- Table View
- List View
In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden
by Niall Williams Christine Breen'I read it with enormous pleasure ... Heartbreaking, uplifting ... A delight' TIM PEARS'I loved their two voices, truthful and gentle and generous' GEORGINA HARDING'Magical ... Arresting ... Read it and be restored to yourself' IRISH CENTRAL ____________________Thirty-four years ago, when they were in their twenties, Niall Williams and Christine Breen made the impulsive decision to leave their lives in New York City and move to Christine's ancestral home in the town of Kiltumper in rural Ireland. In the decades that followed, the pair dedicated themselves to writing, gardening and living a life that followed the rhythms of the earth. In 2019, with Christine in the final stages of recovery from cancer and the land itself threatened by the arrival of turbines just one farm over, Niall and Christine decided to document a year of living in their garden and in their small corner of a rapidly changing world. Proceeding month by month through the year, this is the story of a garden in all its many splendours, and a couple who have made their life observing its wonders.
In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden
by Niall Williams Christine Breen'I read it with enormous pleasure ... Heartbreaking, uplifting ... A delight' TIM PEARS'I loved their two voices, truthful and gentle and generous' GEORGINA HARDING'Magical ... Arresting ... Read it and be restored to yourself' IRISH CENTRAL ____________________Thirty-four years ago, when they were in their twenties, Niall Williams and Christine Breen made the impulsive decision to leave their lives in New York City and move to Christine's ancestral home in the town of Kiltumper in rural Ireland. In the decades that followed, the pair dedicated themselves to writing, gardening and living a life that followed the rhythms of the earth. In 2019, with Christine in the final stages of recovery from cancer and the land itself threatened by the arrival of turbines just one farm over, Niall and Christine decided to document a year of living in their garden and in their small corner of a rapidly changing world. Proceeding month by month through the year, this is the story of a garden in all its many splendours, and a couple who have made their life observing its wonders.
In Light of India
by Octavio PazIn 1951 Octavio Paz travelled to India to serve as an attaché in the Mexican Embassy. Eleven years later he returned as Mexico's ambassador. In Light of India is Paz's celebration of that country and his most personal work of prose to date. As in all of his essays, he brings poetic insight and voluminous knowledge to bear on the subject, and the result is a series of fascinating discourses on India's landscape, culture and history. 'The Antipodes of Coming and Going' is a lyrical remembrance of Paz's days in India, evoking with astonishing clarity the sights, sounds, smells and denizens of the subcontinent. 'Religions, Castes, Languages' gives a survey of Indian history and its astonishing polyglot society. 'A Project of Nationhood' is an examinatino of modern Indian politics, comparing the respective Islamic, Hindu and Western civilizations through the course of history. 'The Full and the Empty' is an exploration of what Paz calls the soul of India, its art, literature, music and philosophy. It is also an uncompromising indictment of the self-centred materialism of Western society.
In Line of Fire: Memories of a Documentary Filmmaker
by Antony ThomasIn the Line of Fire is the personal memoir of Antony Thomas, a documentary filmmaker whose work has won international acclaim and many prestigious awards. From the full range of documentaries made over a fifty-two-year career, the author focuses on subjects that affected him deeply and remain relevant to this day; the pernicious effects of racism, the ‘seamless border’ between intelligence and crime, the last colonial wars in Africa, the conflicts in the Middle East, the rise of Islamic extremism, the politicisation of Evangelical Christians in the United States and the origins of fake news – to mention just a few.Thomas brings these disparate experiences together by taking a very personal approach and using every opportunity to take the reader ‘behind the camera’ where he shares the difficulties, the moral problems and the dangers that he and his colleagues sometimes faced, including the moment when the entire team was condemned to death in a military camp in Zambia. Eleven years later, Thomas was back in the line of fire, coping with vicious attacks from MPs and sectors of the press, following the broadcast of his controversial docudrama Death of a Princess.
