Random House A Sackful of Limericks Palin Michael

Victor Serge is one of the great men of the 20th century —and one of its great writers too. He was an anarchist, an agitator, a revolutionary, an exile, a historian of his times, as well as a brilliant novelist, and in Memoirs of a Revolutionary he devotes all his passion and genius to describing this extraordinary—and exemplary—career. Serge tells of his upbringing among exiles and conspirators, of his involvement with the notorious Bonnot Gang and his years in prison, of his role in the Russian Revolution, and of the Revolution’s collapse into despotism and terror. Expelled from the Soviet Union, Serge went to Paris, where he evaded the KGB and the Nazis before fleeing to Mexico. Memoirs of a Revolutionary recounts a thrilling life on the front lines of history and includes vivid portraits not only of Trotsky, Lenin, and Stalin but of countless other figures who struggled to remake the world

In The Master of Petersburg J. M. Coetzee dares to imagine the life of Dostoevsky. Set in 1869, when Dostoevsky was summoned from Germany to St Petersburg by the sudden death of his stepson, this novel is at once a compelling mystery steeped in the atmosphere of pre-revolutionary Russia and a brilliant and courageous meditation on authority and rebellion, art and imagination. Dostoevsky is seen obsessively following his stepson's ghost, trying to ascertain whether he was a suicide or a murder victim and whether he loved or despised his stepfather

"Весенние потоки" с подзаголовком "Романтический роман в честь ухода великой расы" - второе опубликованное произведение Хемингуэя - чудесно пародирует темы и стили "великой расы" писателей его поколения • В маленькие городки Мичигана приходит весна, но землю все еще покрывает снег, когда Скриппс О`Нил отправляется в Чикаго, решает ненадолго остановиться в Петоски и встречается с Йоги Джонсоном. Их причудливые истории - блестящая сатира на обычную художественную литературу. Персонажи, с которыми они встречаются, абсурдны и в то же время странно знакомы. Короткая, динамичная, забавная "Весенние потоки" проливает свет на более поздние работы Хемингуэя - и читать ее одно удовольствие. Здесь мы можем наблюдать развивающийся талант одного из величайших романистов двадцатого века

На сегодняшней мировой арене одна правительница стоит особняком. Королева Елизавета II повидала мир и людей больше, чем любой другой глава государства, и общалась с ними так, как ни один другой монарх в истории Великобритании. С момента своей коронации она посетила более 130 стран по всему постоянно меняющемуся земному шару, выступая в качестве дипломата, государственного деятеля, первопроходца и миротворца • Она превратила старую империю своего отца в Содружество, свою "семью наций", и узнала ее лидеров лучше, чем кто-либо другой. В 2018 году все они соберутся в ее собственном доме, чтобы одобрить ее старшего сына, принца Уэльского, в качестве ее преемника • Имея широкий доступ к семье и персоналу королевы, в книге "Королева мира" Роберт Хардман рассказывает правдивую историю, полную драмы, интриг, экзотических и даже опасных ситуаций, героев, пышности и гламура - и в центре всего этого женщина, которая по-настоящему завоевала сердца всего мира

Тэсс - невинная юная девушка. По крайней мере, она была невинной, пока не навестила своих богатых родственников из рода Д`Эрбервиллей. Знакомство с манипулятором Алеком, её кузеном, толкает бедняжку на путь, на котором её ждут страдания и предательство. Отношения с другим мужчиной по имени Энджел Клэр - её шанс оставить прошлое позади. Но сначала ей придётся раскрыть перед любимым свою постыдную тайну • "Тэсс из рода Д`Эрбервиллей" - один из самых известных романов Томаса Гарди • Книга на английском языке • Tess is an innocent young girl until the day she goes to visit her rich "relatives", the D'Urbervilles. Her encounter with her manipulative cousin, Alec, leads her onto a path that is beset with suffering and betrayal. When she falls in love with another man, Angel Clare, Tess sees a potential escape from her past, but only if she can tell him her shameful secret

