Politics and the English Language by George Orwell

$3.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language | Series: Penguin Modern Classics Ser.

'The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's reals and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics'. All issues are p olitical issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer.' ...Show more

Great Ideas: Why I Write by George Orwell

$12.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language | Series: Penguin Great Ideas Ser.

Whether puncturing the lies of politicians, wittily dissecting the English character or telling unpalatable truths about war, Orwell's timeless, uncompromising essays are more relevant, entertaining and essential than ever in today's era of spin.

The Penguin Book Quiz: From the Very Hungry Caterpillar to Ulysses by James Walton

$22.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language

Which Haruki Murakami novel shares its title with a Beatles song? In Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, what is Charlie's surname? What is heavy-drinking Rachel Watson known as in the title of a 21st-century bestseller? And what do you get if you add the number of Bennet sisters in Jane Aus ten's Pride and Prejudice to the number of Karamazov brothers in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov? With four hundred questions covering books from literary classics to modern bestsellers, through iconic children's books and books you say that you've read but really you haven't, The Penguin Book Quiz is as appropriate for making you look well-read at a party as it is for a book-loving family to tuck into after Christmas dinner- it's as enjoyable to read as it is to play. Featuring the work of everyone from Antony Beevor to Zadie Smith, books from The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Ulysses, and with movie, music, television, theatre and literary references abound, this entertaining quiz tickles the fancy (and the brains) of light and heavy readers alike. Answers- - Norwegian Wood - Bucket - The Girl on the Train - Eight (five sisters, three brothers) ...Show more

Storytime: Growing up with Books by Jane Sullivan

$26.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

What was it exactly? Wonder, rapture delight, surprised recognition, laughter - but also darker feelings that made my heart beat fast and my stomach turn over, and sometimes a frantic urge to close the book before whatever it was sucked me in and destroyed me. But always, I read on.   In Storytime , author and literary critic Jane Sullivan takes us from Wonderland to Narnia, Moomintroll to Mr Toad and from Winnie the Pooh to the Magic Pudding, to find out why her favourite childhood books were so vitally important, and how they shaped the woman she is today.   This intimate, intense and emotional adventure down memory lane is much, much more than nostalgia. It is a surprising and sometimes disturbing voyage of self-discovery. As Jane relives old joys and faces old fears, she discovers that the books were not what she thought they were, and she was not the child she thought she was.      ...Show more

The Little Book of Lost Words: Collywobbles, Ultracrepidarian and Other Surprisingly Useful Terms Worth Resurrecting by Joe Gillard

$19.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

In The Little Book of Lost Words, history buff Joe Gillard presents a handy guide for expressing yourself with history's best words.

The Gifts of Reading by Robert Macfarlane

$5.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language

From the acclaimed author of The Old Ways and Landmarks -- an essay on the beauty and joy of reading, for anyone who has ever loved a book Every book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves both participants the richer. Here Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt. From one of the most lyrical writers of our time comes a perfectly formed gem, a lyrical celebration of the power and preciousness of the given book. ...Show more

Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

$29.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language

"Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?" Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. With more than a mile of shelving, real log fires in the shop and the sea lapping nearby, the shop should be an idyll for bookworms. Unfortunately, Shaun also has to contend with bizarre requests from people who don't understand what a shop is, home invasions during the Wigtown Book Festival and Granny, his neurotic Italian assistant who likes digging for river mud to make poultices. The Diary of a Bookseller (soon to be a major TV series) introduced us to the joys and frustrations of life lived in books. Sardonic and sympathetic in equal measure, Confessions of a Bookseller will reunite readers with the characters they've come to know and love. ...Show more

