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Choir:Gareth Malone
Choir:Gareth Malone
Gareth Malone
¥68.67
The hugely popular Gareth Malone recounts the heart-warming stories and transformations behind the award-winning BBC2 series The Choir For the first time, Gareth reveals everything he has learned from working with so many groups of memorable people, including the record-breaking Military Wives and latest series of The Choir being shown this Autumn. Gareth was an unknown Choirmaster when he arrived on British TV screens five years ago. Boyish, irrepressible and determined, Gareth took on a collection of kids from the most unlikely comprehensive and turned them into a talented performing choir. This was the beginning of a national love affair with a bow-tied and undeniably charming young man, and it was also the start of a national rediscovery of the joy to be found in choirs. Since then, each series of The Choir has gone on to even more demanding challenges, taking young offenders to Glyndebourne, regenerating disparate and far from affluent communities, and finally in an extraordinarily emotional journey, Gareth took a group of women whose partners were serving in Afghanistan to a Christmas Number One. This Autumn, in a new four-part series, The Choir: Sing While you Work, Gareth will be challenging four new Choirs to compete against each other. This is his memoir of a period in which he transformed the lives of thousands but also gained a lifetime’s worth of experience in human frailty and strength. Written with real joy, emotion and amusement, the twenty chapters each deal with an individual moment – both break-throughs and disasters – or an individual character that has contributed to this extraordinary adventure. Whether he is explaining the importance of biscuits or the role of the elderly in a community undertaking, remembering the scrappy kid who never quite delivered or the mother who had most to prove this is an incredibly moving journey. It is his adventure… and ours.
The Queen:Elizabeth II and the Monarchy (Text Only)
The Queen:Elizabeth II and the Monarchy (Text Only)
Ben Pimlott
¥80.25
An updated edition of Ben Pimlott’s classic biography of the Queen: ‘There is no better biography of Elizabeth II.’ PETER HENNESSY, Independent on Sunday The royal family have been through a tumultuous decade, but with the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, Prince Philip’s 90th birthday and the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations, there is renewed interest and appreciation of our monarchy. The Queen is an in-depth look at the woman at the centre of it all and is the only biography to take Elizabeth II seriously as the subject of historical biography, or to examine the influences that formed her and the ideas she represents. Ben Pimlott (described by Andrew Marr in the Independent as ‘the best writer of political biography now writing’) treats the Head of State to the rigorous and objective scrutiny he applied to major political personalities, using a wide range of sources, including interviews, diaries and letters, and papers in the Royal Archives. The Queen looks at the social, political and psychological aspects of his subject in detail, as well as at the changing role of Monarchy in the British Constitution. In the process, the book displays all the author’s formidable analytic and narrative skills, and provides a gripping yet sensitive account of one of the most publicised – yet least known – figures of our time. It is vital reading for all those who care about public life in Britain – past, present and to come. Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.
Lost in France:The Story of England's 1998 World Cup Campaign
Lost in France:The Story of England's 1998 World Cup Campaign
Mark Palmer
¥57.09
An essential fly-on-the-wall account of the biggest World Cup tournament ever staged. 1998 is the year the World Cup comes home. Almost 70 years since Jules Rimet’s dream first came to fruition, France plays host for the first time to the greatest sporting event in the world. And, with a record-breaking 32 nations competing, the 1998 tournament will be the largest and most widely publicised football extravaganza in history. While following the sporting action, Mark Palmer will also travel around France to speak to fans, players, coaches, competition organisers and journalists, to present the inside story of the World Cup as the drama unfolds. With unrivalled access to the English and French FAs, as well as world regulating body FIFA, Palmer will balance the official view of the tournament with fans’ own experiences – all the while comparing the breaking story to how it is being reported back home.
