Books

Cosmopolis is Don DeLillo's 13th novel. His reputation as one of the most provocative and innovative of American writers is assured, thanks to such books as Underworld and Americana, but this new outing is as likely to challenge the author's legion of admirers as much as it will exhilarate them--and there's nothing wrong with that. DeLillo's protagonist this time is a well-heeled American, Eric Packer, who sets out one eventful day for a haircut. Gazing through the windows of his white limous... less info

Cosmopolis is Don DeLillo's 13th novel. His reputation as one of the most provocative and innovative of American writers is assured, thanks to such books as Underworld and Americana, but this new o... more info

It took five days to settle on BEST BETTE for Bette Midler and WHO ARE YOU KIDMAN? for Nicole Kidman. It seems the worse the cover line, the longer it takes to concoct: HANKS FOR EVERYTHING for Tom Hanks, ELLE ON WHEELS for Elle MacPherson, STONE ALONE for Sharon Stone had taken about a week each...It is a trashy celebrity monthly crammed with high-cheekboned movie stars and exposes of the rich. Manufactured in a New York skyscraper aka slab, "a black monolith sixty stories high", i... less info

It took five days to settle on BEST BETTE for Bette Midler and WHO ARE YOU KIDMAN? for Nicole Kidman. It seems the worse the cover line, the longer it takes to concoct: HANKS FOR EVERYTHING for Tom... more info

Ever since he published his classic 1972 essay "Why They Aren't Writing the Great American Novel Anymore," Tom Wolfe has made his fictional preferences loud and clear. For New Journalism's poster boy, minimalism is a wash, not to mention a failure of nerve. The real mission of the American writer is to produce fat novels of social observation--the sort of thing Balzac would be dishing up if he had made it into the Viagra era. Wolfe's manifesto would have had a hubristic ring if he h... less info

Ever since he published his classic 1972 essay "Why They Aren't Writing the Great American Novel Anymore," Tom Wolfe has made his fictional preferences loud and clear. For New Journalism'... more info

The fierce invalid in Tom Robbins's seventh novel is a philosophical, hedonistic US operative very loosely inspired by a friend of the author. "Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll are enormously popular in the CIA", claims Switters. "Not with all the agents in the field, but with the good ones, the brightest and the best". Switters isn't really an invalid, but during his first mission (to set free his ornery grandma's parrot, Sailor, in the Amazon jungle), he gets zapped by a sp... less info

The fierce invalid in Tom Robbins's seventh novel is a philosophical, hedonistic US operative very loosely inspired by a friend of the author. "Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll are enormously pop... more info

Twenty-three is awfully young to find yourself with the power of life and death...Leo Marks failed the examination to go and work on codes at Bletchley by being just too good and too much of a smart aleck. Instead, he was imposed on a not entirely willing Special Operations Executive (SOE) to teach coding to agents dropped into Europe and to decode the sometimes indecipherable messages they sent back at great risk to their lives. His speeches to his staff on the mortal danger of slowness or c... less info

Twenty-three is awfully young to find yourself with the power of life and death...Leo Marks failed the examination to go and work on codes at Bletchley by being just too good and too much of a smar... more info

From the author of modern classics such as Tom's Midnight Garden, and A Dog So Small, this charming new novel from Philippa Pearce is reassuringly good and of a very fine quality. It is rooted firmly in the English countryside around the author's home, the backdrop for many of her most entertaining and enduring stories, and combines history, magical realism and a host of well-drawn characters. Bet, the granddaughter of Mr Franklin's cleaning lady, is asked to deputise for the ailing master o... less info

From the author of modern classics such as Tom's Midnight Garden, and A Dog So Small, this charming new novel from Philippa Pearce is reassuringly good and of a very fine quality. It is rooted firm... more info

In the library of pungent, grittily written books on the Vietnam war, Tom "Bud" Abraham's The Cage is something different--something very different indeed. Bud Abraham was one of the very few Englishmen who served in Vietnam. In the late 60s he took part in some of the most carnage-filled battles of the war as an officer in the first Cavalry Division. His courage gained him a slew of medals, and he even obtained one of the most prestigious decorations awarded by the American army, t... less info

