Best of
English-Literature

2008

The Norton Shakespeare


Stephen Greenblatt - 2008
    Students can access the ebook from their computer, tablet, or smartphone via the registration code included in the print volume at no additional charge. As one instructor summed it up, It s a long overdue step forward in the way Shakespeare is taught. "

The Picture of Dorian Gray


Kieran McGovern - 2008
    When he sees it, Dorian makes a wish that changes his life. As he grows older, his face stays young and handsome. But the picture changes. Why can't Dorian show it to anybody? What is its terrible secret?

Collected Works Of George Bernard Shaw


George Bernard Shaw - 2008
    Warren's Profession; Pygmalion. Eight full-cast performances featuring: Kate Burton, Roger Rees, Shirley Knight, Anne Heche, Eric Stoltz, Martin Jarvis, Paxton Whitehead, Richard Dreyfuss, Bruce Davison and many more.

The Collected Novels of the Brontë Sisters


Anne Brontë - 2008
    Both Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights have won lofty places in the pantheon and stirred the romantic sensibilities of generations of readers. For the first time ever, Penguin Classics unites these two enduring favorites with the lesser known but no less powerful work by their youngest sister, Anne. Drawn from Anne's own experiences as a governess, Agnes Grey offers a compelling view of Victorian chauvinism and materialism. Its inclusion makes The Brontë Sisters a must-have volume for anyone fascinated by this singularly talented family. @HeathBar The house is now mine. Since the neighbor has Catherine, I’ll seduce his sister. We’ll see how brave he is when she’s got Heathcock in her. Girl is preggers. Catherine is dead. My world is over. I’ve become an evil, evil man. Naming my son Heathcliff Jr. From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less

Mr. Men: The Complete Collection


Roger Hargreaves - 2008
    

Miranda Hart's Joke Shop: The Complete First Radio Series


Miranda Hart - 2008
    She’s six feet tall, self-conscious and posh. And is frequently mistaken for a man. She’s also invested her inheritance in a joke shop that she runs with her friend Stevie (Sarah Hadland) while trying to deal with her outrageously embarrassing mother (Patricia Hodge). Though surrounded by chocolate willies, Miranda is determined to suss out what it takes to be a girly girl and to not look a complete idiot every time she meets the gorgeous Gary (Tom Ellis). Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop – first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 – is written by Miranda Hart (Hyperdrive, Absolutely Fabulous, Lead Balloon), with James Carey (My Family, Think the Unthinkable) and Simon Dean (Not Going Out).2 CDs. 2 hrs.

St. Trinian's: The Entire Appalling Business


Ronald Searle - 2008
    Trinian's, the gloriously anarchic boarding school for young ladies, became synonymous with outrageous behavior when Ronald Searle's drawings first appeared in Britain's Lilliput magazine in the 1940s. Searle said about his creations: "A St. Trinian's girl would be sadistic, cunning, dissolute, crooked, sordid, lacking morals of any sort and capable of any excess. She would also be well-spoken, even well-mannered and polite. Sardonic, witty and very amusing. She would be good company. In short: typically human and, despite everything, endearing." St. Trinian's girls are experts in the maidenly arts of torture, witchcraft, and mayhem of all description; their antics take the reader back to those authoritarian school days that begged for serious rebellion and all-embracing non-conformity. Poisonous mushrooms, medieval racks, and field hockey sticks as weapons of choice figure prominently. Gin-swigging and cigar-smoking are popular pastimes. Now, black humor and black stockings intact, the St. Trinian's girls reach American shores in this gleefully wicked collection of cartoons, published to coincide with the major film, St. Trinian's, starring Rupert Everett, Mischa Barton, and Colin Firth.

Cassandra's Secret: Sometimes the only way to move forward is to go back...


Frances Garrood - 2008
    Perfect for fans of Marian Keyes, Rachel Joyce and Jojo Moyes. Secrets can’t stay buried forever… 1960s England Cassandra Fitzpatrick’s family isn’t quite like everybody else’s: her house is always full to bursting with the various misfits her mother houses as lodgers. The creative and chaotic household is all she has ever known and loved, until something awful happens that changes everything. Cass loves her mother deeply, but, as she gets older, she becomes more and more aware of her flaws. Will Cass have to distance herself from her family to find happiness? Or is she destined to follow in her mother’s footsteps? As Cass reflects on her memories, she must lay the ghosts of the past to rest and make peace with the secrets that have haunted her adult life… CASSANDRA’S SECRET is both a coming-of-age story and poignant return to the past, an intricate family drama of the close bond between mother and daughter, and the strength of love needed to overcome abuse and grief. "Garrood's thoughtful prose tells the story of an extraordinary girl's passage to womanhood." The Big Issue in the North and The Big Issue Cymru "This is a delightful book, combining some emotional issues with humorous comments and moments." BCF Reviews "Frances Garrood is a magnificent writer" thebookbag.co.uk *** PLEASE NOTE THIS WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS THE BIRDS, THE BEES AND OTHER SECRETS ***

