Canterbury Tales Guesthouse

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This collection of new translations brings together the small proportion of Kafka’s works that he thought worthy of publication. It includes Metamorphosis, his most famous work, an exploration of horrific transformation and alienation; Meditation, a collection of his earlier studies; The Judgement, written in a single night of frenzied creativity; The Stoker, the first chapter of a novel set in America and a fascinating occasional piece, The Aeroplanes at Brescia, Kafka’s eyewitness account of an air display in 1909. Together, these stories reveal the breadth of Kafka’s literary vision and the extraordinary imaginative depth of his thought.

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Bush at War

BY BOB WOODWARD

Award-winning author and journalist Bob Woodward turns his attention to the presidency of George W. Bush. Before the acts of terrorism on 11 September, George W. Bush's presidency had been beset by numerous problems.

Not only was it in many peoples eyes invalid, very few people took him seriously as a world statesman. Then following one violent mindless act of terrorism, George W. Bush became a president that his country could rely on, one they felt they could trust to lead them through these difficult times.

And the world saw a man who was decisive and resolute, a president who was seemingly determined to route out the people who had carried out the heinous acts.

But one year after the attacks how has the 44th President of the United States fared?

And what were the actual behind the scenes discussions that took place whilst the country was rocked by the crisis?

Bob Woodward has been shadowing the President since those fateful events, he was allowed unprecedented access to closed-door meetings and briefings and this masterful book is a look at what really happened.

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* Updates include discussion of major initiatives such as the Millennial Development Goals, (MDG) to eliminate global poverty 
* Examines changes in international politics and approaches to global terrorism following the US-led military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq
* Extensively revised facts and figures

The seventh edition of this perennial stalwart of the Kumarian Press list continues the discussion of the “new American hegemony” and the “war on terror” that began with the previous edition. In particular, Isbister addresses changes in international politics and the impact on the global order of the US-led military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The author also focuses on major initiatives, such as the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, to confront the issue of world poverty. As with all editions of this vibrant text, Isbister writes with clarity and passion, not only about failed promises, but about hope, human potential, and the belief that a just and equitable world system is attainable.

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The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
by Steven Lee Myers
 
“A riveting, immensely detailed biography of Putin that explains in full-bodied, almost Shakespearian fashion why he acts the way he does.” –Robert D. Kaplan
 
The New Tsar is the book to read if you want to understand how Vladimir Putin sees the world and why he has become one of the gravest threats to American security.

The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English – that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.

In a gripping narrative of Putin’s rise to power as Russia’s president, Steven Lee Myers recounts Putin’s origins—from his childhood of abject poverty in Leningrad, to his ascension through the ranks of the KGB, and his eventual consolidation of rule. Along the way, world events familiar to readers, such as September 11th and Russia’s war in Georgia in 2008, as well as the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, are presented from never-before-seen perspectives. 

This book is a grand, staggering achievement and a breathtaking look at one man’s rule. On one hand, Putin’s many reforms—from tax cuts to an expansion of property rights—have helped reshape the potential of millions of Russians whose only experience of democracy had been crime, poverty, and instability after the fall of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, Putin has ushered in a new authoritarianism, unyielding in his brutal repression of revolts and squashing of dissent. Still, he retains widespread support from the Russian public.

The New Tsar is a narrative tour de force, deeply researched, and utterly necessary for anyone fascinated by the formidable and ambitious Vladimir Putin, but also for those interested in the world and what a newly assertive Russia might mean for the future. 

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

BY JAMES JOYCE,

The portrayal of Stephen Dedalus's Dublin childhood and youth, his quest for identity through art and his gradual emancipation from the claims of family, religion and Ireland itself, is also an oblique self-portrait of the young James Joyce and a universal testament to the artist's 'eternal imagination'.

Both an insight into Joyce's life and childhood, and a unique work of modernist fiction, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a novel of sexual awakening, religious rebellion and the essential search for voice and meaning that every nascent artist must face in order to blossom fully into themselves

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The Rape of Nanking

by Iris Chang

 In December 1937, the Japanese army invaded the ancient city of Nanking, systematically raping, torturing, and murdering more than 300,000 Chinese civilians.

This book tells the story from three perspectives: of the Japanese soldiers who performed it, of the Chinese civilians who endured it, and of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved many.

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Green Hills of Africa: The Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway..

The most intimate and elaborately enhanced addition to the Hemingway Library series: Hemingway’s memoir of his safari across the Serengeti - presented with archival material from the Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library, and with the never-before-published safari journal of Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer. First published in 1935, Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Hemingway’s lyrical account of his safari in the great game country of East Africa with his wife Pauline.