In The Lion's Court: Power, Ambition and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII
by Derek WilsonDerek Wilson examines a set of relationships which illustrate just how dangerous life was in the court of the Tudor lion. He tells the interlocking stories of six men - all, curiously, called Thomas - whose ambitions and principles brought them face to face with violent death. Thomas Wolsey was an accused traitor on his way to the block when a kinder death intervened. Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell, whose convictions and policies could scarcely have been more different, both perished beneath the headman's axe. Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, would have met the same end had the king's own death not brought him an eleventh-hour reprieve. Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, though outliving the monarch, perished as a result of that war of ambitions and ideologies which rumbled on after 1547. Wriothesley succumbed to poison of either body or mind in the aftermath of a failed coup. Cranmer went to the stake as a heretic at the insistence of Mary Tudor, who was very much the daughter of the father she hated. In the Lion's Court is an illuminating examination of the careers of the six Thomases, whose lives are described in parallel - their family and social origins, their pathways to the royal Council chamber, their occupancy of the siege perilous, and the tragedies which, one by one, overwhelmed them. By showing how events shaped and were shaped by relationships and personal destinies, Derek Wilson offers a fresh approach to the political narrative of a tumultuous reign.
In London and Moscow, Volume 5: London to Berlin
by Jacques CasanovaThis book is the number 5 of "in London and Moscow" by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
In London and Moscow, Volume 5: To London
by Jacques CasanovaThis book is the number 5a of "In London and Moscow" by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
In Love with Hell: Drink in the Lives and Work of Eleven Writers
by William Palmer'Sympathetic and wonderfully perceptive . . . a heartbreaking read'NICK COHEN, Critic'Wise, witty and empathetic . . . outstanding'JIM CRACE'A fascinating treatment of the age-old problem of writers and drink which displays the same subtle qualities as William Palmer's own undervalued novels'D. J. TAYLOR'A vastly absorbing and entertaining study of this ever-interesting subject'ANDREW DAVIES, screenwriter and novelist'In Love with Hell is a fascinating and beautifully written account of the lives of eleven British and American authors whose addiction to alcohol may have been a necessary adjunct to their writing but ruined their lives. Palmer's succinct biographies contain fine descriptions of the writers, their work and the times they lived in; and there are convincing insights into what led so many authors to take to drink.'PIERS PAUL READWhy do some writers destroy themselves by drinking alcohol? Before our health-conscious age it would be true to say that many writers drank what we now regard as excessive amounts. Graham Greene, for instance, drank on a daily basis quantities of spirits and wine and beer most doctors would consider as being dangerous to his health. But he was rarely out of control and lived with his considerable wits intact to the age of eighty-six. W. H. Auden drank the most of a bottle of spirits a day, but also worked hard and steadily every day until his death. Even T. S. Eliot, for all his pontifical demeanour, was extremely fond of gin and was once observed completely drunk on a London Tube station by a startled friend. These were not writers who are generally regarded as alcoholics. 'Alcoholic' is, in any case, a slippery word, as exemplified by Dylan Thomas's definition of an alcoholic as 'someone you dislike who drinks as much as you.' The word is still controversial and often misunderstood and misapplied. What acclaimed novelist and poet William Palmer's book is interested in is the effect that heavy drinking had on writers, how they lived with it and were sometimes destroyed by it, and how they described the whole private and social world of the drinker in their work.He looks at Patrick Hamilton ('the feverish magic that alcohol can work'); Jean Rhys ('As soon as I sober up I start again'); Charles Jackson ('Delirium is a disease of the night'); Malcolm Lowry ('I love hell. I can't wait to go back there'); Dylan Thomas ('A womb with a view'); John Cheever ('The singing of the bottles in the pantry'); Flann O'Brien ('A pint of plain is your only man'); Anthony Burgess ('Writing is an agony mitigated by drink'); Kingsley Amis ('Beer makes you drunk'); Richard Yates ('The road to Revolutionary Road'); and Elizabeth Bishop ('The writer's writer's writer').