Posthumous Keats: A Personal Biography


Stanley Plumly - 2008
    John Keats's famous epitaph—"Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water"—helped cement his reputation as the archetype of the genius cut off before his time. Keats, dead of tuberculosis at twenty-five, saw his mortality as fatal to his poetry, and therein, Plumly argues, lies his tragedy: Keats thought he had failed in his mission "to be among the English poets."In this close narrative study, Plumly meditates on the chances for poetic immortality—an idea that finds its purest expression in Keats, whose poetic influence remains immense. Incisive in its observations and beautifully written, Posthumous Keats is an ode to an unsuspecting young poet—a man who, against the odds of his culture and critics, managed to achieve the unthinkable: the elevation of the lyric poem to sublime and tragic status.

Gustav Klimt


Rachel Barnes - 2008
    This deposed Picasso's Boy With a Pipe (sold May 2004 for $104 million) as the highest reported price ever paid for a piece of art sold at a public auction. However, Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was a controversial figure in his time. Far from being acknowledged as the representative artist of his age, he was the target of violent criticism - his work sometimes being displayed behind a screen to avoid corrupting the sensibilities of the young. Today, Klimt's works are recognized as masterpieces and stand out as some of the most significant paintings ever to come out of Vienna. The Byzantine luxuriance of form, the vivid juxtaposition of colours and the rich symbolism, sensuality and eroticism of his work have made Klimt one of the most popular artists in the world. Arranged thematically, the 130 reproductions of Klimt's most important work are accompanied by Rachel Barnes' expert and insightful commentary on all aspects of the artist's life, influences and paintings - from the inspiration and provenance of each painting, to the technique used to create it and a list of exhibitions. Featuring some of the most iconic, important (and valuable) artworks of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, such as the Judith I, Portrait of Adele-Bloch-Bauer I and II, and The Kiss, this is a book that Klimt enthusiasts and art lovers will cherish.

Black Tooth Grin: The High Life, Good Times, and Tragic End of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott


Zac Crain - 2008
    With his brother, drummer Vinnie Abbott, he formed Pantera, becoming one of the most popular bands of the ’90s and selling millions of albums to an intensely devoted fan base. While the band’s music was aggressive, “Dime” was outgoing, gregarious, and adored by everyone who knew him.From Pantera’s heyday to their implosion following singer Phil Anselmo’s heroin addiction to Darrell’s tragic end, Black Tooth Grin is a moving portrait of a great artist.

Classics of British Literature


John Sutherland - 2008
    More important, Britain's writers have long challenged readers with new ways of understanding an ever-changing world.This series of 48 fascinating lectures by an award-winning professor provides you with a rare opportunity to step beyond the surface of Britain's grand literary masterpieces and experience the times and conditions they came from and the diverse issues with which their writers grappled.The unique insights Professor Sutherland shares about how and why these works succeed as both literature and documents of Britain's social and political history can forever alter the way you experience a novel, poem, or play.More than just a survey, these lectures reveal how Britain's cultural landscape acted upon its literature and how, in turn, literature affected the cultural landscape. Professor Sutherland takes a historical approach to the wealth of works explored in these lectures, grounding them in specific contexts and often connecting them with one another.All the great writers that come to mind when you think of British literature are here, along with unique looks at their most popular and powerful works. You also enjoy the company of less-familiar voices and contemporary authors who continue to take literature into new territories.

The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction


Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. - 2008
    However much science fiction texts vary in artistic quality and intellectual sophistication, they share in a mass social energy and a desire to imagine a collective future for the human species and the world. At this moment, a strikingly high proportion of films, commercial art, popular music, video and computer games, and non-genre fiction have become what Csicsery-Ronay calls science fictional, stimulating science-fictional habits of mind. We no longer treat science fiction as merely a genre-engine producing formulaic effects, but as a mode of awareness, which frames experiences as if they were aspects of science fiction. The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction describes science fiction as a constellation of seven diverse cognitive attractions that are particularly formative of science-fictionality. These are the "seven beauties" of the title: fictive neology, fictive novums, future history, imaginary science, the science-fictional sublime, the science-fictional grotesque, and the Technologiade, or the epic of technsocience's development into a global regime.

The View from Mrs. Thompson's (A Story from Consider the Lobster): And Other Essays


David Foster Wallace - 2008
    Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures. Whether covering the three-ring circus of a vicious presidential race, plunging into the wars between dictionary writers, or confronting the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the annual Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace projects a quality of thought that is uniquely his and a voice as powerful and distinct as any in American letters.

