Books & Reading

Hailed as 'the indispensable critic' by The New York Review of Books, Harold Bloom has for decades been sharing with readers and students his genius and passion for understanding literature and explaining why it matters. In The Daemon Knows, he turns...

A literary master's entertaining guide to reading with deeper insight, better understanding, and greater pleasure What makes a work of literature good or bad? How freely can the reader interpret it? Could a nursery rhyme like Baa Baa Black Sheep be full...

Ian McEwan once said, 'When women stop reading, the novel will be dead.' This book explains how precious fiction is to contemporary women readers, and how they draw on it to tell the stories of their lives. Female readers are key to the future of fiction...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780358212102Author Ursula K Le GuinFormat PaperbackPage Count 336Imprint Harper PerennialPublisher Harper PerennialWeight(grams) 259gDimensions(mm) 201mm *...

In Marx's Literary Style, the Venezuelan poet and philosopher Ludovico Silva argues that much of the confusion around Marx's work results from a failure to understand his literary mode of expression. Through meticulous readings of key passages in Marx's...

In The Nature of the Book, a tour de force of cultural history, Adrian Johns constructs an entirely original and vivid picture of print culture and its many arenas-commercial, intellectual, political, and individual."A compelling exposition of how...

The world of books in one little book. It doesn't matter how well read you are, A Little Book About Books is packed full of quotes, one-liners and famous lines from names that everyone will recognise. For bibliophiles, they'll enjoy recognising their...

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A small masterpiece. There is something funny, notable or awe-inspiring on every single page' Jenny Colgan, Spectator A joyful celebration of books - the perfect gift for bibliophiles, word lovers and anyone who's ever...

Beginning with a dilemma about whether he spends more money on reading or smoking, George Orwell's entertaining and uncompromising essays go on to explore everything from the perils of second-hand bookshops to the dubious profession of being a critic,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780316230063Author Maureen CorriganFormat PaperbackPage Count 368Imprint Back Bay BooksPublisher Back Bay BooksWeight(grams) 318gDimensions(mm) 206mm *...

This is a book of book lists. Not of the '1,001 Books You MUST Read Before You Die' variety but lists that tell stories. Lists that make you smile, make you wonder, and see titles together in entirely new ways. From Bin Laden's bookshelf to the books...

From 'Best of the Booker' winner Salman Rushdie, an incisive and inspiring collection of non-fiction essays, criticism and speeches that takes readers on a thrilling journey through the evolution of language and culture.'One of the greatest writers of...

A darkly comic and moving reflection on what it means to be human in a world where nothing is certain, from the award-winning Oxford professor'The best book about multiple sclerosis'THE TIMES'An outstanding feat'SUNDAY TIMESWe all have trapdoors in our...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.AwardsWinner of Locus Awards (Nonfiction) 2005.Book InformationISBN 9781590300060Author Ursula K. Le GuinFormat PaperbackPage Count 336Imprint Shambhala Publications IncPublisher...

Listening into writing, reading into writing take shape in F.M.R.L. through a collection of short texts, fragments and 'deranged essays', with attention to pacing and linguistic derives. An archive of books, notebooks, events and records prompts the...

A SPECTATOR AND EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020'A joy. Each chapter instantly became my favourite' David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas'Wonderful' Lucy Mangan'The right book has a neverendingness, and so does the right bookshop.'This is the story...

Enjoy daily distraction with this engaging Almanac. Each date is assigned one or more literary connections. Book lovers will find extracts from authors' diaries and letters, chance upon the narrative twists and transformative moments in their favourite...

'Novel Houses' visits unforgettable dwellings in twenty legendary works of English and American fiction. Each chapter stars a famous novel in which a dwelling is pivotal to the plot, and reveals how personally significant that place was to the writer who...

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...

Related to ideas of the great, the awe-inspiring and the overpowering, the sublime has been debated for centuries amongst writers, artists, philosophers and theorists and has become a complex yet crucial concept in many disciplines. In this thoroughly...

An exquisite appreciation of the distinctive rewards of historical research and a classic guide to the personal yet disciplined craft of discovery, now in its first English translation. Arlette Farge's Le Gout de l'archive is widely regarded as a...

'Generous, enjoyable and well informed.' Observer'500 expertly potted plots and personal comments on a wide range of pop and proper prose fiction.' The Times___________________________________________________________Ranging all the way from Aaron's Rod...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781948226134Author Jane AlisonFormat PaperbackPage Count 272Imprint CatapultPublisher CatapultWeight(grams) 272gDimensions(mm) 209mm * 139mm * 20mm

From the former U.S. Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winner, an illuminating dissection of poetic form for students, enthusiasts, and newcomers alike A Little Book on Form brilliantly synthesizes Hass's formidable gifts as both a...

This study of the history of reading goes from the earliest examples of the clay tablets and cuneiform of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt via the invention of printing in the 15th century to the birth of a mass reading public and today's digital revolution...

The concern in this essay is for our age as one suffering an intellectual severance between our response to existential reality in which the beauty of a created particular thing is divorced from the Cause of that thing's existence. The separation speaks...

A charming collection of quotes about cats from our favourite authors, accompanied by artwork in the trademark style of Paul Magrs (author of The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy). 'I love them, they are so nice and selfish' - L.M...

Terry Eagleton looks back across sixty years to an extraordinary critical milieu that transformed the study of literature Before the First World War, traditional literary scholarship was isolated from society at large. In the years following, a younger...

Books That Changed the World tells the fascinating stories behind 50 books that, in ways great and small, have changed the course of human history. Andrew Taylor sets each text in its historical context and explores its wider influence and legacy...

Ever since Robinson Crusoe in 1719, the novel has introduced British readers to truly unforgettable characters - people in whom we can find deeper understanding of our own lives. In this engaging and personal book, Sebastian Faulks examines and...

What s the perfect gift for your friend who loves literature? How about an adorable crocheted Moby Dick? Or a delightfully miniature Elizabeth Bennet? Or an elegant and fuzzy Jay Gatsby? Whether you need some holiday decor (Ebenezer Scrooge!) or want to...

A sense of certainty and unhesitating confidence is rare in the contemporary world. An unrelenting flow of choices confronts us at nearly every moment of our lives, and if we are honest about it then most of us will admit that we waver in the face of...

From the very first book publication in 1920 to the upcoming film release of Death on the Nile, this investigation into Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot celebrates a century of probably the world's favourite fictional detective. ...

A critical examination of Ian McEwan and his novel, "Enduring Love", this title forms part of a series that aims to provide accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, acclaimed and influential novels of recent years. A team of...

Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionLonglisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing'If you have even the slightest interest in Orwell or in the development of our culture, you should not miss this engrossing, enlightening book.'...

In 14 original essays, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Book reveals the history of books in all their various forms, from the ancient world to the digital present. Leading international scholars offer an original and richly illustrated narrative...

'A searing, triumphant story. A testament to the tenacity of the human spirit as well as a beautiful ode to an iconic figure' IRENOSEN OKOJIE Letters to Gil is...

Shakespeare and Company, Paris, is one of the world's most iconic and beautiful bookshops. Located on the banks of the Seine, opposite Notre-Dame, it's long been a meeting place for anglophone writers and readers. In that tradition, determined for the...

In this remarkable little book, Will Durant answers the questions that most people would have wanted to ask him - what are the conclusions he drew from the experience of a long lifetime; what eras, individuals, and achievements stand out as being the...

'Words connect the visible track to the invisible thing ... like a fragile makeshift bridge cast across the void'With imagination and wit, Italo Calvino sought to define the virtues of the great literature of the past in order to shape the values of...