Breaking the Silence
Breaking the Silence
Casey Watson
¥58.86
From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a true story of two deeply troubled boys both in need of a loving home. This is the sixth title in the series. The Watsons are astonished when they answer their front door to find their case worker with a small boy on the doorstep. Jenson is just nine years old. He was removed from his home thirty minutes earlier when it was discovered his mother had left him at home while she went on holiday with her boyfriend. A couple of weeks later Casey is in for a second shock when she is asked to take a second nine-year-old boy, Georgie. Georgie is autistic and has been in a children’s home since he was a toddler. The home is closing and social services need somewhere temporary for him to stay. With her own grown up son, Kieron, having Asperger’s (a mild form of autism), Casey knows this is one child she cannot say no to. The relationship between Jenson and Georgie is difficult from the outset. Jenson is rebellious and full of attitude and he kicks off at anything, constantly winding Georgie up. Georgie doesn’t cope well with change and is soon in a permanent state of stress. Despite Casey’s best efforts, her innate love for the children is being tested and she begins to question if she can handle Jenson’s cruelty. But over time it becomes clear that the boys have formed an unlikely bond. Could this be the solution to all of their troubles?
King Edward VIII
King Edward VIII
Philip Ziegler
¥104.48
The authorised life story of the king who gave up his throne for love, by one of our most distinguished biographers. In this masterly authorized biography, Philip Ziegler reveals the complex personality of Edward VIII, the only British monarch to have voluntarily renounced the throne. With unique access to the Royal Archives, Ziegler overturns many myths about Edward and tells his side of the story – from his glamorous existence as Prince of Wales to his long decline in semi-exile in France. At the heart of the book is an unflinchingly honest examination of Edward’s all-consuming passion for Wallis Simpson, which led to his dramatic abdication. Elegant and devastating, this is the most convincing portrait of Edward ever published.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk
Vance, Ashlee
¥95.11
South African born Elon Musk is the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Musk wants to save our planet; he wants to send citizens into space, to form a colony on Mars; he wants to make money while doing these things; and he wants us all to know about it. He is the real-life inspiration for the Iron Man series of films starring Robert Downey Junior. The personal tale of Musk’s life comes with all the trappings one associates with a great, drama-filled story. He was a freakishly bright kid who was bullied brutally at school, and abused by his father. In the midst of these rough conditions, and the violence of apartheid South Africa, Musk still thrived academically and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he paid his own way through school by turning his house into a club and throwing massive parties. He started a pair of huge dot-com successes, including PayPal, which eBay acquired for $1.5 billion in 2002. Musk was forced out as CEO and so began his lost years in which he decided to go it alone and baffled friends by investing his fortune in rockets and electric cars. Meanwhile Musk’s marriage disintegrated as his technological obsessions took over his life ... Elon Musk is the Steve Jobs of the present and the future, and for the past twelve months, he has been shadowed by tech reporter, Ashlee Vance. Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of Spacex and Tesla is Shaping our Future is an important, exciting and intelligent account of the real-life Iron Man.
Days Like These:A life cut short by cancer, a love that touched the world
Days Like These:A life cut short by cancer, a love that touched the world
Kristian Anderson,Rachel Anderson
¥58.86
When Kristian Anderson received the diagnosis that every devoted husband and father fears, he refused to resign himself silently to fate. He began a brave and candid blog as he underwent treatment for cancer: sharing the joy of each small victory, the devastation in every setback, and the agonising realisation that he wouldn’t always be able to protect and comfort his little boys when they were lonely or afraid, or grow old with his wife and soulmate. His posts full of hope, faith, and breathtaking honesty captured Australian hearts, then swept across the Pacific, gathering followers. A poignant video tribute for his wife Rachel became an internet phenomenon, attracting messages from well-wishers across the globe. After his death, their love inspired Rachel to bring together Kristian’s blog entries combined with her own intimate reflections. Days Like These is a heartbreaking account of her husband’s final battle, his strength and courage, but it is also a story about coming back from grief, and learning how to live again.
DOG Is GOD Spelt Backwards:Bonnie
DOG Is GOD Spelt Backwards:Bonnie
Isabel George
¥15.60
An inspiring and heart-warming short story of canine devotion and bravery. When Corporal Jenny Chester was matched with Arms and Explosives search dog Bonnie it felt like the best Christmas present ever. Friends from day one, partners beyond doubt, through service in Bosnia and Iraq they shared food on the run, sleeping in bags in the cold and shade of the same tree. A bond made in wartime that created a partnership for life. Extracted from the bestselling title The Dog That Saved My Life.