In Love with the World: What a Buddhist Monk Can Teach You About Living from Nearly Dying
by Yongey Mingyur RinpocheA rare, intimate account of a world-renowned Buddhist monk’s near-death experience and the life-changing wisdom he gained as a result.'One of the most generous, beautiful, and essential books I’ve ever read – thoroughly engaging, so clear, so honest, so courageous and full of wisdom.' George Saunders, Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo'This book makes me think enlightenment is possible and necessary.' Russell BrandYongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s experience begins the night he has chosen to embark on a four-year wandering retreat, slipping past the monastery gates. Alone for the first time in his life, he sets out into the unknown. His initial motivation is to step away from his life of privilege and to explore the deepest, most hidden aspects of his being, but what he discovers throughout his retreat – about himself and about the world around us – comes to define his meditation practice and teaching.Just three weeks into his retreat, Rinpoche becomes deathly ill and his journey begins in earnest through this near-death experience. Moving, beautiful and suffused with local colour, In Love with the World is the story of two different kinds of death: that of the body and that of the ego, and how we can bridge these two experiences to live a better and more fulfilling life. Rinpoche’s skilful and intimate account of his search for the self is a demonstration of how we can transform our dread of dying into joyful living.
In Memory of Memory
by Maria StepanovaWith the death of her aunt, Maria Stepanova is left to sift through an apartment full of faded photographs, old postcards, letters, diaries, and heaps of souvenirs: a withered repository of a century of life in Russia. Carefully reassembled with calm, steady hands, these shards tell the story of how a seemingly ordinary Jewish family somehow managed to survive the myriad persecutions and repressions of the last century. In dialogue with writers like Roland Barthes, W. G. Sebald, Susan Sontag and Osip Mandelstam, In Memory of Memory is imbued with rare intellectual curiosity and a wonderfully soft-spoken, poetic voice. Dipping into various forms - essay, fiction, memoir, travelogue and historical documents - Stepanova assembles a vast panorama of ideas and personalities and offers an entirely new and bold exploration of cultural and personal memory.
In Montparnasse: The Emergence of Surrealism in Paris, from Duchamp to Dali
by Sue Roe***As heard on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week***Witness the birth of Surrealism in Sue Roe's lively account of the artists who lived, loved andworked togetherIn this entertaining and informative biography, Sue Roe illustrates how surrealism emerged in Paris amidst an artistic ambience of lively experimentation. Before surrealism made its startling impact, artists including Marcel Duchamp and Giorgio De Chirico had already begun to shift the focus of the art scene in Montparnasse. Beginning with Duchamp, Roe tells the story of the wonderfully eccentric and avant-garde Dada movement, the birth of Surrealist photography with Man Ray and his muse Kiki de Montparnasse, the love triangle between writer Paul Éluard, his wife Gala and the artist Max Ernst, until the arrival of Salvador Dalí in 1929. In Montparnasse recounts the extraordinary, revolutionary work these artists undertook as much as the salons, café life, friendships, rows and love affairs that were their background.'Brings together some of the chief protagonists in one of the 20th century's most inventive art movements. A vivid read' Radio Times'Highly colourful . . . they're all here, the big names of the time - behaving badly, and, at times, quite madly too' Observer'Roe is a talented writer' Sunday Times
In My Defence I Have No Defence: Catastrophes In Pursuing Perfection
by Sinèad StubbinsSinéad Stubbins has always known that there was a better version of herself lying just outside of her grasp. That if she listened to the right song or won the right (any) award or knew about whisky or followed the right Instagram psychologist or drank kombucha, ever, or enacted the correct 70-step Korean skincare regime, she would become her 'best self'. In My Defence, I Have No Defence raises the white flag on trying to live up to impossible standards. Wild and funny and wickedly relatable, it is one woman's reckoning with her complete inability to self-improve and a hilarious reprieve for anyone who has ever struggled to be better.
In My Dreams I Dance
by null Anne Wafula-StrikeThe inspirational memoir from Paralympian and disability advocate Anne Wafula Strike Struck down with polio at the age of two and a half, Anne overcame the prejudice rife in her native village in Kenya, where neighbours believed she was cursed and called her a snake because of her disability, which left her paralysed below the waist. Losing her mother at a tender age, and sent to a school far away from home, she achieved fantastic academic results, amidst the challenges of a military coup. She went to university and qualified as a teacher, and fell in love with a British man who truly valued her defiant spirit. She moved from a world with no running water to make a life for herself in modern Britain. Where, against all odds, she bore a child, and went on to being the first East African to compete in her sport internationally. Anne is currently in further training, hoping to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Paralympics.
