-
The long-awaited autobiography of the legendary hurler Henry ShefflinIn an era when Kilkenny established itself as the dominant force in hurling, one man stood out from a remarkable group of players: Henry Shefflin. Now widely regarded as the greatest player of all time, Shefflin has more All-Stars, Hurler of the Year awards and All-Ireland medals than any other hurler. But beneath the surface image of calm efficiency and effortless genius, his hurling life has included its share of bitter disappointments, agonizing injuries and intense rivalries. Now, in what will be an essential read, Shefflin tells his own story. 'The greatest player of this, or perhaps any, generation' Sean Moran, Irish Times ISBN 9780241961711 -
lanterne rouge (French | noun): The competitor who finishes last in the Tour de France Froome, Wiggins, Merckx - we know the winners of the Tour de France, but what about the men who finish last?Lanterne Rouge tells the forgotten, often inspirational and occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider. We learn of stage winners and former yellow jerseys who tasted life at the other end of the bunch; the breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine and then took a wrong turn; the doper whose drug cocktail accidently slowed him down and the rider who was recognised as the most combative despite finishing at the back. Flipping the Tour de France on its head and examines what these stories tell us about ourselves, the 99% who don't win the trophy, Lantern Rouge forces us to re-examine the meaning of success, failure and the very nature of sport. 'A lively account of largely forgotten men... It's not easy to come up with an original angle on Le Tour, but with this rear view Leonard has managed the feat in style' Independent on Sunday ISBN 9780224092005 -
'I'd like to be remembered as a player who showed that you can be incredibly professional but also a lot of fun - a bit of a joker in the changing room, but the ultimate competitor on the pitch. That should have been the subtitle of this book, really...' One of rugby's most ferocious flankers and biggest characters, James Haskell has had an extraordinary, global experience of the game, having played for the Wasps, Northampton and England, and in New Zealand, France and Japan. After seventeen years and with 77 international caps under his sizeable belt, he has a shitload to say about rugby life - from pitch to pub and everywhere in between. In What A Flanker, Haskell sheds fresh light on the dynamics and the day-to-day of the game. Whether he's recalling the most brutal team socials; dispelling the myths surrounding New Zealand's dominance; introducing his Japanese teammates to manscaping or calling out play-acting in the modern game, no subject is off limits. Side-splittingly funny and ruthlessly honest, What A Flanker delves into the touring, drinking, training, eating and sometimes unconscionable antics of the professional rugby player. It's an unforgettable read, even if there are some stories you'd rather forget...[Correction: in the author biography and on p.22 of this book, it is stated in error that the House of Rugby podcast is now known as The Good, The Bad and The Rugby. The House of Rugby podcast continues and The Good, The Bad and The Rugby is a separate podcast.] THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Hilarious, and straight talking but also articulate and insightful - I am just hugely fond of this guy' -Eddie Jones 'James Haskell: what a flanker, what a book'-Rugby World ISBN 9780008403690 -
In horse racing greatness is defined by speed. Being the second fastest counts for little. You have to win. And win. And keep winning until every challenger of your generation is put to the sword. Of the twelve horses lined up on Newmarket Heath that 2011 day, one would do just that. And more. To become the greatest racehorse that has ever lived.Frankel was born on 11 February 2008, with four white socks and a blaze, from impressive equine lines on both his parents' sides. Simon Cooper revisits the whole of the horse's life, giving readers an inside tour of the calm oasis that is life a stud farm, where a foal will live with his mother for the first year of his life. Next, the atmosphere of heady possibility that marks the early days of training. Roadwork. Gallops. Trials. Turning raw potential into something more. Frankel begins to set himself apart.A detailed and fast-paced narrative breathlessly recounts the racing career of the horse who, by his retirement to stud at the age of 4, would be rated the greatest of all time. Cooper weaves the horse's tale with those of his trainer, battling cancer, the stablehands who coped with his explosive nature, the work rider who tamed him, the the jockey who rode in all fourteen of his races, and the owner who saw his potential from the very beginning. The result is a rich and multifaceted tale of modern horse racing, the lives of everyone involved, human and equine, and the unadulterated glory of winning. And winning everything. ISBN 9780008307042 -
