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Random House, Inc.
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During the current recession it seems our traditional stiff upper lip can only last so long before those other world-beating British skills come to the fore — quiet grumbling and resigned cynicism. Sod Calm and Get Angry is for anyone who has finally had enough of bankers and politicians and bosses telling them to keep sodding calm and to carry bloody on. Sod Calm and Get Angry is both a rallying call and essential tome of comforting wisdom for the depressed, enraged, disgruntled, disenfranchised and those of a naturally curmudgeonly disposition. On Politics — The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites' — Larry Hardiman. On Work — One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important — Bertrand Russell. On Money — The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any — Katherine Whitehorn. On Hypocrisy — Hypocrite: the man who murdered both his parents... pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan — Abraham Lincoln. On War — You can't say civilisation don't advance... for in every war they kill you a new way — Will Rogers. On Life — That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another — Charles M Schulz. |
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It's 19th-century England during the reign of King James II, but it's not the England we know from the history books. This country is overrun with wolves that roam the forests, providing the perfect setting for a witty and dramatic story spanning the whole country, from the frozen North to the city of London, and peopled with all manner of evil governesses and ancient aunts. Filled with brilliantly-drawn Dickensian characters, it would make an excellent choice for strong preteen readers who like an old-fashioned story with a strong plot and good characterisation. This book often appears on lists of best-loved children's books. |
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Back on Earth with nothing more to show for his long, strange trip through time and space than a ratty towel and a plastic shopping bag, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription, the mysterious disappearance of Earth's dolphins, and the discovery of his battered copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy all conspire to give Arthur the sneaking suspicion that something otherworldly is indeed going on. God only knows what it all means. And fortunately, He left behind a Final Message of explanation. But since it's light-years away from Earth, on a star surrounded by souvenir booths, finding out what it is will mean hitching a ride to the far reaches of space aboard a UFO with a giant robot. But what else is new? |
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Keep Calm and Carry On was a WWII government poster discovered in a dusty box nine years ago. Though it never saw the light of day in 1939 (it was only supposed to go up if Britain was invaded), it has suddenly struck a chord in our current difficult times, now we are in need of a stiff upper lip and optimistic energy once again. Gordon Brown has one up in 10 Downing Street and James May wears a Keep Calm T-shirt on the telly — it is suddenly everywhere. The book is packed full of similarly motivational and cheering quotes, proverbs, mantras and wry truths to help us through the recession, from such wits as Churchill, Disraeli and George Bernard Shaw. Funny, wise and stirring — it is a perfect source of strength to get us all through the coming months. 'A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain' — Mark Twain. 'It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own' — Harry S. Truman. 'An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today' — Laurence J. Peter. 'Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine' — Lord Byron. 'Better bread with water than cake with trouble' — Russian Proverb. |
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Castle Extremis — whoever holds it can control the provinces either side that have been at war for centuries. Now the castle is about to play host to the signing of a peace treaty. But as the Doctor and Martha find out, not everyone wants the war to end. Who is the strange little girl who haunts the castle? What is the secret of the book the Doctor finds, its pages made from thin, brittle glass? Who is the hooded figure that watches from the shadows? And what is the secret of the legendary Mortal Mirror? The Doctor and Martha don't have long to find the answers — an army is on the march, and the castle will soon be under siege once more...Featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman in the hit sci-fi series from BBC Television. |
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Tolstoy's enthralling epic depicts Russia's war with Napoleon and its effects on the lives of those caught up in the conflict. He creates some of the most vital and involving characters in literature as he follows the rise and fall of families in St Petersburg and Moscow who are linked by their personal and political relationships. His heroes are the thoughtful yet impulsive Pierre Bezukhov, his ambitious friend, Prince Andrei, and the woman who becomes indispensable to both of them, the enchanting Natasha Rostov. |
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Watching a rented video, Tertuliano Maximo Afonso is shocked to notice that one of the actors is identical to him in every physical detail. He embarks on a secret quest to find his double and sets in motion a train of events that he cannot control. Saramago's novel explores the nature of individuality and examines the fear and insecurity that arise when our singularity comes under threat, when even a wife cannot tell the original from the imposter... |