In My Father's Garden: A Daughter's Search for a Spiritual Life
by Kim CherninKim Chernin's mother was a leftist firebrand, an American Marxist at mid-century, when it was dangerous to be one. Her father, a quiet man, was no less radical. Why then, decades later, does their daughter--a liberal California psychoanalyst and writer--find herself drawn toward a spirituality that would have shocked her parents? Through three personal stories, Chernin tackles the questions that pull at all of us: how to make sense in a world whose order isn't always apparent, and how to find balance between the mind and the spirit. "Kim Chernin writes with immediacy and intimacy."--City Life, London.
In My Father's Shadow: A Daughter Remembers Orson Welles
by Chris Welles FederOf all the myriad stars and celebrities Hollywood has produced, only a handful have achieved the fame - and, some would say, infamy - of Orson Welles, the creator and star of what is arguably the greatest film ever, Citizen Kane. Many books have been written about him, detailing his achievements as an artist as well as his foibles as a human being. None of them, however, has come so close to the real man as Chris Welles Feder does in this beautifully realised portrait of her father.In My Father's Shadow is a classic story of a life lived in the public eye, told with affection and the wide-eyed wonder of a daughter who never stopped believing that some day she would truly know and understand her elusive and larger-than-life father. The result is a moving and insightful look at life in the shadow of a legendary figure and an immensely entertaining story of growing up in the unreal reality of Hollywood.
In My Hands: Compelling Stories from a Surgeon and His Patients Fighting Cancer
by Steven A. CurleyIn In My Hands, surgical oncologist Dr. Steven Curley shares the empowering lessons he's learned over 25 years from his cancer patients' unique stories of struggle, perseverance, and triumph.As Chief of Surgical Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Steven Curley has worked with cancer patients for over two decades. While his life's work has been to help his patients live longer lives, he found that they helped him in ways he never could have expected. In My Hands is a rare, often emotional look at some of Dr. Curley's real patients and real situations in modern cancer care. These stories of resilience, hope, and determination changed and inspired Dr. Curley, and he uses these same stories to encourage patients dealing with the fear and uncertainty coupled with a diagnosis of cancer. Every story in the book has a theme inspired by his patients: Hope, Courage, Strength, Determination, Wonder, Cooperation, Creativity, Diligence, Service, Perseverance, Wisdom, Grace, Consideration, Gratitude, Discernment, Reverence, Resourcefulness, Faith, Beauty, Acceptance, and Empathy. Some are positive messages, reminding us of the importance of maintaining balance between family, work, and leisure activities. Others are examples of the remarkable resilience of the human spirit when facing the reality of and the surgical risks that accompany a cancer diagnosis. Realistically, despite remarkable advances in multidisciplinary cancer care, some remind us cancer is still a potentially lethal and destructive disease affecting patients and the family and friends supporting them. While many people are told that there is no hope in their situation, Dr. Curley's patients taught him to always provide hope, to push the envelope and give people a chance, and that hope is a critical component of treatment and care. In My Hands is medical narrative at its finest, and provides insight into medicine and patient care along with fascinating details about one of our most feared diseases.
In My Life: A Music Memoir
by Alan JohnsonFrom being transported by the sound of 'True Love' by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly on the radio, as a small child living in condemned housing in ungentrified West London in the late 1950s, to going out to work as a postman humming 'Watching the Detectives' by Elvis Costello in 1977, Alan Johnson's life has always had a musical soundtrack. In fact music hasn't just accompanied his life, it's been an integral part of it.In the bestselling and award-winning tradition of This Boy, In My Life vividly transports us to a world that is no longer with us - a world of Dansettes and jukeboxes, of heartfelt love songs and heart-broken ballads, of smoky coffee shops and dingy dance halls. From Bob Dylan to David Bowie, from Lonnie Donnegan to Bruce Springsteen, all of Alan's favourites are here. As are, of course, his beloved Beatles, whom he has worshipped with undying admiration since 1963.But this isn't just a book about music. In My Life adds a fourth dimension to the story of Alan Johnson the man.
In My Mind's Eye: A Thought Diary
by Jan Morris'I have never before in my life kept a diary of my thoughts, and here at the start of my ninth decade, having for the moment nothing much else to write, I am having a go at it. Good luck to me.'So begins this extraordinary book, a collection of diary pieces that Jan Morris wrote for the Financial Times over the course of 2017.A former soldier and journalist, and one of the great chroniclers of the world for over half a century, she writes here in her characteristically intimate voice - funny, perceptive, wise, touching, wicked, scabrous, and above all, kind - about her thoughts on the world, and her own place in it as she turns ninety. From cats to cars, travel to home, music to writing, it's a cornucopia of delights from a unique literary figure.
