Książki

A husband forms gruesome plans for his new fridge; a government employee has a haunting experience on his commute home; prisoners serve as entertainment for wealthy party guests; an army officer suffers a monstrous tropical illness. These short stories contain some of the most groundbreaking and innovative writing in Dutch literature from 1915 to the present day, with most pieces appearing here in English for the first time. Blending unforgettable snapshots of the realities o...

Four sisters live in dilapidated houses, the daughters of a once-great merchant family of Osaka.Each of the women navigates her own complex relationship to the fading lustre of the Makioka family name, in the years leading up to the Second World War. Rich with breathtaking descriptions of ancient customs and an ever-changing natural world, Tanizaki evokes in poignant detail a long-lost way of life even as it withers under the harsh glare of modernity.‘An exquisite novel about...

Jean Rhys's late, literary masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea was inspired by Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and is set in the lush, beguiling landscape of Jamaica in the 1830s. Born into an oppressive, colonialist society, Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway meets a young Englishman who is drawn to her innocent sensuality and beauty. After their marriage the rumours begin, poisoning her husband against her. Caught between his demands and her own precarious sense of belonging, Antoine...

'The new playbook for building the future. A concise, actionable masterclass on design and strategy.' Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedInEver had a good idea but didn’t know how to begin? The New York Times bestselling authors of Sprint reveal the smart way to start ambitious projects.Every big project – whether it’s technology, sneakers or a neighbourhood café – requires a big investment to get going. Unfortunately, most of them flop. Too many teams waste time, money and op...

In the spring of 1948 Arthur Miller retreated to a log cabin in Connecticut with the first two lines of a new play already fixed in his mind. He emerged six weeks later with the final script of Death of a Salesman - a painful examination of American life and consumerism. Opening on Broadway the following year, Miller's extraordinary masterpiece changed the course of modern theatre. In creating Willy Loman, his destructively insecure anti-hero, Miller himself defined his aim a...

Meticulously selected and artfully recreated, the selection of stories in Italian is vast and ranges geographically from Corsica and Sicily to Venice and the Alps. Calvino is himself clearly captivated by the folkloric imagination and communicates this in what is a fascinating and rich addition to folk literature.

‘One of the masters of the short story’ GuardianThese six stories of obsession, secrets, delusions and desires from one of the greatest European writers show individuals caught up in forces beyond their control – whether an art dealer agreeing to a heartbreaking deception, a soldier destroyed by war, a servant infatuated with her employer or a young boy witnessing illicit adult passions. Portraying innocence lost and lives crushed by history, each tale is a psychologically ac...

For Gertrude Stein and her companion Alice B. Toklas, life in Paris was based upon the rue de Fleurus and the Saturday evenings and ‘it was like a kaleidoscope slowly turning’. Picasso was there with ‘his high whinnying spanish giggle’, as were Cezanne and Matisse, Hemingway and Fitzgerald. As Toklas put it – ‘The geniuses came and talked to Gertrude Stein and the wives sat with me’. A light-hearted entertainment, this is in fact Gertrude Stein’s own autobiography and a roll-...

Over the past two centuries, economic growth has freed billions from poverty and made our lives far healthier and longer. As a result, the unfettered pursuit of growth defines economic life around the world. Yet this prosperity has come at an enormous price: deepening inequalities, destabilizing technologies, environmental destruction and climate change.Confusion reigns. For many, in our era of anaemic economic progress, the worry is slowing growth - in the UK, Europe, China ...

In this nightmare vision of a not-too-distant future, fifteen-year-old Alex and his three friends rob, rape, torture and murder - for fun. Alex is jailed for his vicious crimes and the State undertakes to reform him - but how and at what cost?

Jorge Luis Borges was a literary spellbinder whose tales of magic, mystery and murder are shot through with deep philosophical paradoxes. This collection brings together many of his stories, including the celebrated "Library of Babel".

The writing of Fernando Pessoa reveals a mind shaken by intense inner suffering. In these poems he adopted four separate personae: Alberto Caeiro, Alvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis and himself, using them to express 'great swarms of thought and feeling'. While each personae has its own poetic identity, together they convey a sense of ambivalence and consolidate a striving for completeness. Dramatic, lyrical, Christian, pagan, old and modern, Pessoa's poets and poetry contribute ...