Within the staggeringly dangerous and high-pressure sport of professional motorcycling, Jonathan Rea's achievements are unprecedented. A legendary World Superbike Champion withmore race wins than any rider in history, Rea's trailblazing success shows no sign of slowing down. Now, for the first time, this remarkable sportsman tracks his life and career. Seemingly destined for the racing world, Jonathan grew up in the paddocks - his grandfather was the first sponsor of five-times World Champion Joey Dunlop and his dad was a former Isle of Man TT winner. He owned his first bike before his hands were big enough to reach the brakes. But while racing may be in his blood, it is through sheer determination and relentless perseverance that Rea has gained huge victories in this ultra-competitive world. Topping several of the most prestigious motorcycling championships, he rules the sport - so much so that regulations are being introduced to curb his dominance. The fact that Rea has endured several potentially career-ending scrapes - including smashing his femur at the age of seventeen and being told that he would never race again - makes his achievements even more incredible. 'Dream. Believe. Achieve,' is Rea's mantra and in this gripping autobiography, we go behind the visor and into the mind of a man who has risen to the top of one of the most skilled and dangerous sports in the world. 'If I had to lose my record to anyone, I couldn't be happier that it was Jonathan. Family connections aside, there is nobody more talented, more determined or more deserving.' - Carl Fogarty ISBN 9780008305109 -
Instagram sensations and debut cookbook authors Gina and Karol Daly had a massive hit in 2020 with their first cookbook, The Daly Dish. Now they are back with more food that looks so decadent, you will find it hard to believe it will help you to achieve your slimming goals. Just ask Gina and Karol - between them they have lost over 10 stone and feel better than ever!Compatible with the principles of many popular diet programmes, you will find fan favourites such as Tasty Tacos, No Stress Stew and Perfect Pizza. The Daly Dish Rides Again will have you looking forward to dinner every night and looking forward to weighing in on the scales too! ISBN 9780717190454 -
How can we think about the future? What do we need to do - and who do we need to be? In her bold and invigorating new book, distinguished businesswoman and author Margaret Heffernan explores the people and organisations who aren't daunted by uncertainty. We are addicted to prediction, desperate for certainty about the future. But the complexity of modern life won't provide that; experts in forecasting are reluctant to look more than 400 days out. History doesn't repeat itself and even genetics won't tell you everything you want to know. Ineradicable uncertainty is now a fact of life. In complex environments, efficiency is a hazard not a help; being robust is the better, safer option. Drawing on a wide array of people and places, Margaret Heffernan looks at long-term projects developed over generations that could never have been planned the way that they have been run. Experiments, led by individuals and nations, discover new possibilities and options. Radical exercises in forging new futures with wildly diverse participants allow everyone to create outcomes together that none could do alone. Existential crises reveal the vital social component in resilience. Death is certain, but how we approach it impacts the future of those we leave behind. And preparedness - doing everything today that you might need for tomorrow - provides the antidote to passivity and prediction. Ranging freely through history and from business to science, government to friendships, this refreshing book challenges us to resist the false promises of technology and efficiency and instead to mine our own creativity and humanity for the capacity to create the futures we want and can believe in. 'An urgent read ... Karl Popper for the 21st century' Robert Phillips, former CEO, Edelman EMEA and author of Trust me, PR is Dead 'Heffernan is ... a deft storyteller. Uncharted is ... wise and appealingly human' Tim Harford, Financial Times ISBN 9781471179822 -
This year has demonstrated how quickly our lives can change completely without warning. But every day we face change - whether it's small changes such as an unscheduled meeting or plans going awry, to bigger changes such as a change of job or coping with the loss of a loved one. Our lives are constantly moving and we, in turn, must move with them. In his latest book, bestselling author Dr Harry Barry shows us how to not only cope with change but learn in the process, and therefore grow and develop as a human being. Dr Barry, with the benefit of over thirty-five-years-experience as a family doctor assisting people in crisis, shares the practical tools and techniques required to manage change effectively and live your life to the fullest. Revealing how to become the ultimate pragmatist - accepting that there is no such thing as the perfect solution, just the best solution one can find at that moment in time. Embracing Change is a practical, compassionate companion for anyone looking to boost their resilience, adapt to life's challenges, and by smoothly navigating through them, reach calmer waters. ISBN 9781409199892 -