Tank Girl: Visions of Booga


Alan C. Martin - 2008
    Their tank has been lost in a wager and the Australian Mafia are after their pelts. Their only hope seems to lie on the other side of the country, with Booga's estranged little brother.

Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends


John Keats - 2008
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Survive!


Helen Brooke - 2008
    This award-winning collection of adapted classic literature and original stories develops reading skills for low-beginning through advanced students.Accessible language and carefully controlled vocabulary build students' reading confidence.Introductions at the beginning of each story, illustrations throughout, and glossaries help build comprehension.Before, during, and after reading activities included in the back of each book strengthen student comprehension.Audio versions of selected titles provide great models of intonation and pronunciation of difficult words.

John Keats' Poetry


John Keats - 2008
    Agnes, Ode on Melanchoy, To Autumn, and Hyperion. According to Wikipedia: "John Keats (1795 – 1821) was one of the principal poets of the English Romantic movement. During his short life, his work received constant critical attacks from periodicals of the day, but his posthumous influence on poets such as Alfred Tennyson has been immense. Elaborate word choice and sensual imagery characterize Keats's poetry, including a series of odes that were his masterpieces and which remain among the most popular poems in English literature.

Bringing Tony Home


Tissa Abeysekara - 2008
    In the title novella, a boy returns to his old home to find Tony, his beloved dog who was abandoned when economic circumstances forced the family to leave. “Bringing Tony Home” recounts this perilous journey in detail, movingly tracing the boy’s rescue attempts and his spiraling emotions as he endures changes occurring in his family. In “Elsewhere: Something Like a Love Story,” a young boy finds forbidden love with a schoolmate scorned for her poverty. “Elsewhere” continues their saga, touching on the bittersweet memories they share as adults, and on the woman’s increasingly precarious place in a society concerned only with status. The other stories, “Poor Young Man: A Requiem” and “Hark, The Moaning Pond: A Grandmother’s Tale,” delve into a young man’s relationship with his father as the latter’s fortunes fade, and into the now-mature man’s attempts to come to grips with the death of his grandmother and what she symbolized. Abeysekara’s ability to evoke the sights and sounds of another time and place, and his skill in rendering the inner lives of his characters, make Bringing Tony Home a remarkable read.

Blessed Days of Anaesthesia: How Anaesthetics Changed the World


Stephanie J. Snow - 2008
    Now considered to be one of the greatest inventions for humanity since the printing press, anesthesia offered pain-free operations, childbirth with reduced suffering, and instant access to the world beyond consciousness. And yet, upon its introduction, Victorian medics, moralists, clergymen, and scientists, were plunged into turmoil. In Blessed Days of Anesthesia, Stephanie Snow offers a vivid and engaging account of the early days of anesthesia. She unravels some key moments in medical history: from Humphry Davy's early experiments with nitrous oxide and the dramas that drove the discovery of ether anesthesia in America, to the outrage provoked by Queen Victoria's use of chloroform during the birth of Prince Leopold. And there are grisly stories too: frequent deaths, and even notorious murders. Interweaved throughout the story, a fascinating social change is revealed. For anesthesia caused the Victorians to rethink concepts of pain, sexuality, and the links between mind and body. From this turmoil, a profound change in attitudes began to be realized, as the view that physical suffering could, and should, be prevented permeated society, most tellingly at first in prisons and schools where pain was used as a method of social control. In this way, the discovery of anesthesia left not only a medical and scientific legacy that changed the world, but a compassionate one too. Bringing together the history of science and an account of profound social change, Blessed Days of Anesthesia is a compelling, and broadly illuminating, account of a fascinating period in medical history.

A History of Egypt: From Earliest Times to the Present


Jason Thompson - 2008
    However, it is rarely presented as a comprehensive panorama because scholars tend to divide it into distinct eras—prehistoric, pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Coptic, medieval Islamic, Ottoman, and modern—that are not often studied in relation to one another. In this daringly ambitious project, drawing on the most current scholarship as well as his own research, Thompson makes the case that few if any other countries have as many threads of continuity running through their entire historical experience. With its unprecedented scope and lively and readable style, A History of Egypt offers students, travelers, and general readers alike an engaging narrative of the extraordinarily long course of human history by the Nile.

The Virgin of the Sun


H. Rider Haggard - 2008
    A tale that deals with the marvellous Incas of Peru; with the legend also that, long before the Spanish Conquerors entered on their mission of robbery and ruin, there in that undiscovered land lived and died a White God risen from the sea.