Fearless Under Fire:Tangye
Fearless Under Fire:Tangye
Isabel George
¥15.60
An inspiring and heart-warming short story of canine devotion and bravery. A brave and loyal companion to the British soldiers in conflict in Afghanistan, Tangye began his years as a puppy mascot. Before long he was inseparable from the servicemen on the base, who he lived and patrolled with for five years. He accompanied the bomb disposal unit several times and became a target for the enemy. But he was also a much loved companion for soldiers in the time of need. Extracted from the bestselling title Beyond The Call Of Duty, this is the story of dog who was a resident comedian and constant comforter, and the fight of the men he accompanied to bring him back with them to the UK.
The Girls Who Went to War:Heroism, heartache and happiness in the wartime women’
The Girls Who Went to War:Heroism, heartache and happiness in the wartime women’
Duncan Barrett,Nuala Calvi
¥58.86
The personal accounts of three young women who joined up in 1940. In the summer of 1940, Britain stood alone against Germany. The British Army stood at just over one and a half million men, while the Germans had three times that many, and a population almost twice the size of ours from which to draw new waves of soldiers. Clearly, in the fight against Hitler, manpower alone wasn’t going to be enough. Eighteen-year-old Jessie Ward defied her mother to join the ATS, Margery Pott signed up for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, and nanny Kathleen Skin the WRNS. They left quiet homes for the rigours of training, the camaraderie of the young women who worked together so closely and to face a war that would change their lives for ever. Overall, more than half a million women served in the armed forces during the Second World War. This book tells the story of just three of them – one from the Army, one from the Navy and one from the Air Force. But in their stories are reflected the lives of hundreds of thousands of others like them – ordinary girls who went to war, wearing their uniforms with pride.
Jack London:A Life
Jack London:A Life
Alex Kershaw
¥95.75
A full-blooded, pacy biography of one of the most charismatic writers of the century, whose life and work were to inspire Hemingway, Steinbeck, Kerouac and Mailer. ‘We cannot help but read on’: TLS. ‘The energy, dynamism and sheer bursting life-force of Jack London bowls you over’: Scotsman. ? Jack London’s life story (1876–1916) is as dramatic as any of the fiction he wrote. Born illegitimate in San Francisco, he was (in his teens) an oyster pirate, seal-hunter, hobo, Klondike goldminer – and spectacular drinker. ? On publication of The Call of the Wild in 1903, he became the most highly publicised writer in the world. Subsequent books, including Martin Eden, White Fang, The Iron Heel, The People of the Abyss, John Barleycorn, The Sea Wolf, continue in print as world classics in many languages. ? Apart from writing 50 books, he lectured for the Socialist Party in America; was a war correspondent in Korea and Mexico; introduced surfing to the West Coast; sailed the seven seas in his yacht, the Snark…
Queen Victoria:A Life of Contradictions
Queen Victoria:A Life of Contradictions
Matthew Dennison
¥66.22
A fresh, witty, accessible life of Queen Victoria. Not since Lytton Strachey has the irony, contradictions and influence of this Queen been treated with such flourish or biographical insight. 'Queen Victoria had a very complicated and psychologically fascinating personality and only a very talented biographer could get to the key of her character. Fortunately in Matthew Dennison's pithy, well-researched, beautifully written and very accessible book, she has found one' Andrew Roberts Queen Victoria is Britain’s queen of contradictions. In her combination of deep sentimentality and bombast; cultural imperialism and imperial compassion; fear of intellectualism and excitement at technology; romanticism and prudishness, she became a spirit of the age to which she gave her name. Victoria embraced photography, railway travel and modern art; she resisted compulsory education for the working classes, recommended for a leading women’s rights campaigner ‘a good whipping’ and detested smoking. She may or may not have been amused. Meanwhile she reinvented the monarchy and wrestled with personal reinvention. She lived in the shadow of her mother and then under the tutelage of her husband; finally she embraced self-reliance during her long widowhood. Fresh, witty and accessible, Queen Victoria is a compelling assessment of Victoria’s mercurial character and impact, written with the irony, flourish and insight that this Queen and her rule so richly deserve.