In this graphic novel, what begins as an affectionate reminiscence of the author’s 1990s teenage infatuation with the late actor River Phoenix morphs into a remarkable, sprawling account of the city of Portland and state of Oregon's dark history of white nationalism. Murphy is a Portland native who has a genuine affection for River Phoenix, and her heart-racing descriptions of scenes like the infamous campfire kiss My Own Private Idaho serves as a moral anchor to a deeply amoral history. Murphy details the relationship between white supremacist Tom Metzger, former KKK Grand Wizard and founder of the White Aryan Resistance, and the "Rose City" street kids like Ken Death that infiltrated Van Sant's films - a relationship that culminates in an infamous episode of Geraldo. This story brilliantly weaves 1990s alternative culture - from Kurt Cobain to William Burroughs to Keanu Reeves to the Red Hot Chili Peppers - with two centuries of the Pacific Northwest's shameful history as a hotbed for white nationalism: from the Whitman massacre in 1847, to the Ku Klux Klan's role in Portland's city planning in the early 1900s; to the shameful treatment of black people displaced in the 1948 Vanport flood; and through the 2014 armed standoff with Cliven Bundy's cattle ranch. Told in the style of an illustrated diary, with wet, blue ink washes, the other protagonist in this tale is Murphy herself, a gender queer kid trying to process all of this. ISBN 9781683964100 -
They're back! Writer Meg-John Barker and artist Jules Scheele once again team up in this cheeky and informative comic-book follow-up to Queer and Gender. Sex is everywhere. It's in the stories we love - and the stories we fear. It defines who we are and our place in society ... at least we're told it ought to. Sex and sexuality can seem like a house of horrors, full of monsters and potential pitfalls. We often live with fear, shame and frustration when it comes to our own sexuality, and with judgement when it comes to others'. Sex advice manuals, debates over sex work and stories of sexual "dysfunction" only add to our anxiety. With compassion, humour, erudition and a touch of the erotic, Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele shine a light through the darkness and unmask the monsters. ISBN 9781785786532 -
Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life by Nina Stibbe is the laugh-out-loud story of the trials and tribulations of a very particular family. In 1982 Nina Stibbe, a 20-year-old from Leicester, moved to London to work as a nanny for a very particular family. It was a perfect match: Nina had no idea how to cook, look after children or who the weirdos were who called round. And the family, busy discussing such arcane subjects as how to swear in German or the merits (or otherwise) of turkey mince, were delighted by her lack of skills. Love, Nina is the collection of letters she wrote home gloriously describing her 'domestic' life, the unpredictable houseguests and the cat everyone loved to hate. 'I adored this book and could quote from it forever' Nick Hornby'Funny and sharp: no book this year has made me laugh more' John Lanchester, Guardian 'The funniest book I've read in ages' Sunday Times'An unassuming comic genius' Independent * * * WINNER OF THE 2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS POPULAR NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR * * * ISBN 9780241965092 -
Inspired by their childhoods in West and East Jerusalem, Yotam Ottolenghi's and Sami Tamimi's original cookbook Ottolenghi: The Cookbook showcases fresh, honest, bold cooking and has become a culinary classic. Yotam and Sami's inventive yet simple dishes rest on numerous culinary traditions, ranging from North Africa to Lebanon, Italy and California. First published in 2008, this new updated edition revisits the 140 original recipes covering everything from accomplished meat and fish main courses, through to healthy and quick salads and suppers, plus Ottolenghi's famously delectable cakes and breads. A new introduction sheds fresh light on a book that has become a national favourite. Ottolenghi is an award-winning chef, being awarded with the James Beard Award 'Cooking from a Professional Point of View' for Nopi in 2016, and 'International Cookbook' for Jerusalem in 2013. In 2013 he also won four other awards for Jerusalem. 'Ottolenghi changed the way we cook in this country just as surely and enduringly as Elizabeth David's A Book of Mediterranean Food had in 1950. It brought into our kitchens bold flavours, a vivid simplicity, a spirited but never tricksy inventiveness and, above all, light.' Nigella Lawson '[A] book that has barely left my kitchen...the fact that Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi have been generous to put their recipes in a book is something I had long dreamed of' Nigel Slater, The Observer Magazine 'Possibly the best cookery book I have ever owned. The recipes...are well-tested and produce results that will astound your tastebuds. Try the aubergine-wrapped ricotta gnocchi with sage butter, the chicken with three-rice salad or their famous meringues and you'll know just what I mean.' Caroline Jowett, Daily Express 'A wonderful book for vegetarians and cake lovers alike' Bee Wilson, Sunday Times ISBN 9781785034770 -
