A collection of essays by the late traveller and acute observer of nature: "The central project of my adult life as a writer is to know and love what we have been given, and to urge others t... read more
An original and entertaining book on the smoke and mirrors of the modern consumer's world - case studies that take apart our ideas of the real and the fake, of appearance and deception.
LB could turn straw into gold. Here she describes chancing across the writings of a rather obscure Greek philosopher, and the wonders and illuminations that followed. Transformative.
This delightful slim volume consists of Newcomb's watercolours of still lives around the house & garden, accompanied by a few lines from Blackburn, her indefatigable Suffolk neighbour.
Argues that the physical form of books makes them distinctive, and sometimes dangerous, quite as much as their content. (John Morgan’s recent, limited edition Usylessly, with its beautiful... read more
With considerable humility, this book is subtitled In Which Four Russians Give a Masterclass on Writing, Reading and Life. Actually it's the brilliant Saunders' own work, distilled from deca... read more
This eloquent little book offers a moving and erudite justification for the survival of high quality book shops and why they are essential places of discovery, refuge and fulfilment. Laced w... read more
Includes 'Egyptian Nights', 'Dubrovsky' and 'History of the Village of Goriukhino'; Pushkin's great-grandfather is thought to be the model for Ibrahim, the former slave of the title. A new t... read more
Quiet utterances like snatches of conversation, from the magnificent JB. These brief reflections and observations are not quite poetry, not quite prose - an absolute joy to read and to pause... read more
Five piercingly brilliant essays on stories from the margins, art, Black history, and the crossroads of Africa and Asia as well as with the West. First work of non-fiction by an author much ... read more
Kristeva's most recent book, translated from the French, is a (not surprisingly) complex engagement with the work of Dostoyevsky. Enhanced by a thoughtful foreword by Rowan Williams.
Secular wisdom in an age of unbelief, from Montaigne, Akhmatova, Hume, Camus, Cicero, Job and many others who sought, lost or found consolation. Perceptive, intelligent, a giving of necessar... read more
A memoir of life as a small girl in Rabindranath Tagore's famous cultural community in the 1930s, by one of India's foremost literary figures. Translated from the Bengali. (Originally due fo... read more