In My Mother's Shoes
by Alison Walsh'Honest, funny, heartfelt ... I loved it' Cathy KellyClear-eyed, touching, forthright and funny, In My Mother's Shoes is Alison Walsh's delightful account of three generations of mothers - her Nana, leading light of the Irish Countrywomen's Association, indomitable in all things except deferring to her husband; her mother, whose glamorous career as a 1960s air hostess was cut cruelly short by the simple act of getting married; and Alison herself, a modern woman whose life would not be thwarted by such lack of choice. Or would it?'Cheerful, intelligent, funny and shockingly sensible ... Buy it. Read it. Pass it on.' Judith O'Reilly, author of Wife in the North'Honest and immensely readable ... many mothers will find themselves nodding along in recognition. I will be passing it on and - more tellingly - looking for it back' Sunday Business Post'Yay for Alison Walsh! ... An adroit, and honest, account of having babies (in the UK and Ireland), of bringing up babies (ditto), of being a Celtic Tiger mum, working all the hours God sends, to being a-stay-at-home mum, plus all the messy compromises in between' Sunday Independent
In My Own Time: Almost an Autobiography (Virago Modern Classics #688)
by Nina BawdenNina Bawden's career spans 20 adult novels and 17 for children. She turns now to her own story and in simple vignettes takes the reader through her life, revealing the inspirations of many of her books. It describes her childhood evacuation to Suffolk and Wales, and her years at Oxford, where she met Richard Burton and Margaret Thatcher. And, she gives an account of her oldest son, Niki, who was diagnosed schizophrenic.
In My Own Time: Thoughts and Afterthoughts
by Jane MillerFor the past four years Jane Miller, author of Crazy Age: Thoughts on Being Old, has been writing a column for an American magazine called In These Times. Her beautifully observed pieces about life, politics and Britain open a window to her American readers of a world very different from their own.'Her erudition is both dazzling and lightly borne, the personal often illuminating the political . . . Miller's is a welcome, necessary voice - readable, informative and entertaining' Times Literary SupplementJane Miller, author of the acclaimed Crazy Age, has for the past few years been writing a column for an American magazine based in Chicago called In These Times. Now, these beautifully observed pieces about life, politics and Britain, which opened a window for Americans on a world rather different from their own, are collected and published for the first time for her British readers.'Miller is a fantastic companion' Viv Groskop, Telegraph
In My Own Time: Reminiscences Of A Liberal Leader
by Jeremy ThorpeOne of the most charismatic politicians of his age, Jeremy Thorpe recalls important events and episodes from his life in politics in this fascinating collection of anecdotes and reminiscences. In it he speaks candidly about important national events in his personal life and political career. For the first time Jeremy Thorpe speaks of his trial and acquittal in 1979. He puts on record his account of the coalition talks with Edward Heath in 1974 and describes the debilitating effects of Parkinson's Disease, from which he suffered until his death in 2014.
In My Own Words: The Autobiography
by Paul GalvinOne of the greatest GAA footballers of the modern era, Paul Galvin has enjoyed a brilliant and at times controversial career. Winning four senior All Ireland medals with Kerry and eight Munster championships, he was also a three-time All Star and 2009 Footballer of the Year. His inter-county career took off in the late 1990s, when he picked up a Munster minor championship medal in 1997 and another at under-21 level in 1999. But it was in the senior team throughout the 2000s that Paul came into his own. In a period defined by great rivalry with Tyrone, he became a key playmaker for Kerry, never failing to give his all in pursuit of victory. Over the course of a career marked by courage, physicality and an intense passion for the Green and Gold, there were many glorious days. There were other days too, with controversial incidents that led to a number of suspensions, most notably in 2008, the year in which Paul also had the honour of being the Kerry captain. 2009 brought redemption. But 2010 presented new challenges. In this fiercely honest autobiography, Paul offers – in his own words – a compelling, unflinching account of a career that has fascinated football fans for over a decade.