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Part fiction, part travelogue, the narrator of this compelling masterpiece pursues his solitary, eccentric course from England to Italy and beyond, succumbing to the vertiginous unreliability of memory itself. What could possibly connect Stendhal's unrequited love, the artistry of Pisanello, a series of murders by a clandestine organisation, a missing passport, Casanova, the suicide of a dinner companion, stale apple cake, the Great Fire of London, a story by Kafka about a doomed huntsman and a closed-down pizzeria in Verona? |
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William just wants to get at the truth. Unfortunately, everyone else wants to get at William. And it's only the third edition. William de Worde is the accidental editor of the Discworld's first newspaper. Now he must cope with the traditional perils of a journalist's life — people who want him dead, a recovering vampire with a suicidal fascination for flash photography, some more people who want him dead in a different way and, worst of all, the man who keeps begging him to publish pictures of his humorously shaped potatoes. |
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Dodger is a tosher — a sewer scavenger living in the squalor of Dickensian London. Everyone who is nobody knows Dodger. Anyone who is anybody doesn't. But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, suddenly everybody wants to know him. And Dodger's tale of skulduggery, dark plans and even darker deeds begins... |
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse. And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder. He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment. They say that in the end all sins are forgiven. But not quite all... |
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The Black Prince is both a remarkable thriller and a story about being in love. Bradley Pearson, narrator and hero, is an elderly writer with a 'block'. Finding himself surrounded by predatory friends and relations — his ex-wife, her delinquent brother, a younger, deplorably successful writer, Arnold Baffin, Baffin's restless wife and engaging daughter — Bradley attempts to escape. His failure to do so and its aftermath lead to a violent climax and a most unexpected conclusion. |
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How well can you ever really know someone? As Ben Casper watches his best friend plummet from her sixth-floor apartment balcony, he realises his life is about to change. Diana had no reason to kill herself, she had to have been pushed. Diana worked for the CIA, so the investigation into her death is kept tightly under wraps. But Ben is a political journalist, and can feel that something isn't right. Ben starts investigating for himself and soon discovers Diana was leading a double life he knew nothing about. But when more people involved die in questionable circumstances, it's clear that someone doesn't want the truth to be uncovered. And unless Ben drops his investigation, he could be next. |
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Lottie is tired of long-term boyfriends who don't want to commit to marriage. When her old boyfriend Ben reappears and reminds her of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. There will be no dates and no engagement — just a straight wedding march to the altar! Next comes the honeymoon on the Greek island where they first met. But not everyone is thrilled with Lottie and Ben's rushed marriage, and family and friends are determined to intervene. Will Lottie and Ben have a wedding night to remember... or one to forget? |
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'For several minutes he stood speechless, his eyes dazzled by the terrible beauty of the greatest weapon on earth.' He's a self-made millionaire, head of the Moonraker rocket programme and loved by the press. So why is Sir Hugo Drax cheating at cards? Bond has just five days to uncover the sinister truth behind a national hero, in Ian Fleming's third 007 adventure. |
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Jay Gatsby is a self-made man, famed for his decadent champagne-drenched parties. Despite being surrounded by Long Island's bright and beautiful, Gatsby longs only for Daisy Buchanan. In shimmering prose, Fitzgerald shows Gatsby pursue his dream to its tragic conclusion. The Great Gatsby is an elegiac and exquisite portrait of the American Dream. |
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'Private armies, private wars. How much energy they siphoned off from the common cause, how much fire they directed away from the common enemy!' From A View to A Kill; For Your Eyes Only; Quantum of Solace; Risico; The Hildebrand Rarity Five stories. Five missions. Five glimpses into the mind of a spy. From Jamaican estates to brooding French forests, Bond is tested to his limits by the world's most dangerous men and the dark secrets they keep. |
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From the award-winning translators of Crime and Punishment, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving Karamazov and his three sons — the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the social and spiritual strivings in what was both a golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture. |
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