The Dog with the Old Soul
The Dog with the Old Soul
Jennifer Basye Sander
¥51.50
Sometimes the most unlikely of friendships are the ones that save us. From the loyal dog who risks his own life to rescue a drowning boy to the lost kitten who comforts a grieving woman to an abandoned horse and foster child who come to rescue each other, these inspiring true stories highlight the hope, healing, happiness and – most of all – unconditional love animals bring to our lives. Whether you love sloppy dog kisses or melt at every meow, this heartwarming collection is one to treasure.
Peter Jackson: A Film-maker’s Journey
Peter Jackson: A Film-maker’s Journey
Brian Sibley
¥110.46
Authorised and fully illustrated insight into the life and career of the award-winning director, from his childhood film projects up to King Kong, together with Jackson's revealing personal account of his six-year quest to film The Lord of the Rings. Once, Peter Jackson was a name unknown to all but a small band of loyal fans and fellow film-makers. Now he is the newest member of Hollywood's elite fellowship, with his name on the most successful movie trilogy of all time. Written with Jackson's full participation, this extensive biography, illustrated with never-before-seen photos from Jackson's personal collection, tells the inside story of how a New Zealander became Hollywood's hottest property – from the early cult classics, through Academy Award?-winning success with Kate Winslet's Heavenly Creatures, the abandoned King Kong remake, and the filming of The Lord of the Rings, a project which was abandoned two years into pre-production, rejected by most of the other studios and then picked up by New Line Cinema in the biggest gamble in film history. Drawing upon interviews with fifty of Peter Jackson's colleagues and contemporaries, author Brian Sibley paints a portrait of a true auteur, a man gifted with single-minded determination and an artist's vision. Jackson himself is both revealing and insightful about his entire film-making life, from his first childhood steps filming in Super 8 to the grand realisation of his life’s dream: King Kong. Together, these joint narratives provide a truly unique and compelling insight into one of the finest cinematic minds at work today.
An Unconventional Love
An Unconventional Love
Adeline Harris
¥51.50
Adeline Harris grew up in surroundings steeped in religion, from the beloved ayah in India who told her stories of Jesus wrestling tigers, to the strict father in England who placed a stone under her knee when she said the Rosary. It was no wonder that she always wanted to be a nun and a saint. Brought up to respect the church’s authority, the parish priest was an important early influence in her life. And when she met the new charismatic priest, Father Kelly, her interest and amazement instantly deepened. She enjoyed spending time with him and rapidly began to spend every spare moment at the church, learning much from the principled man. Following her father’s death, Adeline’s mother struggled to cope and Adeline was sent to live with Father Kelly. As Adeline grew up, she found herself falling in love with her guardian and hoped he might return her feelings. Then, when she was 18, she met a young man, Andrew, at a local dance. Soon she was pregnant and turned to the one person she could always rely on for help. He offered to look after Adeline and her baby, but he couldn’t understand her affections for Andrew. And, as time passed, deep down she always knew it was a friendship that was destined to end in heartache.
In My Dreams I Dance
In My Dreams I Dance
Anne Wafula-Strike
¥58.86
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.
More Than Just Coincidence
More Than Just Coincidence
Julie Wassmer
¥51.50
Heartwarming, compelling and genuinely remarkable, More Than Just Coincidence is the true story of a mother who was reunited with her daughter, twenty years after she gave her up for adoption, in the most incredible of circumstances. One hot summer day in 1970, teenaged Julie dressed her 10-day-old baby daughter for the last time. Then she placed her newborn into a nurse's arms and walked away, taking with her only a tiny plastic bracelet on which were written two words - 'Baby Wassmer'. Over the next twenty years, the print on the bracelet began to fade, but the memory of Julie's lost child continued to run, like thread, through the fabric of her life. Julie travelled the world and led an adventurous life, but at the back of her mind always remained the daughter she had let go. On 5 November 1990, a struggling writer, aged 36, Julie stared at the reflection in a mirror on her bathroom wall as she prepared for her first meeting with a literary agent. All of sudden a thought came into her mind: now might be the perfect time for her daughter to re-enter her life. A few hours later, in the most astonishing way, two worlds were about to collide. Real life can be stranger than fiction.
