Little, Brown and Company

Art, reality and the strange ways the two imitate one another are at the core of Muriel Spark's delightful Loitering with Intent, first published in 1981. Would-be novelist Fleur Talbot works for the snooty, irascible Sir Quentin Oliver at the Autobiographical Association, whose members are all at work on their memoirs. When her employer gets his hands on Fleur's novel-in-progress, mayhem ensues when its scenes begin coming true. Generating hilarious turns of phrase and larger-than-life characters (especially Sir Quentin's batty mother), Spark's inimitable style make this literary joyride thoroughly appealing.

An extraordinary novel about a young woman trying to survive the death of her first lover-and the revenge of the young man's mother, who holds her responsible. Written with the intensity and beauty that commanded so much attention for White Oleander, this novel once again captures the vitality, strength and fragility of a young woman trying to make it on her own.

Lisa Moore's Alligator moves with the swiftness of a gator in attack mode through the lives of a group of brilliantly rendered characters in a city whose spiritual location is somewhere in the heart of Flannery O'Connor country. Madeleine, the driven, ageing filmmaker whose mission is to complete a Bergmanesque magnum opus before she dies Frank, a young man of innocence and determination whose life is a strange anthology of unpredicatable dangers Valentin, the sociopathic Russian refugee whose predatory tendencies threaten everyone he encounters Colleen, at seventeen, a hard-edged female Holden Caulfield, drawn inexorably to the places where alligators thrive.

Contrary to popular belief, some people have had enough of silly love songs. Especially ones that are so overwrought, inept, or narcissistic that they actually do the opposite of their intent: they creep you out. In Touch Me, I'm Sick, Tom Reynolds, the author of the best-selling book on depressing songs, I Hate Myself and Want to Die, analyses 52 love songs that for various reasons have gone off the rails into the realm of the tawdry (Paul Anka's 'You're Having My Baby'), the maudlin (Pearl Jam's 'Black') the obsessive (Eminem's 'Stan'), the self-involved (Kevin Federline's 'To Know Him Is To Love Him') and the stupendously weird (Michael Jackson's 'Ben'). Organising his list into ten different categories, the author examines songs from the 50s to the present day, sung by artists as diverse as James Blunt, Melissa Etheridge, Sinead O'Connor, The Spice Girls and The Police. Complete with a ranked 'Countdown of Creepiness' and sinister black and white line art throughout, Touch Me, I'm Sick is a must-have compilation of rhythmic wretchedness — and the perfect Christmas gift for the music lover on your list.

I stuck my finger under the edge of the paper and jerked it under the tape. Shoot, I muttered when the paper sliced my finger. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut. It all happened very quickly then. No, Edward roared Dazed and disorientated, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm — and into the fevered eyes of the six suddenly ravenous vampires. For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of an evil vampire but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realise their troubles may just be beginning

'Bella?' Edward's soft voice came from behind me. I turned to see him spring lightly up the porch steps, his hair windblown from running. He pulled me into his arms at once, and kissed me again. His kiss frightened me. There was too much tension, too strong an edge to the way his lips crushed mine like he was afraid we had only so much time left to us. As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which? Following the international bestsellers Twilight and New Moon, Eclipse is the much-anticipated third book in Stephenie Meyer's captivating saga of vampire romance.

Blinded Psychologist Alan Gregory has a new patient: Gibbs Storey, whose looks turn grown men into dazzled adolescents. She tells Alan that she thinks her husband, Sterling, may have murdered one of her friends. Blandly recounting a history of dangerous sexual encounters, Gibbs stuns Alan with another revelation: she thinks there are other victims... and that her husband will kill again. Struggling with a strict confidentiality agreement, Alan walks a perilous ethical line by revealing just enough to interest his detective friend, Sam Purdy, and start a search for a missing Sterling Storey and a string of innocent victims. But are they too late to stop more killings? Missing Persons Hannah Grant had volunteered to cover Alan Gregory's practice over the Christmas period, but when he and another colleague called at her office they discovered her body, the cause of death not clear. Then on Christmas Day itself a fourteen-year-old girl is reported missing — eight years to the day after another missing child had been discovered murdered — a girl who had she lived would have been fourteen.Then it emerges that the parents of the latest missing girl had been treated by Alan some years ago, and recently the girl herself had consulted Hannah. Could any of these tangential connections prove to be links to both deaths and the missing girl, or are they mere coincidences?