In the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, HMS Erebus undertook two of the most ambitious naval expeditions of all time • On the first, she ventured further south than any human had ever been. On the second, she vanished with her 129-strong crew in the wastes of the Canadian Arctic • Her fate remained a mystery for over 160 years • Then, in 2014, she was found

In a world of social media and smartphones, true solitude has become increasingly hard to find. In this timely and important book, award-winning writer Michael Harris reveals why our hyper-connected society makes time alone more crucial than ever. He delves into the latest neuroscience to examine the way innovations like Google Maps and Facebook are eroding our ability to be by ourselves. He tells the stories of the remarkable people – from pioneering computer scientists to great nineteenth-century novelists – who managed to find solitude in the most unexpected of places. And he explores how solitude can bring clarity and creativity to each of our inner lives. Urgent, eloquent and beautifully argued, Solitude might just change the way you think about being alone

There was life before the fall. 1989 was a year of astonishing and rapid change: the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and an end to an entire way of life for millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. Bloc Life collects first hand testimony of the people who lived in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania during the Cold War era, and reveals a rich tapestry of experience that goes beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political corruption. In fact, many of the people remember their lives under communism as 'perfectly ordinary' and even hanker for the 'security' that it offered. From political leaders, athletes and pop stars, to cooks, miners and cosmonauts, the stories collected in Bloc Life evoke the moods, preoccupations and experiences of a world that vanished almost overnight

Readers worldwide know the work of Stephen Hawking through his phenomenal bestseller A Brief History of Time • In this collection of essays and other pieces - on subjects that range from warmly personal to the wholly scientific- he is revealed variously as the scientist, the man, the concerned world citizen, and - as always - the rigorous and imaginative thinker. Whether remembering his first experience of nursery school; puncturing the arrogance of those who think science can best be understood only by other scientists and should be left to them; exploring the origins and the future of the universe; or reflecting on the phenomenon of A Brief History of Time, Stephen's wit, directness of style and absence of pomp are vital characteristics at all times

"The Last Watch" is the stunning sequel to the Night Watch trilogy, following the fortunes of the Others. Indistinguishable from normal people but possessed of supernatural powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy world that exists in parallel to our own, each Other owes allegiance either to the Dark, or to the Light...While on holiday in Scotland, visiting 'The Dungeons of Edinburgh', a young Russian tourist is murdered. As the police grapple with the fact that the cause of the young man's death was a massive loss of blood, the Watches are immediately aware that there is a renegade vampire on the loose. Anton - the hero of the Night Watch trilogy - is detailed to this seemingly mundane investigation, but begins to realise that there is much more to the story than a wildcat vampire and a single murder, and discovers that a team of unlicensed Others are hunting for a fabled magical treasure, hidden in the sixth level of the Twilight by Merlin himself

Nine men. Each of them at a different stage of life, each of them away from home, and each of them striving - in the suburbs of Prague, beside a Belgian motorway, in a cheap Cypriot hotel - to understand just what it means to be alive, here and now • Tracing an arc from the spring of youth to the winter of old age, All That Man Is brings these separate lives together to show us men as they are - ludicrous and inarticulate, shocking and despicable; vital, pitiable, hilarious, and full of heartfelt longing. And as the years chase them down, the stakes become bewilderingly high in this piercing portrayal of 21st-century manhood

The London That Tourists Don't See • Look beyond Big Ben and past the skyscrapers of the Square Mile, and you will find another London. This is the land of long-forgotten tube stations, burnt-out mansions and gently decaying factories. Welcome to Derelict London: a realm whose secrets are all around us, visible to anyone who cares to look • Paul Talling - our best-loved investigator of London's underbelly - has spent over fifteen years uncovering the stories of this hidden world. Now, he brings together 100 of his favourite abandoned places from across the capital: many of them more magnificent, more beautiful and more evocative than you can imagine • Covering everything from the overgrown stands of Leyton Stadium to the windswept alleys of the Aylesbury Estate, Derelict London reveals a side of the city you never knew existed