Books & Reading

What can Alice in Wonderland teach us about childhood? Could reading Conversations with Friends guide us through first love? Does Esther Greenwood's glittering success and subsequent collapse in The Bell Jar help us understand ambition? And, finally,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781945492426Author Mary CappelloFormat PaperbackPage Count 136Imprint Transit BooksPublisher Transit Books

To Write As If Already Dead circles around Kate Zambreno's failed attempts to write a study of Herve Guibert's To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life. In this diaristic, transgressive work, the first in a cycle written in the years preceding his death,...

This book is a compact guide to reading plays, and to the art and techniques of drama. Ranging from classical Greece to modern Drama and performance, but with particular emphasis on the playwrights (including Shakespeare) who are most widely taught and...

Stories shape us and give us meaning - but is it coincidence that the same seven basic plots repeat over time and across the world? What if stories not only reveal something about human psychology, but also give us clues to the meaning of the reality...

For a whole year on his train to work, Stig Abell read books from across genres and time periods. Then he wrote about them, and their impact on our culture and his own life.The result is a work of many things: a brisk guide to the canon of Western...

For so many people, reading isn't just a hobby or a way to pass the time--it's a lifestyle. Our books shape us, define us, enchant us, and even sometimes infuriate us. Our books are a part of who we are as people, and we can't imagine life without them. ...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780544002340Author Instructor Jonathan GottschallFormat PaperbackPage Count 272Imprint Mariner BooksPublisher Mariner BooksWeight(grams) 218gDimensions(mm)...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781843916161Author Marcel ProustFormat PaperbackPage Count 112Imprint Hesperus Press LtdPublisher Hesperus Press LtdWeight(grams) 160gDimensions(mm) 195mm *...

A fascinating, richly illustrated exploration of the poignant origins of Rudyard Kipling's world-famous children's classic"In this concise and remarkable book . . . Batchelor guides us expertly . . . drawing on multiple sources and making intriguing...

What will 21st century fiction look like? Acclaimed literary critic Adam Kirsch examines some of our most beloved writers, including Haruki Murakami, Elena Ferrante, Roberto Bolano, and Margaret Atwood, to better understand literature in the age of...

Soon after its publication on 30 September 1868, Little Women became an enormous international bestseller. When Anne Boyd Rioux read it in her twenties, it had a powerful effect on her and through teaching it, she has seen its effect on many others. In...

With his hallmark discernment, George Steiner presents in The Poetry of Thought his magnum opus, staking out his claim for the essential oneness of great thought and great style. Steiner spans the entire history of Western philosophy as it entwines with...

'A vital and timely introduction to some of the best books I've ever read. Perfectly curated and filled with brilliant literature'Nikesh Shukla'The ultimate introduction to post-colonial literature for those who want to understand the classics and the...

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...

An engaging, accessible introduction to reading and understanding early modern English manuscripts This engaging book provides an essential introduction to the manuscript in early modern England. From birth to death, parish record to probate inventory,...

Literature departments are staffed by, and tend to be focused on turning out, "good" readers attentive to nuance, aware of history, interested in literary texts as self-contained works. But the vast majority of readers are, to use Merve Emre's...

Close friendships are a heart-warming feature of many of our best-loved works of fiction. From Jane Eyre and Helen Burns' poignant schoolgirl relationship to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn's adventures on the Mississippi, fictional friends have...

The flood of information brought to us by advancing technology is often accompanied by a distressing sense of "information overload," yet this experience is not unique to modern times. In fact, says Ann M. Blair in this intriguing book, the...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781598536409Author Harold BloomFormat HardbackPage Count 436Imprint The Library of AmericaPublisher The Library of AmericaWeight(grams) 709gDimensions(mm)...

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...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781632461544Author Lucy FerrissFormat PaperbackPage Count 160Imprint Ig PublishingPublisher Ig Publishing

A lighthearted look at how to bring more humor, happiness, and joie de vivre into our lives through French literature Like many people the world over, Viv Groskop wishes she was a little more French. A writer, comedian, and journalist, Groskop...

`Probably the most compulsive text ever penned about what it means to handle and possess a book' - Christopher de Hamel, author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts; `A real treasure trove for book lovers' - Alexander McCall Smith; We love books. We...

Is reading under threat? No, says Alan Jacobs--but people do need help iand encouragemnt to enjoy it to the full. Jacobs's experience as a lecturer and many-time author suggests that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading...

In the first days of spring in his eighty-second year, Gerald Murnane - perhaps the greatest living writer of English prose - began a project that would round off his strange career as a novelist. He would read all of his books in turn and prepare a...

'A rich, strange book. Very truthful and moving' Tessa Hadley 'A terrific, engrossing novel' Roddy Doyle 'A masterpiece' Sebastian Barry The new novel about the transformative power of art,...

A century and a half after the publication of Origin of Species, evolutionary thinking has expanded beyond the field of biology to include virtually all human-related subjects-anthropology, archeology, psychology, economics, religion, morality, politics,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780804171632Author Peter MendelsundFormat PaperbackPage Count 448Imprint Vintage BooksPublisher Random House USA IncWeight(grams) 510gDimensions(mm) 198mm *...

Have you lost the art of reading for pleasure? Are there books you know you should read but haven't because they seem too daunting? In The Well-Educated Mind, Susan Wise Bauer provides a welcome and encouraging antidote to the distractions of our age,...

There they sit, the great tomes of classical literature, taunting you with their length and difficulty, as you ask: which books are the most important and why - and what's actually any good? Why does most writing about the classics have words like...

A sharp and provocative new essay collection from the award-winning author of Freedom and The Corrections In The End of the End of the Earth, which gathers essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years,...

What is the source of a book's perceived greatness and why do certain books become part of the accepted canon? This book presents a fresh perspective on these questions: against prevalent approaches, it explains a work's reputation in terms of its...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780062442185Author Helene HanffFormat PaperbackPage Count 160Imprint CollinsPublisher HarperCollins Publishers IncWeight(grams) 159gDimensions(mm) 211mm *...

Personal prayer books and the jottings in their margins tell us about their owners and about life in late medieval and Reformation England In this richly illustrated book, religious historian Eamon Duffy discusses the Book of Hours, unquestionably the...

The art and literature of our time is pregnant with catastrophe, with weather and water, wildness and weirdness. The Anthropocene - the term given to this geological epoch in which humans, anthropos, are wreaking havoc on the earth - is to be found...

The Book Lover's Joke Book is the funniest book about books you'll ever read. You'll find jokes about writers, agents, publishers, librarians, grammar, poetry, bookcases, and lightbulbs. There are rib-ticklers for typographers, crackers for critics, and...

The books that we choose to keep--let alone read--can say a lot about who we are and how we see ourselves. In MY IDEAL BOOKSHELF, dozens of leading cultural figures share the books that matter to them most-books that define their dreams and ambitions and...

A history of the chapter from its origins in antiquity to todayWhy do books have chapters? With this seemingly simple question, Nicholas Dames embarks on a literary journey spanning two millennia, revealing how an ancient editorial technique became a...

'Like all good diarists Paling's musings are funny, tender and uncensored' Sunday Times6 April 2007Writing income for the year so far: minus GBP300'I feel that this might just be the year in which something happens. Then again it might not. But hope...