Every new project (or career or relationship) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point — really hard, really not fun. At this point you might be in a Dip, which will get better if you keep pushing, or a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better no matter how hard you try. The hard part is knowing the difference and acting on it. According to marketing guru and best-selling author Seth Godin, what sets successful entrepreneurs (and pop stars and weight lifters and car salesmen) apart from everyone else is their ability to give up on Cul-de-Sacs while staying motivated in Dips. Winners quit fast, quit often and quit without guilt — until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. You'll never be number one at anything without picking your shots very carefully. The Dip is a short, entertaining book that helps you do just that. It will forever alter the way you think about success.

Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned form the Second World War. Noah is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories... until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again. Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. It is a story of miracles and emotions that will stay with you forever.

From ancient times to the present day, the story of England has been laced with drama, intrigue, courage and passion — a rich and vibrant narrative of heroes and villains, kings and rebels, artists and highwaymen, bishops and scientists. Now, in Great Tales of English History, Robert Lacey captures one hundred of the most pivotal moments: the stories and extraordinary characters who helped shape a nation. This first volume begins in 7150 BC with the life and death of Cheddar Man and ends in 1381 with Wat Tyler and the Peasants' Revolt. We meet the Greek navigator Pytheus, whose description of the Celts as prettanike (the 'painted people') yielded the Latin word Britannici. We witness the Roman victory celebrations of AD 43, where a squadron of elephants were paraded through Colchester. And we visit the New Forest, in 1100, and the mysterious shooting of King William Rufus. Packed with insight, humour and fascinating detail, Robert Lacey brings the stories that made England brilliantly to life. From Ethelred the Unready to Richard the Lionheart, the Venerable Bede to the Black Prince, this is, quite simply, history as history should be told.

A young woman returns to northern Quebec to the remote island of her childhood, with her lover and two friends, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her father. Flooded with memories, she begins to realise that going home means entering not only another place but another time. As the wild island exerts its elemental hold and she is submerged in the language of the wilderness, she sees that what she is really looking for is her own past.

Two weeks before her wedding Stevie Jonson has got the jitters. Is she finally growing up, or compromising horribly? In love or in denial? Yes, there are good reasons to get married. Babies, or at least the possibility of babies before eggs shrivel up. Sex whenever she wants it. A justification for staying in without feeling like a loser. Contentment, the shave-legs-in-front-of-him kind. And there are very good reasons not to get married. Not wanting to sleep with him unless nothing on telly. Never sleeping with anyone else ever again. His mother. His new bald patch. Being called, 'my wife.' And the disconcerting reappearance of a former major crush, reminder of everything fiance isn't. As the clock ticks, a shocking secret threatens to bring Stevie's future crashing down around her. A hilarious and heartfelt story about love, marriage and mating and what happens when they refuse to schedule.

Now that she is finally and happily married to her long-term suitor Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency of Botswana might have expected life to grow more sedate. But the many problems that lead customers to Mma Ramotswe's door seem, if anything, to have multiplied, and no sooner has she settled her traditionally built person into the married state than she finds herself looking into several troublesome matters at once. There is, to begin with, a disturbing case of blackmail and theft from the Government catering college. Then, while on an errand for her husband to the Mokolodi Game Reserve Mma Ramotswe is seconded to investigate an unpleasant atmosphere that may be down to witchcraft, or something worse. There are sinister goings-on at a health clinic to be looked into, not to mention any number of small wrongs to be righted along the path to detective triumph. And all the time Mma Ramotswe has weighty questions of a philosophical nature to consider, such as whether it is right to find happiness in small things, such as a new pair of blue shoes, a slice of cake, or a red sunset over the Kalahari.