Wordy by Simon Schama

$35.00 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language

'Wordy is about the intoxication of writing; my sense of playful versatility; different voices for different matters: the polemical voice for political columns; the sharp-eyed descriptive take for profiles; poetic precision in grappling with the hard task of translating art into words; lyrical recall fo r memory pieces. And informing everything a rich sense of the human comedy and the ways it plays through historical time. It's also a reflection on writers who have been shamelessly gloried in verbal abundance; the performing tumble of language - those who have especially inspired me - Dickens and Melville; Joyce and Marquez.' Sir Simon Schama has been at the forefront of the arts, political commentary, social analysis and historical study for over forty years. As a teacher of Art History and an award-winning television presenter of iconic history-based programming, Simon is equally a prolific bestselling writer and award-winning columnist for many of the world's foremost publishers, broadsheet newspapers, periodicals and magazines. His commissioned subjects over the years have been numerous and wide ranging - from the music of Tom Waits, to the works of Sir Quentin Blake; the history of the colour blue, to discussing what skills an actor needs to create a unique performance of Falstaff. Schama's tastes are wide-ranging as they are eloquent, incisive, witty and thought provoking and have entertained and educated the readers of some of the world's most respected publications - the Times, the Guardian, the New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar and Rolling Stone magazine.   Wordy is a celebration of one of the world's foremost writers. This collection of fifty essays chosen by the man himself stretches across four decades and is a treasure trove for all those who have a passion for the arts, politics, food and life.   ...Show more

Literary Wonderlands by Laura Miller

$39.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language

From the advent of the first works of literature many millennia ago, writers have used imaginary worlds both to entertain their readers and to examine concepts, highlight key issues and consider their personal beliefs about the society, natural surroundings and experience of being of which they are a pa rt. Lovingly researched and beautifully produced, Literary Wonderlands explores the most fantastic and influential fictional worlds in literary history and delves into the captivating features of their formation - from the writer's own lives to the relevance of their fiction within a broader social context and the meaning that can be extracted from the details of their composition. This truly global collection draws on texts from around the world, spanning over two thousand years of creative endeavour to offer up enchanting and universally appealing tales of imaginary worlds, old and new. Roaming from well-known worlds to less traversed terrain, Literary Wonderlands is a fascinating read for anyone who has ever been transported to another place through the power of the written world. ...Show more

Nganga: A Dictionary of Aboriginal Terms and Phrases by Aunty Fay Muir; Sue Lawson

$16.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language

Fierce Bad Rabbits The Tales Behind Children's Picture Books by Clare Pollard

$32.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language

What is The Tiger Who Came to Tea really about? What has Meg and Mog got to do with Polish embroidery? Why is death in picture books so often represented by being eaten? We've read Green Eggs and Ham, laughed at Mr Tickle and whetted our appetites with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. But what lies behind t he picture books that make up our childhood? Fierce Bad Rabbits takes us on an eye-opening journey in a pea-green boat through the history of picture books. From Edward Lear through to Beatrix Potter and contemporary picture books like Stick Man, Clare Pollard shines a light on some of our best-loved childhood stories, their histories and what they really mean. Because the best picture books are far more complex than they seem - and darker too. Monsters can gobble up children and go unnoticed, power is not always used wisely, and the wild things are closer than you think. Sparkling with wit, magic and nostalgia, Fierce Bad Rabbits weaves in tales from Clare's own childhood, and her re-readings as a parent, with fascinating facts and theories about the authors behind the books. Introducing you to new treasures while bringing your childhood favourites to vivid life, it will make you see even stories you've read a hundred times afresh. ...Show more

Axiomatic (Stella shortlist 2019) by Maria Tumarkin

$34.99 AUD

Category: Books, Writing and Language

This boundary-shifting fusion of thinking, storytelling, and meditation takes as its starting point five axioms: * 'Give Me a Child Before the Age of 7 and I'll Give You the (Wo)Man' * 'History Repeats Itself...' * 'Those Who Forget the Past are Condemned to Repeat It' * 'You Can't Enter The Same River Twice' * 'Time Heals All Wounds'. These beliefs -- or intuitions -- about the role the past plays in our present are often evoked as if they are timeless and self-evident truths. It is precisely because they are neither, yet still we are persuaded by them, that they tell us a great deal about the forces that shape our culture and the way we live. The past shapes the present -- they teach us this in schools and universities. But the past cannot be visited like an ageing relative; the past doesn't live in little zoo enclosures. Half the time, the past is nothing less than the beating heart of the present. So, how to speak of the searing, unpindownable power that the past -- ours, our family's, our culture's -- wields now? ...Show more