Every Thursday morning in a living room in Iran, over tea and pastries, eight women meet in secret to discuss forbidden works of Western literature. As they lose themselves in the worlds of Lolita, The Great Gatsby and Pride and Prejudice, gradually they come to share their own stories, dreams and hopes with each other, and, for a few hours, taste freedom. Azar Nafisi's bestselling memoir is a moving, passionate testament to the transformative power of books, the magic of wor...

Dani Dorfman needs an escape, so when she is offered a job in Amsterdam after getting dumped and fired, she's determined to make it work.Unfortunately, her first week is disaster - especially when she crashes her bike into Wouter van Leeuwen, her family's Dutch exchange student from ten years ago. Her first love, until he ghosted her . . .Wouter is also at a crossroads - to inherit his canal family home, he needs to get married. And when Dani's job falls apart, she needs a vi...

Why Read the Classics? is an elegant defence of the value of great literature by one of the finest authors of the last century. Beginning with an essay on the attributes that define a classic (number one - classics are those books that people always say they are 'rereading', not 'reading'), this is an absorbing collection of Italo Calvino's witty and passionate criticism.

Delightful. This is a book to be read slowly for its savor.'  The AtlanticIn 1960, John Steinbeck set out in his pick-up truck with his dog Charley to rediscover and chronicle his native USA, from Maine to California. He felt that he might have lost touch with its sights, sounds and the essence of the American people. Moving through the woods and deserts, dirt tracks and highways to large cities and glorious wildernesses, Steinbeck observed - with remarkable honesty, insight ...

The generative AI revolution has come to education. Salman Khan, the visionary behind Khan Academy with more than 150 million users, explores how artificial intelligence and GPT technology is already beginning to transform learning, offering a future roadmap for teachers, parents, and students to navigate this exciting (and sometimes intimidating) new world.The leading pioneer in the world of education technology, Khan explains the ins and outs of these cutting-edge tools and...

When Caitlin accepts a new high-powered job at Aurora, she can't possibly realise what she's letting herself in for.On the one hand, the senior team she’s joining is full of big personalities, never happier than when nursing a bitter grudge or pursuing an illicit affair.On the other, the company is up for sale, and if they can just hold it together at their glamorous corporate retreat, each is set to make millions.But when the group heads out on the first night of the trip, e...

One of the premier Japanese novels in the twentieth century, THE WOMAN IN THE DUNES combines the essence of myth, suspense, and the existential novel. In a remote seaside village, Niki Jumpei, a teacher and amateur entomologist, is held captive with a young woman at the bottom of a vast sand pit where they are pressed into shovelling off the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten the village.

Two Supreme Court Justices are dead, their murders unsolved.But one woman might have found the answer – if she can live to tell it.Darby Shaw is a brilliant New Orleans legal student with a sharp political mind. For her own amusement, she draws up a legal brief showing how the judges might have been murdered for political reasons, and shows it to her professor. He shows it to his friend, an FBI lawyer.Then the professor dies in a car bombing.And Darby realises that her brief,...

At Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London. There, homesick Moses Aloetta, who has already lived in the city for years, meets Henry 'Sir Galahad' Oliver and shows him the ropes. In this strange, cold and foggy city where the natives can be less than friendly at the sight of a black face, has Galahad met his Waterloo? But the irrepressible newcomer cannot be cast down. He and all the other lonel...

Your energy is the fuel that makes everything in your life possible. So how can you reach your full potential if you're always tired, stressed and struggling through your to-do list running from one task to the next?In Energise, Life Coach and winner of Winner of the 2023 Business Book Award for Wellness and Wellbeing, Simon Ong introduces you to the art and science of energy management. Revealing how your physical, mental and relational energy affect your ability to think cr...

Do you ever question whether you’re fulfilling your purpose in life?Are you happy with the path you’re on?Are you being true to yourself?Perhaps you, like many, are sceptical of astrology. Yet you can't help but wonder if there is wisdom hidden amongst the stars. I Don’t Believe in Astrology will not only silence every doubt but empower you to use astrology as a tool for better understanding yourself and the world around you.Astrology is the medicine for accepting our human n...

Discover the perfect summer read from the bestselling author of We All Want Impossible Things.‘Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry.’ Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Tom Lake'Engaging, frank, funny and moving' Daily MailAn instant NEW YORK TIMES bestsellerOne of Barnes & Noble BEST BOOKSSTYLIST Book of the Month: ‘A gem’GUARDIAN Book of the Week: ‘Wise and exquisitely written'GRAZIA Book of the month****One week at go...