Selection includes The Portrait of Mr W.H., Wilde's defence of Dorian Gray, reviews, and the writings from 'Intentions' (1891): 'The Decay of Lying, 'Pen, Pencil, Poison', and 'The Critic as Artist'. Wilde is familiar to us as the ironic critic behind the social comedies, as the creator of the beautiful and doomed Dorian Gray, as the flamboyant aesthete and the demonised homosexual. This volume presents us with a different Wilde. Wilde emerges here as a deep and serious reader of literature and philosophy, and an eloquent and original thinker about society and art. ISBN 9780140433876 -
Writer and critic Vivian Gornick's long-unavailable classic exploring how Left politics gave depth and meaning to American life "Before I knew that I was Jewish or a girl I knew that I was a member of the working class." So begins Vivian Gornick's exploration of how the world of socialists, communists, and progressives in the 1940s and 1950s created a rich, diverse world where ordinary men and women felt their lives connected to a larger human project. Now back in print after its initial publication in 1977 and with a new introduction by the author, The Romance of American Communism is a landmark work of new journalism, profiling American Communist Party members and fellow travelers as they joined the Party, lived within its orbit, and left in disillusionment and disappointment as Stalin's crimes became public ISBN 9781788735506 -
Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-reader is Vivian Gornick's celebration of passionate reading, of returning again and again to the books that have shaped her at crucial points in her life. In nine essays that traverse literary criticism, memoir, and biography, one of our most celebrated critics writes about the importance of reading - and re-reading - as life progresses. Gornick finds herself in contradictory characters within D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, assesses womanhood in Colette's The Vagabond and The Shackle, and considers the veracity of memory in Marguerite Duras's The Lover. She revisits Great War novels by J. L. Carr and Pat Barker, uncovers the psychological complexity of Elizabeth Bowen's prose, and soaks in Natalia Ginzburg, "a writer whose work has often made me love life more." After adopting two cats, whose erratic behavior she finds vexing, she discovers Doris Lessing's Particularly Cats. Guided by Gornick's trademark verve and insight, Unfinished Business is a masterful appreciation of literature's power to illuminate our lives from a peerless writer and thinker who "still read[s] to feel the power of Life with a capital L." ISBN 9781250785725 -
A celebration of the virtuoso of well-turned phrases and the master of the studied insult with this collection of his most acerbic quips. No playwright apart from Shakespeare is as widely quoted and Oscar Wilde's needlesharp rejoinders are often repeated with delight. However, his jibes were rarely cruel, and displayed a profound understanding of the human character and its vanities. Includes such notable quotes as:- `Work is the curse of the drinking classes.'- `All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.' The Importance of Being Earnest- `We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' Lady Windermere's FanWith a timeline of his life and quotations divided by themes, this book demonstrates why, more than a hundred years after his death, people are still drawn to Wilde's dazzling repartee and the wicked brilliance of his social observations. ISBN 9781789291827 -
'I have nothing to declare,' Wilde once told an American customs official, 'except my genius.' A socialite, a wit, a man who flaunted convention and was unafraid to shock, Oscar Wilde was a great writer and a great man. This new collection of wit and wisdom demonstrates the brilliance of his vision, the audacity of his style. Such is the scope of the material, it brings to life the Wilde of great feeling as well as the Wilde of great art. ISBN 9780141192680 -
The handbook that every runner needs on their shelf. Why do I get a headache after a run ?Do runners really need to do strength and conditioning? Will running damage my knees? How can I stop my skin chafing on long runs? How quickly will I lose my fitness if I have to stop running? What's the best diet for a runner? Dr Juliet McGrattan has worked as a family doctor, health journalist and Master Coach for the 261 Fearless global running network. All this experience and passion combines to create this helpful, accessible handbook. Run Well answers these and many other common health questions that runners ask. Packed with practical, realistic and sound advice on topics from head to toe, for all of the running community. ISBN 9781472979674