Hemingway’s fascination with big-game hunting is magnificently captured in this evocative narrative of his trip. In examining the poetic grace of the chase, and the ferocity of the kill, Hemingway looks inward, seeking to explain the lure of the hunt and the primal undercurrent that comes alive on the plains of Africa.

Green Hills of Africa is also an impassioned portrait of the glory of the African landscape, and of the beauty of a wilderness that was, even then, being threatened by the incursions of man. Hemingway’s rich description of the land and his passion for hunting combine to give Green Hills of Africa the immediacy of a deeply felt individual experience that is the hallmark of the greatest travel writing. This new Hemingway Library Edition offers a fresh perspective on Hemingway’s classic travelogue with a personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, the author’s sole surviving son, who, himself, spent many years as a professional hunter in East Africa; a new introduction by Seán Hemingway, grandson of the author; and published for the first time in its entirety the African journal of Hemingway’s wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, which provides new insight into the experiences that shaped her husband’s craft.

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The Compulsive Spike Milligan

BY SPIKE MILLIGAN

This second superb collected work of one of Britain's best-loved comedians is an excellent companion to the sensational original, The Essential Spike Milligan.

Spanning his 50-year career and incorporating a rich and varied range of material, this second anthology is as unmissable as the first. legacies in British entertainment history -- as well as a legion of devoted fans and admirers.

His themes ranged from environmental issues to war, from nostalgia to depression, and his prolific output covers some of the most evocative events of the twentieth century, in a style both twistedly comic and harrowingly honest.

Milligan, has inspired a second raid on the original brilliant source. Milligan was arguably the most one of the prolific and mould-breaking comic writers of the twentieth century and this second anthology gives another opportunity to sample his finest writing. children's stories, poetry and drawings plus a wonderful collection from his voluminous correspondence from the 1960's onwards with such varied recipients as the House of Commons, the Director-General of the BBC, Private Eye and British Telecom.

A compulsive read for all Milligan fans.

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Secrets of the Widow's Son: The Mysteries Surrounding the Sequel to The Da Vinci Code by David A. Shugarts,

Secrets of the Widow’s Son is an unprecedented publishing event: a book about a book that has yet to be published.

As the world waits breathlessly for Dan Brown to publish his sequel to The Da Vinci Code, this new book, Secrets of the Widow’s Son, prepares international audiences for what they will experience in Brown’s forthcoming book.

Instead of asking what is fact and what is fiction after reading Brown’s next book (as so many readers did with The Da Vinci Code), those who read Secrets of the Widow’s Son will have the unique opportunity to explore these questions in advance.

Secrets of the Widow’s Son will lead the reader along an incredibly fascinating, thought-provoking, and ultimately shocking trail of clues, codes, and long-forgotten history, from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and the other Freemasons who were America’s Founding Fathers to an American capital city that rivals The Da Vinci Code’s Paris.

The world awaits Dan Brown’s The Solomon Key. But it need not await the mysteries, adventures, themes, and characters likely to appear in that book - because now there is Secrets of the Widow’s Son.

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The Real Life of Laurence Olivier

BY ROGER LEWIS

The acclaimed biography of Laurence Olivier is reissued to coincide with the centenary of his birth. Laurence Olivier was both an enchanter and a force of nature. In The Real Life of Laurence Olivier, Roger Lewis goes beyond the magical illusions the actor created, to tell the truth about the man’s sexuality, ambition, revenges, power, preoccupations and achievements. Most of all, Olivier’s life and work become a love story - the tale of the relationship with Vivien Leigh, who was destroyed by the extent of her passion for him, as he himself was cast into a frenzy of guilt and disillusion.

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Age And Guile Beat Youth, Innocence And A Bad Haircut by P.J. O'Rourke..

An anthology of twenty-five years of writing, collected for the first time, by the nation's best-selling satirist - author of Parliament of Whores - shows his transition from hippie to neo-conservative.

The piece "Why I Invaded Cambodia by Richard Milhous Nixon as told to PJ O'Rourke" is one of the funniest things I have ever read.

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1421: The Year China Discovered America

BY GAVIN MENZIES

On 3/8/1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China.

Its mission was "to proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas" & unite the whole world in Confucian harmony.

When it returned in 10/1423, the emperor had fallen, leaving China in political & economic chaos.

The great ships were left to rot at their moorings. Most records of their journeys were destroyed. Lost in China's long, self-imposed isolation that followed was the knowledge that Chinese ships had reached America 70 years before Columbus & had circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan.