Three Poets of the First World War


Ivor Gurney - 2008
     This indispensable anthology brings together the works of three major poets from the First World War. Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) was a classical music composer and poet who published two volumes of poems, "Severn and Somme" and "War's Embers." Wilfred Owen's (1893- 1918) realistic poetry is remarkable for its details of war and combat. Isaac Rosenberg's (1890-1918) "Poems from the Trenches" is widely considered one of the finest examples of war poetry from the period. Carefully selected by Jon Stallworthy, a professor emeritus of English at the University of Oxford, these poems comprise a landmark publication that reflects the disparate experiences of war through the voices of the soldiers themselves.

That's Not My Santa...


Fiona Watt - 2008
    The enduring appeal of the illustrations and the opportunity to touch a variety of textures make these books baby and pre-school classics. Very young children will enjoy the bright and colorful illustrations while the different texture patches help develop sensory awareness.

The Surrealists


Laura Thomson - 2008
    Using a series of die-cut windows, this book allows the reader to browse twenty significant masterpieces—including Picasso's Three Dancers, Dali's Persistence of Memory, and Miro's Potato—from a variety of angles and viewpoints. Each image is first looked at in full alongside the artist's biography and place in the genre's timeline. Carefully positioned and reversible die-cut windows allow each image to be viewed as a spotlit and magnified detail with authoritative text summarizing the characteristic technique, tone, and colors of the artist’s work. An innovative and irresistible art giftbook that reveals and revitalizes twenty iconic Surrealist paintings.

Hullo Russia, Goodbye England


Derek Robinson - 2008
    and qualifies to fly the Vulcan bomber. Piloting a Vulcan is an unforgettable experience: no other aircraft comes close to matching its all-round performance. And as bombers go, it's drop-dead gorgeous.But there's a catch. The Vulcan has only one role: to make a second strike. To act in retaliation for a Russian nuclear attack. Silk knows that knows that if he ever flies his Vulcan in anger, he'll be flying from a smoking wasteland, a Britain obliterated. But in the mad world of Mutually Assured Destruction, the Vulcan is the last--the only--deterrent.Derek Robinson returns with another rip-roaring, gung-ho R.A.F. adventure, one that exposes and confronts the brinkmanship and saber-rattling of the Cold War Era.

Sredni Vashtar Sardonic Tales


Saki - 2008
    300 copies. Contents: 'Introduction' by Mark Valentine, 'The Reticence of Lady Anne', 'The Lost Sanjak', 'Gabriel-Ernest', 'The Saint and the Goblin', 'The Soul of Laploshka', 'Esmé', 'Tobermory', 'The Background', 'The Unrest-Cure', 'Sredni Vashtar', 'The Easter Egg', 'The Music on the Hill', 'The Peace of Mowsle Barton', 'The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope', ' "Ministers of Grace" ', 'The Remoulding of Groby Lington', 'The She-Wolf', 'Laura', 'The Hen', 'The Open Window', 'The Cobweb', 'The Seventh Pullet', 'The Blind Spot', 'The Story-Teller', 'The Lumber-Room', 'The Toys of Peace', 'The Wolves of Cernagratz', 'The Interlopers', 'The Hedgehog', 'The Image of the Lost Soul', 'The Infernal Parliament', 'When William Came'.This collection brings together all of the sharpest, darkest, weird and macabre tales of Edwardian satirist Hector Hugh Munro (who adopted the pen-name, 'Saki'). Among the best of these are the stories of the unlikely god Sredni Vashtar, a beautiful young werewolf, the dying and unmourned Laura, and the laughter of the youthful and merciless Pan. Saki brings to the supernatural tale a studied nonchalance and a terse remorselessness in the telling. 'Wittily sombre and elegantly grim' was one well-turned contemporary evocation of his work. All the trappings of the Gothic, and the later antiquarian, ghost or horror story, have been quite banished from his work. There is no laboured building-up of portent, no labyrinthine twisting of devious history, no elaborate word-painting to conjure up atmosphere. Instead, Saki achieves a fastidious precision and economy. In his mastery of the sardonic and his ironic, adroit deployment of the supernatural, he has few equals.

Taxation and State-Building in Developing Countries: Capacity and Consent


Deborah Brautigam - 2008
    When governments fail, more sinister forces thrive: warlords, arms smugglers, narcotics enterprises, kidnap gangs, terrorist networks, armed militias. Why do governments fail? This book explores an old idea that has returned to prominence: that authority, effectiveness, accountability and responsiveness is closely related to the ways in which governments are financed. It matters that governments tax their citizens rather than live from oil revenues and foreign aid, and it matters how they tax them. Taxation stimulates demands for representation, and an effective revenue authority is the central pillar of state capacity. Using case studies from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, this book presents and evaluates these arguments, updates theories derived from European history in the light of conditions in contemporary poorer countries, and draws conclusions for policy-makers.