I killed my best friend. I didn't mean to, but I did. This is my story.' Miles Kendrick is in a witness protection program, hiding from the mob and constantly haunted by his best friend's death. With the aid of psychiatrist Allison Vance, Miles is trying to hold onto his sanity and to recall the events of that tragic night. But when Allison is blown to pieces by a bomb planted in her office, Miles becomes caught up in a deadly conspiracy way beyond his worst nightmares. Pursued by an ex-FBI detective turned hitman and helped by a mentally broken ex-soldier and a reclusive woman whose life has been destroyed by violence, Miles is in a battle to get his life back — or just stay alive. A gripping, breakneck-paced thriller, Fear will not let you go until the last bullet flies.

The brutal assasination of Commissioner Frederick Mackeson on British India’s North-West Frontier in 1853 was a bloody and public declaration of a conflict that was to stretch well into the next one hundred and fifty years. The Wahhabi tribe, extreme Islamist fundamentalists, set out to restore purity to their faith by declaring violent jihad on all who opposed them. Their history has long been forgotten and yet their vicious brand of political ideology lives on. The Wahhabi deeply influenced not only the formation of modern Saudi Arabia, but Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Their teachings educate orphan boys in Afghanistan and press rifles into their hands, for the sake of jihad. The parallels between this pivotal terrorist network and our post-9/11 political climate are staggering. Charles Allen sheds lights on the historical roots of modern terrorism and shows how this dangerous nineteenth-century theology lives on today.

Max Skinner is a man at the heart of London's financial universe until his employers embark on a little asset-stripping of their own. Himself. Amid the grey London drizzle, there is one potential ray of sunshine: Max's Uncle Harry has left him his estate in his will — an eighteenth-century chateau and vineyard an hour's drive from Avignon. Out of a job, and encouraged by his friend Charlie about the money in modern wine, he heads for France. What Max discovers is a beautiful house, wonderful weather and a bustling village. The downside is the quality of the wine in his vineyard, but when Max suggests calling in an expert, Roussel, a former employee of his uncle's, is resistant. Help is at hand, however, when a beautiful blonde Californian arrives unexpectedly at the chateau. Peter Mayle's delightful novel will enchant the audiences who bought A Year In Provence and Toujours Provence in their millions.

India is poised to become one of the world’s three largest economies in the next generation and to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2032. Well before then India's incipient nuclear deterrent will have acquired intercontinental range and air, sea and land capabilities. India's volatile relationship with its nuclear-armed neighbour, Pakistan, may prove to be the source of the world's next major conflict. And if you call anyone — from your bank to rail enquiries — your query may well be dealt with by a graduate in Gujarat. Any way one looks at it, India's fate matters. Edward Luce, one of the most incisive and talented journalists of his generation, assesses the forces that are forging the new nation. Cutting through the miasma that still clouds thinking about India, this extraordinarily accomplished book takes the measure of a society that is struggling to come to grips with modernity. Drawing on historical research, existing literature and his own unparalleled access as the New Delhi-based, South Asia correspondent of the FT, this is a book that will enthral as well as educate and will remain the definitive book on the country for many years.

An element of drama has always attended Rupert Everett, even before he swept to fame with his outstanding performance in 'Another Country'. He has spent his life surrounded by extraordinary people, and witnessed extraordinary events. He was in Moscow during the fall of communism; in Berlin the night the wall came down; and in downtown Manhattan on September 11th. By the age of 17 he was friends with Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger, and since then he has been up close and personal with some of the most famous women in the world: Julia Roberts, Madonna, Sharon Stone and Donatella Versace. Whether sweeping the floor for the Royal Shakespeare Company or co-starring with Faye Dunaway and an orang-utan in 'Dunstan Checks In' (they both took ages to get ready), Rupert Everett always brings as much energy and talent to his life as he does to his career. A superb raconteur and a keen observer of human folly (especially his own), Rupert Everett turns his life into a captivating story of love, fame, glamour, gossip and drama.