Also concealed was how the Chinese colonized America before the Europeans & transplanted in America & other countries the principal economic crops that have fed & clothed the world. Unveiling incontrovertible evidence of these astonishing voyages, "1421" rewrites our understanding of history. Our knowledge of world exploration as it's been commonly accepted for centuries must now be reconceived due to this landmark work of historical investigation.

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Air America: The Explosive Inside Story Of The CIA's Supersecret Airline

BY CHRISTOPHER ROBBINS

Here is the incredible inside story of the world's most extraordinary covert operation - Air America, a secret airline run by the CIA, which at its height had the biggest commercial airfleet in the world. Air America flew the missions no one else would touch, from General Claire Chennault's legendary Flying Tigers to two brutal decades cruising over the bomb-savaged jungles of Southeast Asia.

Their pilotsdared all, did all - a high-rolling, fast-playing bunch of has-beens and hell-raisers whose motto was "Anything, Anywhere Anytime".

Whether it was delivering food and weapons or spooks and opium, Air America was one airline where you didn't need reservations - just a hell of a lot of courage and a willingness to fly to the bitter end.

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The Essential Spike Milligan

BY SPIKE MILLIGAN

"This, the first posthumous anthology of his work, compiled with the co-operation of his closest circle, provides a comprehensive guide to Milligan's work"

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The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War by Denise Chong

1ST EDITION HARDBACK..

On June 8, 1972, nine-year-old Kim Phuc, severely burned by napalm, ran from her blazing village in South Vietnam and into the eye of history.

Her photograph - one of the most unforgettable images of the twentieth century - was seen around the world and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War. This book is the story of how that photograph came to be - and the story of what happened to that girl after the camera shutter closed. Award-winning biographer Denise Chong's portrait of Kim Phuc - who eventually defected to Canada and is now a UNESCO spokesperson - is a rare look at the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese point-of-view and one of the only books to describe everyday life in the wake of this war and to probe its lingering effects on all its participants.

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The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets

by Simon Singh

You may have watched hundreds of episodes of The Simpsons (and its sister show Futurama) without ever realizing that cleverly embedded in many plots are subtle references to mathematics, ranging from well-known equations to cutting-edge theorems and conjectures. That they exist, Simon Singh reveals, underscores the brilliance of the shows' writers, many of whom have advanced degrees in mathematics in addition to their unparalleled sense of humor.
While recounting memorable episodes such as “Bart the Genius” and “Homer3,” Singh weaves in mathematical stories that explore everything from p to Mersenne primes, Euler's equation to the unsolved riddle of P v. NP; from perfect numbers to narcissistic numbers, infinity to even bigger infinities, and much more. Along the way, Singh meets members of The Simpsons' brilliant writing team-among them David X. Cohen, Al Jean, Jeff Westbrook, and Mike Reiss-whose love of arcane mathematics becomes clear as they reveal the stories behind the episodes.
With wit and clarity, displaying a true fan's zeal, and replete with images from the shows, photographs of the writers, and diagrams and proofs, The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets offers an entirely new insight into the most successful show in television history. 

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The Portable Oscar Wilde by Oscar Wilde - Stanley Weintraub & Richard Aldington.

Includes the following works: Novels - The Portrait of Dorian Gray; Plays - Salome and The Importance of Being Earnest; Writings - De Profundis, Critic as Artist, and Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Very Young; and selections from Lady Windermere's Fan, An Ideal Husband, and A Woman of No Importance.

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The Making of Modern Britain

BY ANDREW MARR

In The Making of Modern Britain, Andrew Marr paints a fascinating portrait of life in Britain during the first half of the twentieth century as the country recovered from the grand wreckage of the British Empire.

Between the death of Queen Victoria and the end of the Second World War, the nation was shaken by war and peace. The two wars were the worst we had ever known and the episodes of peace among the most turbulent and surprising.

As the political forum moved from Edwardian smoking rooms to an increasingly democratic Westminster, the people of Britain experimented with extreme ideas as they struggled to answer the question "How should we live?" Socialism? Fascism? Feminism? Meanwhile, fads such as eugenics, vegetarianism, and nudism were gripping the nation, while the popularity of the music hall soared.

It was also a time that witnessed the birth of the media as we know it today and the beginnings of the welfare state. Beyond trenches, flappers, and Spitfires, this is a story of strange cults and economic madness, of revolutionaries and heroic inventors, sexual experiments and raucous stage heroines.