A Fighting Spirit
A Fighting Spirit
Paul Burns
¥51.50
On 27 August 1979, Paul Burns’ life changed forever. Travelling through Warren Point in Northern Ireland when the IRA detonated two massive bombs, he was involved in a devastating explosion--eighteen soldiers were killed that day; Paul was one of only two who survived. His story is a remarkable tale of one man’s determination to make the most of his life against the odds.
Notorious: The Maddest and Baddest Sportsmen on the Planet
Notorious: The Maddest and Baddest Sportsmen on the Planet
Richard Bath
¥88.39
Straddling humour, trivia and sport, ‘Notorious’ brings together for the first time one hundred of the most potty sportsmen in history. From boxing to cycling, soccer to baseball, and most sports in between, here are the hard-men and the criminals, the psychos and the loonies, that make up the sporting madness hall of shame. Among the prime candidates for sporting lunacy in this book: Prinya Charoenpal, one of the most talented kick-boxers in the sport’s history, who wore make-up and pink nail polish, broke down when asked to strip for the weigh-in, pummelled the opponent who made the mistake of mocking her with a camp embrace, and who fought solely to get the money for a sex-change operation. Jack ‘Hacksaw’ Reynolds, the San Francisco 49-ers linebacker during the 80s, who once got plastered after losing a college game, went out to the car park with a hacksaw, and cut someone’s car in half. The Brazilian football star Edmundo, infamous on the pitch for beating up fans, referees and journalists, and making his name off it by crashing his truck and killing three people, and being arrested for force-feeding beer to a chimpanzee at his son’s birthday party. And there’s more. The rugby league hard-man with a predilection for sticking a rigid digit finger up opponents’ rears on the field of play; the baseball Hall of Famer who wielded his bat to beat up unsuspecting victims; the golfer hospitalised three times for alcohol poisoning, who came through two suicide attempts, three divorces, plus countless hotel room trashings and suspensions; the Irish jockey involved in an air rage incident who copped 110 hours of community service… And closer to home, the likes of Roy Keane, Alex Higgins, Vinnie Jones and Paul Gascoigne are also featured in this wildly captivating, and often shocking, collection of crazed sports celebrities.
The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War
The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War
Lucy Hughes-Hallett
¥88.39
WINNER OF THE 2013 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION WINNER OF THE 2013 DUFF COOPER PRIZE WINNER OF THE POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR 2014 WINNER OF THE 2013 COSTA BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR The story of Gabriele D’Annunzio, poet, daredevil – and Fascist. In September 1919 Gabriele D’Annunzio, successful poet and occasional politician, declared himself Commandante of the city of Fiume in modern day Croatia. His intention – to establish a utopia based on his fascist and artistic ideals. It was the dramatic pinnacle to an outrageous career. Lucy Hughes-Hallett charts the controversial life of D’Annunzio, the debauched artist who became a national hero. His evolution from idealist Romantic to radical right-wing revolutionary is a political parable. Through his ideological journey, culminating in the failure of the Fiume endeavour, we witness the political turbulence of early 20th century Europe and the emergence of fascism. In ‘The Pike’, Hughes-Hallett addresses the cult of nationalism and the origins of political extremism – and at the centre of the book stands the charismatic D’Annunzio: a figure as deplorable as he is fascinating.
The Lesson of the Master
The Lesson of the Master
Norman Thomas di Giovanni
¥34.14
A collection of essays on Jorge Luis Borges by his long-time friend and collaborator. Jorge Luis Borges - Argentine poet, essayist, and short-story writer - is widely considered one of the giants of 20th-century world literature. Norman Thomas di Giovanni worked alongside Borges for a number of years creating English translations of his work, the only translations personally overseen by Borges himself. In The Lesson of the Master, a memoir and essays, he writes about his time with Borges but also offers us a unique insight on the man and his work. It is an indispensable volume for Borges readers and his growing legion of students and scholars.