In the library of pungent, grittily written books on the Vietnam war, Tom "Bud" Abraham's The Cage is something different--something very different indeed. Bud Abraham was one of the very... more info

In 1922, F Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple, intricately patterned". That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned and, above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanen... less info

In 1922, F Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple, intricately patterned". That extraordinary, beautiful, intric... more info

Rewriting the classic gods for comic effect is a Tom Holt speciality, and Valhalla returns to Odin the Skyfather, much mistreated in Holt's first funny fantasy Expecting Someone Taller 1987). Valhalla is the afterlife where warriors forever feast, get drunk, laugh at each other and are reborn the next day--the Viking idea of fun. But Odin, a devious bastard, has made changes ...For Howard the pretend Viking, who joined the War-Band of Sigurd Bloodtooth (Smethwick chapter) in hope of pulling g... less info

Rewriting the classic gods for comic effect is a Tom Holt speciality, and Valhalla returns to Odin the Skyfather, much mistreated in Holt's first funny fantasy Expecting Someone Taller 1987). Valha... more info

In 1922, F Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple, intricately patterned". That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned and, above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanen... less info

In 1922, F Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple, intricately patterned". That extraordinary, beautiful, intric... more info

From the author of modern classics such as Tom's Midnight Garden, and A Dog So Small, this charming new novel from Philippa Pearce is reassuringly good and of a very fine quality. It is rooted firmly in the English countryside around the author's home, the backdrop for many of her most entertaining and enduring stories, and combines history, magical realism and a host of well-drawn characters. Bet, the granddaughter of Mr Franklin's cleaning lady, is asked to deputise for the ailing master o... less info

From the author of modern classics such as Tom's Midnight Garden, and A Dog So Small, this charming new novel from Philippa Pearce is reassuringly good and of a very fine quality. It is rooted firm... more info

In 1922, F Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple, intricately patterned". That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned and, above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanen... less info

In 1922, F Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple, intricately patterned". That extraordinary, beautiful, intric... more info

It sounds like a movie pitch: "The story is like Tom Clancy crossed with John Grisham set in the Washington DC political world." But David Baldacci's Saving Faith successfully fuses elements from both of these chart-busters in this political thriller spiced with techno-wizardry. The villain is a classic spy caricature: Cold-war CIA super-patriot Robert Thornhill wants to reclaim the glory days of the Central Intelligence Agency--when money flowed like the Mississippi during a flood ... less info

It sounds like a movie pitch: "The story is like Tom Clancy crossed with John Grisham set in the Washington DC political world." But David Baldacci's Saving Faith successfully fuses eleme... more info

Rewriting the classic gods for comic effect is a Tom Holt speciality, and Valhalla returns to Odin the Skyfather, much mistreated in Holt's first funny fantasy Expecting Someone Taller 1987). Valhalla is the afterlife where warriors forever feast, get drunk, laugh at each other and are reborn the next day--the Viking idea of fun. But Odin, a devious bastard, has made changes ...For Howard the pretend Viking, who joined the War-Band of Sigurd Bloodtooth (Smethwick chapter) in hope of pulling g... less info

Rewriting the classic gods for comic effect is a Tom Holt speciality, and Valhalla returns to Odin the Skyfather, much mistreated in Holt's first funny fantasy Expecting Someone Taller 1987). Valha... more info

Classic / American English (Available February 2008) Tom Sawyer loves adventures. He has them at home, at school, and with his friends - Huck Finn, Joe Harper, and Becky Thatcher. Tom has one adventure in a graveyard, one in an old house, one in a cave. Who does he see in those places - and why is he afraid? less info

Classic / American English (Available February 2008) Tom Sawyer loves adventures. He has them at home, at school, and with his friends - Huck Finn, Joe Harper, and Becky Thatcher. Tom has one adven... more info