Engelska

Joan Didion's savage masterpiece, which, since first publication in 1968, has been acknowledged as an unparalleled report on the state of America during the upheaval of the Sixties Revolution.<br/><br/>We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were<br/><br/>In her non-fiction work, Joan Didion not only describes the subject at hand - her younger self loving and leaving New York, the murderous housewife, the little girl trailing the rock group, the millionaire bunkered in his mansion - but also offers a broader vision of the world, one that is both terrifying and tender, ominous and uniquely her own.

In Thomas Ligotti&rsquo;s first nonfiction outing, an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality. &ldquo;There is a signature motif discernible in both works of philosophical pessimism and supernatural horror. It may be stated thus: Behind the scenes of life lurks something pernicious that makes a nightmare of our world." His fiction is known to be some of the most terrifying in the genre of supernatural horror, but Thomas Ligotti&rsquo;s first nonfiction book may be even scarier. Drawing on philosophy, literature, neuroscience, and other fields of study, Ligotti takes the penetrating lens of his imagination and turns it on his audience, causing them to grapple with the brutal reality that they are living a meaningless nightmare, and anyone who feels otherwise is simply acting out an optimistic fallacy. At once a guidebook to pessimistic thought and a relentless critique of humanity&rsquo;s employment of self-deception to cope with the pervasive suffering of their existence, The Conspiracy against the Human Race may just convince readers that there is more than a measure of truth in the despairing yet unexpectedly liberating negativity that is widely considered a hallmark of Ligotti&rsquo;s work.

*A <em>Sunday Times</em>, <em>Irish Times</em>, <em>Financial Times</em>, <em>Independent,</em> <em>Daily Mail</em>, <em>TLS, Economist, Prospect,</em> <em>Evening Standard</em> and <em>New Statesman</em> Book of the Year 2024* <br/><br/><strong>Can you remember the first time you fell in love with a book?</strong> <br/><br/>The stories we read as children matter. The best ones are indelible in our memories; reaching far beyond our childhoods, they are a window into our deepest hopes, joys and anxieties. They reveal our past - collective and individual, remembered and imagined - and invite us to dream up different futures. <br/><br/>In a pioneering history of the children's literary canon, <em>The Haunted Wood</em> reveals the magic of childhood reading, from the ancient tales of Aesop, through the Victorian and Edwardian golden age to new classics. Excavating the complex lives of our most beloved writers, Sam Leith offers a humane portrait of a genre and celebrates the power of books to inspire and console entire generations. <br/><br/>*** <br/><br/><strong>'A MARVEL' PHILIP PULLMAN</strong> <br/><br/><strong>'A DELIGHT'</strong> <strong>JULIA DONALDSON</strong> <br/><br/><strong>'GLORIOUSLY ENTERTAINING' TOM HOLLAND</strong>

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Mackenzie Bishop's grandfather first brought her here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now her grandfather is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

&apos;Married five times. Mother. Lover. Aunt. Friend. She plays many roles round here. And never Scared to tell the whole of her truth, whether Or not anyone wants to hear it. Wife Of Willesden: pissed enough to tell her life Story to whoever has ears and eyes . . .&apos; Zadie Smith&apos;s first time writing for the stage, The Wife of Willesden is a riotous twenty-first century translation of Geoffrey Chaucer&apos;s classic The Wife of Bath&apos;s Prologue, brought to glorious life on the Kilburn High Road.

<b>The hidden story of a little-known but transformative period in the formation of England as a nation.</b><br/><br/>The Viking Great Army that swept through England between AD 865 and 878 altered the course of British history. Since the late 8th century, Viking raids on the British Isles had been a regular feature of life, but the winter of 865 saw a fundamental shift that would change the political, economic and social landscape forever. Instead of making quick smash-and-grab summer raids for silver and slaves, Vikings now remained in England for the winter and became immersed in its communities. Some settled permanently, acquiring land and forming a new hybrid Anglo-Scandinavian culture. The Viking army was here to stay. Its presence was a catalyst for new towns and new industries, while transformations in power politics would ultimately see the rise of King Alfred the Great and make Wessex the pre-eminent kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England.<br/><br/>Drawing on the most up-to-date discoveries and the latest scientific techniques, the authors' recent research at the Viking Great Army's winter camp at Torksey in Lincolnshire has revolutionized what we know about its size, activities and social makeup, as has the wealth of newly recovered evidence from metal-detectorists. Unfolding like a great detective story, this account traces the movements of the Great Army across the country, piecing together a new picture of Viking Age England in unprecedented detail, from swords, coins, jewelry and the burials of great warriors to the everyday objects that ordinary farmers and craftsmen discarded. It is the definitive story of a vital period in British history.

<b>Best Books of 2022 Financial Times</b><br/><br/><b>'A literary phenomenon.' - <i>Times Literary Supplement</i></b><br/><br/><b>'I</b><b>maginative, lively and contemporary...masterly.<i>' - Economist </i></b><br/><br/><b>'Vallejo enlivens history with imagination and personal anecdote'<i> - Observer</i></b><br/><br/><b>'A mindboggling history of the earliest books... the story she tells is impressively rip-roaring' - <i>Daily Telegraph</i></b><br/><br/><b><i>'</i>Packed with fascinating insights.' - <i>The i Review</i></b><br/><br/>Long before books were mass produced, those made of reeds from along the Nile were worth fighting and dying for. Journeying along the battlefields of Alexander the Great, beneath the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, at Cleopatra's palaces and the scene of Hypatia's murder, award-winning author Irene Vallejo chronicles the excitement of literary culture in the ancient world, and the heroic efforts that ensured this impressive tradition would continue.<br/><br/>Weaved throughout are fascinating stories about the spies, scribes, illuminators, librarians, booksellers, authors, and statesmen whose rich and sometimes complicated engagement with the written word bears remarkable similarities to the world today: Aristophanes and the censorship of the humourists, Sappho and the empowerment of women's voices, Seneca and the problem of a post-truth world.<br/><br/>Vallejo takes us to mountainous landscapes and the roaring sea, to the capitals where culture flourished and the furthest reaches where knowledge found refuge in chaotic times. In this sweeping tour of the history of books, the wonder of the ancient world comes alive and along the way we discover the singular power of the written word.