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George Orwell's first published work, Down and Out in Paris and London, is a vivid, sensitive account of the time he lived as one of the poor in the late twenties. In a bug-infested hotel, surviving only between the pawnbroker and a little teaching and writing, Orwell shocked the middle-class establishment with his observation of the misery, the hopelessness and the despair of the poor of a previously unexplored Paris and London. ‘The white-hot reaction of a sensitive, observant, compassionate young man to poverty’ Dervla Murphy "You have talked so often of going to the dogs - and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them". George Orwell's vivid memoir of his time among the desperately poor and destitute in London and Paris is a moving tour of the underworld of society. He

The electrifying opening of James Frey's debut memoir, A Million Little Pieces, smash-cuts to the then 23-year-old author on a Chicago-bound plane covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood. Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment center where a doctor promises he will be dead within a few days if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonizing months of detox confronting The Fury head on:

I want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want fifty bottle

You can't tell by looking at me that my dad is Poseidon, God of the Sea. It's not easy being a half-blood these days. You mortals can't even see the monsters we have to fight all the time. So when a game of dodgeball turned into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, I couldn't exactly ask my gym teacher for help. And that was just for starters. This is the one where Camp Half Blood is under attack, and unless I get my hands on the Golden Fleece, the whole camp will be invaded by monsters. Big ones. Can Percy survive the treacherous Sea of Monsters and restore order to Half-Blood Hill?

It's the last Friday before the winter holidays but Percy Jackson isn't at school: he's battling the fearsome Manticore (half human, half lion), which in itself isn't ideal ...but with Annabeth missing and the goddess of the hunt held captive, things get a whole lot more serious ...This is Greek mythology relocated to modern-day America. This book presents action-packed, funny, accessible writing for both boys and girls aged 10+. It is perfect for fans of "Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl".

In these top-secret files, Rick Riordan, Camp Half-Blood's senior scribe, gives you an inside look at the world of demigods that no regular human child is allowed to see. These highly classified archives include three of Percy Jackson's most perilous adventures, a "Spotter's Guide to Monsters", a "Who's Who in Greek Mythology", "Percy's Summer Camp Report" and much more. So, if you're armed with this book, you'll have everything you need to know to keep you alive in your training. Your own adventures have just begun...

Here are animated crows, a criminal monkey, an ice man, as well as the dreams that shape us and the things we might wish for. Whether in a chance reunion in Italy, a romantic exile in Greece, a holiday in Hawaii or sexuality, or in the grip of everyday life, Murakami's characters confront loss, or sexuality, or the glow of a firefly, or the impossible distance between those who ought to be closes of all. Following the success of Kafka on the Shore comes a collection that gives full rein to Murakami's inventive mastery. From the surreal to the mundane, these stories exhibit his ability to transform the full range of the human experience in ways that are instructive, surprising and relentlessly entertaining.

The Winner Stands Alone is the enthralling new novel by the incomparable Paulo Coelho. The story is set during the Cannes International Film Festival and the entire action plays out over 24 hours. Igor is a wealthy Russian businessman. His wife Ewa left him two years ago and Igor has never really come to terms with their break up, especially as Ewa is now remarried to a famous fashion designer, Hamid Hussein. Igor is insanely jealous and when Ewa left him he told her that he would destroy 'whole worlds' in order to get her back, and he intends to keep his promise! Igor has followed Ewa and her new husband to Cannes and his plan is to cause as much violence and destruction as possible until Ewa realises how much he loves her and comes back to him. Ewa loved Igor but she was absolutely t

From dreamy thoughts about colour to fantastic notions on left and right, this surreal book encourages young children to let their immaginations run riot and think up all kinds of weird and wonderful things.

'Wise old man, won't you help me, please? My house is a squash and squeeze'. What can you do if your house is too small? The wise old man knows: bring in a flappy, scratchy, noisy crowd of farmyard animals. When you push them all out again, you'll be amazed at how big your house feels! This brilliantly funny story is the first ever picture book written and illustrated by the award-winning team of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, authors of "The Gruffalo".

Annie and Duncan are a mid-thirties couple who have reached a fork in the road, realising their shared interest in the reclusive musician Tucker Crowe (in Duncan's case, an obsession rather than an interest) is not enough to hold them together any more. When Annie hates Tucker's 'new release', a terrible demo of his most famous album, it's the last straw - Duncan cheats on her and she promptly throws him out. Via an internet discussion forum, Annie's harsh opinion reaches Tucker himself, who couldn't agree more. He and Annie start an unlikely correspondence which teaches them both something about moving on from years of wasted time. Nick Hornby's compelling new novel, four years after "A Long Way Down", is about the nature of creativity and obsession, and how two lonely people can grad

Jonathan Safran Foer has written a novel for our times, a story so deeply affecting and wise that it has to potential to have an impact far beyond that of most novels. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a collage about the world we live in: its terrorism, its beauty, its love, its mysteries, its absurdities, its people. Oskar is a precocious nine-year old who writes letters to famously intelligent people asking to be their protégé, invents a "googolplex" of devices (such as an ambulance that tells people when a loved one is inside and a lollipop that tells people how they are feeling), who knows a tremendous amount of facts (many of which he wishes he didn't know) - and who has lost his beloved father in the World Trade Center bombings. Oskar harbors a secret about that day that