From organic food to drugs, nightclubs and celebrities to package holidays, crooked bankers to sleazy politicians, the echoes of today's Britain ring from almost every page.

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First Hand Knowledge: How I Participated in the Cia-Mafia Murder of President Kennedy by Robert D. Morrow..

A senior CIA agent breaks his silence about his participation in the CIA-Mafia plot to kill President Kennedy, implicating LBJ, Richard Nixon, Allen Dulles, and others.

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The Barrytown Trilogy: The Commitments / The Snapper / The Van

(THE BARRYTOWN TRILOGY #1-3)

by Roddy Doyle

Roddy Doyle's winning trio of comic novels depicting the daily life and times of the Rabbitte family in working-class Dublin. The Commitments Still one of the freshest and funniest rock 'n' roll novels ever written, Doyle's first book portrays a group of aspiring musicians on a mission: to bring soul to Dublin. The Snapper Doyle's sparkling second novel observes the progression of twenty-year-old Sharon's pregnancy and its impact on the Rabbitte family - especially on her father, Jimmy Sr - with with, candor, and surprising authenticity. The Van Set during the heady days of Ireland's brief, euphoric triumphs in the 1990 World Cup, this Booker Prize nominee is a tender and hilarious tale of male friendship, midlife crisis, and family life.

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The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken by The Secret Barrister..

You may not wish to think about it, but one day you or someone you love will almost certainly appear in a criminal courtroom. You might be a juror, a victim, a witness or - perhaps through no fault of your own - a defendant.

Whatever your role, you’d expect a fair trial. I’m a barrister. I work in the criminal justice system, and every day I see how fairness is not guaranteed. Too often the system fails those it is meant to protect. The innocent are wronged and the guilty allowed to walk free. In The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken I want to share some stories from my daily life to show you how the system is broken, who broke it and why we should start caring before it’s too late.

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Fun Run and Other Oxymorons: Singular Reflections of an Englishman Abroad by Joe Bennett..

Why is it that a man with a vacuum cleaner just has to discover exactly what it is capable of sucking up? And have you ever wondered why cars parked outside massage parlours contain dogs? Why Monopoly is the root of all evil?

Why every man should own a circular saw? Or wondered what it's like to sleep on a waterbed when drunk? Joe Bennett is an Englishman abroad.

With prose as clear as sunlight he illuminates normal life. The result is abnormally funny. He celebrates simplicity, and lacerates pomposity. Among his many topics are consultants, cappuccinos, karaoke, therapy, apostrophes, dogs and golf.

In his own words, 'If anything holds these observations together it is that I like people but not in herds. I distrust all beliefs, most thought and anything ending in ism.

Most opinion is emotion in fancy dress.' Enjoy the company of this old-fashioned wit, whose sparkling vignettes highlight the absurdities of life.

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Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter Guralnick.....

One of the most influential singers and songwriters of all time, Sam Cooke was among the first to blend gospel music and secular themes - the early foundation of soul music.

He was the opposite of Elvis: a black performer who appealed to white audiences, who wrote his own songs, who controlled his own business destiny. No biography has previously been written that fully captures Sam Cooke's accomplishments, the importance of his contribution to American music, the drama that accompanied his rise in the early days of the civil rights movement, and the mystery that surrounds his death.

Author Peter Guralnick tells this moving and significant story, from Cooke's childhood as a choirboy to an adulthood when he was anything but.

With appearances by Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, James Brown, Harry Belafonte, Aretha Franklin, Fidel Castro, The Beatles, Sonny and Cher, Bob Dylan, and other central figures of this explosive era, DREAM BOOGIE is a compelling depiction of one man striving to achieve his vision despite all obstacles and an epic portrait of America during the turbulent and hopeful 1950's and 1960's.

The triumph of the book is the vividness with which Peter Guralnick conveys the astonishing richness of the black America of this era -the drama, force, and feeling of the story.

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Genet

BY EDMUND WHITE

Bastard, thief, prostitute, jailbird, Jean Genet was one of French literature's sacred monsters.

in works from 'Our Lady of the Flowers' to 'The Screens', he created a scandalous personal mythology while savaging the conventions of his society.

His career was a series of calculated shocks marked by feuds, rootlessness, and the embrace of unpopular causes and outcast peoples.

Now this most enigmatic of writers has found his ideal biographer in novelist Edmund White, whose eloquent and often poignant chronicle does justice to the unruly narrative of Genet's life even as it maps the various worlds in which he lived and the perverse landscape of his imagination.