the Irish Guards—an essential preliminary action before the start of Operation Market Garden—historian Tim Saunders guides visitors through the seizure of bridges, the liberation of small towns, and other actions undertaken by the famous Screaming Eagles. With vivid personal accounts throughout, this guide features practical visitor information about monuments and other important sites.Berlin Now: The City After the Wall
By Peter Schneider. 2014
A smartly guided romp, entertaining and enlightening, through Europe's most charismatic and enigmatic cityIt isn't Europe's most beautiful city, or…
its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in Barcelona or London. And yet, when citizens of "New York, Tel Aviv, or Rome ask me where I'm from and I mention the name Berlin," writes Peter Schneider, "their eyes instantly light up."Berlin Now is a longtime Berliner's bright, bold, and digressive exploration of the heterogeneous allure of this vibrant city. Delving beneath the obvious answers—Berlin's club scene, bolstered by the lack of a mandatory closing time; the artistic communities that thrive due to the relatively low (for now) cost of living—Schneider takes us on an insider's tour of Germany's rapidly metamorphosing metropolis, where high-class soirees are held at construction sites and enterprising individuals often accomplish more without public funding—assembling a makeshift club on the banks of the Spree River—than Berlin's officials do. Schneider's perceptive, witty investigations on everything from the insidious legacy of suspicion instilled by the East German secret police to the clashing attitudes toward work, food, and love held by former East and West Berliners have been sharply translated by Sophie Schlondorff. The result is a book so lively that readers will want to jump on a plane—just as soon as they've finished their adventures on the page.Mother Tongue: An American Life in Italy
By Wallis Wilde-Menozzi. 1997
A probing and poetic examination of language, food, faith, and family attachment in Italian life through the eyes of an…
American who moved to Parma with her husband and family. In the 1980s, the American writer Wallis Wilde-Menozzi moved permanently with her Italian husband and her daughter to Parma, a sophisticated city in northern Italy, where he became a professor of biology. Her search for rootedness in the city that was to be her home introduced her to complexities in her identity as she migrated into another language and looked for links beyond the joys of Verdi, Correggio, and Parmesan cheese, which visitors have rightly extolled for centuries. The local resistance to change perceived as individualistic led Wilde-Menozzi to explore the pull and challenge of difference and discover the backbone she needed for artistic freedom. In Mother Tongue, Wilde-Menozzi offers stories of far-sighted lives, remarkable Parma men and remarkable women, including the Renaissance abbess Giovanna Piacenza, the fighting Donella Rossi Sanvitale, and her own indefatigable mother-in-law. Framed with a new introduction by the author, and a new foreword by Patricia Hampl, this classic on diversity and tolerance, family, faith, and food in Italy and the United States is at once timeless and timely, a “large, beautiful window into the intelligent, literate, reflective life of Italy” (Shirley Hazzard).Turn Right at the Fountain: Fifty-Three Walking Tours Through Europe's Most Enchanting Cities
By George W. Oakes, Alexandra Chapman. 1996
Originally published in 1961 and written by George W. Oakes, chief travel writer for the New York Times, this beloved…
walking guide has sold more than 100,000 copies in several editions. Now completely revised and updated by Alexandra Chapman, this latest edition features intimate walks through twenty-one of Europe's most celebrated cities, including an all-new chapter on Budapest, the Paris of the Danube. With this book as a guide, stroll through the winding cobblestone streets of Florence, gaze at the breath-takingly beautiful lawns of Cambridge, and explore the dark mysteries of Prague's architectural gems.Each walk is comfortably planned to take no more than a leisurely morning or afternoon, highlighting the not-to-be-missed museums, churches, and monuments as well as less conspicuous but equally charming sites. These tours offer explicit directions keyed to thirty-two easy-to-follow maps, concise descriptions of sights along the routes, and brief historical notes about buildings and other places of interest. From Amsterdam to Segovia, these expertly designed walking tours unveil the immense cultural treasures that these magical cities hold-treasures best enjoyed on foot.