Recent years have seen a remarkable growth of interest in revolution and social upheaval. This collection of essays by distinguished historian and long-standing Marxist Eric Hobsbawm is a commentary and critical retrospective on the revolutionary movements and ideas that dominated the twentieth century, and which remain of crucial contemporary relevance. The essays here explore a broad range of related topics including the history of communism, the influence of marxism, insurrection, military coups and guerrilla warfare, and the role of intellectuals. This updated edition presents new thoughts on anti-communist polemics and the Spanish Civil War. Written with clarity and masterly assurance, Eric Hobsbawm's essays are indispensable for a true understanding both of twentieth-century history and of the pattern of events today.

These dazzling short works are crafted with all the weight and resonance of the novels for which E. L. Doctorow is famous. You will find yourself set down in a mysterious redbrick house in rural Illinois ('A House on the Plains'), working things out with a baby-kidnapping couple in California ('Baby Wilson'), living on a religious-cult commune in Kansas ('Walter John Harmon'), sharing the heartrending cross-country journey of a young woman navigating her way through three bad marriages ('Jolene: A Life'), and witnessing an FBI special agent at a personal crossroads while he investigates a grave breach of White House Security ('Child, Dead, in the Rose Garden'). Comprised in a variety of moods and voices, these remarkable portrayals of the American spiritual landscape show a modern master at the height of his powers.

‘Sometimes when he didn’t know he was being watched Meggie would look at him and try desperately to imprint his face upon her brain’s core... And he would turn to find her watching him, a look in his eyes of haunted grief, a doomed look. She understood the implicit message, or thought she did; he must go, back to the Church and his duties. Never again with the same spirit, perhaps, but more able to serve. For only those who have slipped and fallen know the vicissitudes of the way...’

Who makes most money from the demand for cappuccinos early in the morning at Waterloo Station? Why is it impossible to get a foot on the property ladder? How does the Mafia make money from laundries when street gangs pushing drugs don’t? Who really benefits from immigration? How can China, in just fifty years, go from the world’s worst famine to one of the greatest economic revolutions of all time, lifting a million people out of poverty a month? Looking at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways, THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST is a fresh explanation of the fundamental principles of the modern economy, illuminated by examples from the streets of London to the booming skyscrapers of Shanghai to the sleepy canals of Bruges. Leaving behind textbook jargon and equations, Tim Harford will reveal the games of signals and negotiations, contests of strength and battles of wit that drive not only the economy at large but the everyday choices we make.

The streets of London are paved with gold...allegedly. They may be twin sisters, but Lizzie and Penny Berry are complete opposites — Penny is blonde, thin and outrageous; Lizzie quiet, thoughtful and, well, definitely not thin. The one trait they do share is a desire to DO something with their lives, and as far as they're concerned, the place to get noticed is London. Out of the blue they discover they have a grandmother living in Chelsea — and when she has to go into hospital, they find themselves flat-sitting on the King’s Road. But, as they discover, it’s not as easy to become It Girls as they’d imagined, and west end boys aren’t at all like Hugh Grant...

A group of Vietnam Vets who still keep in touch: the Custer Hill Club. They are prepared to attack foreign countries if America is attacked and their current rule is that if an Islamic country attacks America, then all Islamic countries will be nuked — thus deterring Korea, China or other countries having similar ideas against the US. The Custer Hill Club gets more ambitious and aggressive. The men decide to choose an American city to attack themselves, pretending it is an Islamic terrorist attack (either San Francisco or LA, the reader won’t know) in order for them to be able to nuke Mecca, the Aswan Dam and many other places. America will rule the world!