Penguin Group

The Subterraneans haunt the bars and clubs of San Francisco, surviving on a diet of booze and benzedrine, Proust and Verlaine. Living amongst them is Leo, an aspiring writer, and Mardou, half-Indian, half-Negro, beautiful and neurotic. Their bitter-sweet and ill-starred love affair sees Kerouac at his most evocative. Many regard this as being Kerouac's most touching and tender book.

In the foothills of the Himalayas sits a once grand, now crumbling house — home to three people and a dog. There is the retired judge dreaming of colonial yesterdays; his orphaned granddaughter Sai who has fallen for her clever maths tutor; the cook, whose son Biju writes untruthful letters home from New York City; and Mutt, the judge's beloved dog. Around the house swirls mountain mist — but also the forces of revolution and change. For a new world is clashing with the old, and the future offers both hope and betrayal...

Michael Moore returns to give you the low-down on the ins and outs of voting, answering all those pressing questions you've always wondered about, such as, Why should I vote? It only encourages them. Can my vote be bought (and what's the starting price)? The candidates seem to think I'm stupid. Should I just go along to keep them happy? It seems like just anyone can run for office. Is that a good idea? For anyone who thought voting was just a load of ballots, this is the book you need to read before marking your X. Enfranchisement has never been so exciting!

Evil comes with many different faces. A macabre human drama is re-enacted in a Gothic dolls' house one night; a whistle awakens a force of unspeakable malevolence; an ancient curse is passed from person to person; a grisly crime is avenged from beyond the grave; the tomb of a Swedish count will not rest quietly. M R James' chilling ghost stories reveal a world where the familiar becomes diabolical, the smallest object can lead to unimaginable horror, and evil brushes against everyday life in the most unexpected and sinister of ways.

In this title, the world's strangest questions answered: What happened to the Mary Celeste? Where is the Mona Lisa? (clue: it's not in the Louvre) Is the Loch Ness Monster really a circus elephant? Will the real Paul McCartney please stand up? Who killed Marilyn Monroe? What was Agatha Christie's own mystery? Why does it rain frogs? Does Bigfoot exist? How did D. B Cooper get away with the perfect crime? and many, many more. With enough entertaining information to fuel hundreds of pub conversations, fascinating illustrations and all kinds of discoveries to surprise even the most expert conspiracy theorist, Loch Ness Monsters and Raining Frogs is the perfect present for anybody who's ever wondered why.

A brand new series from Insight brings you Step by Step. This itinerary-based guide details 20 of the City's best walks and tours, written by a local expert, for that personal touch and insider information. All itineraries are arranged by theme for a truly tailor-made travel experience, so whether you are an art enthusiast, gourmet, historian, shopaholic, architecture buff, or simply want to escape the crowds; there is a tour to suit. For those wanting to enjoy the full travel experience, this is an ideal way to link the top attractions with places to eat, drink and rest along the way, along with opening times and admission prices. All itineraries are marked on full-colour detailed maps alongside the text and also on a separate, fully indexed pull-out map that can be used in conjunction with the guide or independently, to ensure easy navigation at all times. Coloured text boxes provide a summary of the tour duration and overall distance so you can choose the appropriate tour for the amount of time you have to spare. This is the only guide to contain 'Only in...' information; highlighting unique experiences exclusive to the destination, such as the opportunity to see an especially beautiful Sunrise or have coffee in a cafe that simply epitomises the destination. The 'Directory' section contains a clearly organised A-Z list of practical information, including hotel and restaurant listings for all budgets. The stylish design, full colour photography throughout and durable, flexibound cover makes this guide not only a pleasure to read, but also the ultimate companion when exploring your destination.

Adam Pollo, an amnesiac ex-student, has broken into an empty seaside villa. He visits the town at rare intervals and as briefly as his scanty purchases — cigarettes, biscuits, beer — permit. Soon lack of human contact affects him like a drug and he experiences other modes of being: through a dog's eye or a rat's... states of heightened consciousness which build up into a terrifying world of glaring hallucinatory experience. Then Adam addresses a small crowd in the town. His unnerving rhetoric ends in arrest and removal to an asylum. And there the interrogation begins. With this stunning debut novel, Le Clezio was acclaimed as the most exciting figure to appear on the French literary scene since the death of Camus. The Interrogation still holds the power to grip and astonish today.

Iran often appears in the media as a hostile and difficult country. But beneath the headlines there is a fascinating story of a nation of great intellectual variety and depth, and enormous cultural importance. A nation whose impact has been tremendous, not only on its neighbours in the Middle East but on the world as a whole — and through ideas and creativity rather than by the sword. From the time of the prophet Zoroaster, to the powerful ancient Persian Empires, to the revolution of 1979, the hostage crisis and current president Mahmud Ahmadinejad — a controversial figure within as well as outside the country — Michael Axworthy traces a vivid, integrated account of Iran's past.He explains clearly and carefully both the complex succession of dynasties that ruled ancient Iran and the surprising ethnic diversity of the modern country, held together by a common culture. With Iran again the focus of the world's attention, and questions about the country's disposition and intentions pressing, Iran: Empire of the Mind is an essential guide to understanding a complicated land.

Holly Macintosh is sitting round her kitchen table with her oldest friends — friends she hasn't seen since school — now reunited by an unexpected tragedy and catching up on the past 20 years. On the surface, they are all successful and happy. But scratch a little deeper after that extra glass of wine and it's not quite so straightforward: Paul and Anna are struggling to have a baby, Saffron the actress is still waiting for that really big break that — at 39 — is looking less and less likely, and Olivia, always the wallflower of the group, is newly single and mourning her lost love. And what about Holly Mac? Can she and her husband Marcus get their marriage back on track for the sake of the children? Or has someone just come back into her life who will change everything forever?

Mags and Julie are partners at Dream Weddings, catering for the over-the-top and sometimes downright bizarre requirements of Belfast's brides and grooms to be. They rub along well but are as different as chalk and cheese. Mags is married to the love of her life, has four kids and a complicated extended family. Julie is impossibly glamorous, and doesn't remotely believe in love or marriage. When Julie embarks on a life crisis, running away from her live-in lover and throwing herself in to a hair-raisingly sexy fling with Jay, it is Mags who is left to pick up the pieces. When Julie eventually comes back, she brings Jay with her, and that is where the real trouble starts. Add to the mix Dream Weddings' most high-profile celebrity clients yet, and the biggest, most ambitious wedding they have ever organized, and the fireworks really begin...

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. These simple words go to the heart of Michael Pollan's In Defence of Food. Humans used to know how to eat well, Pollan argues. But the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused, complicated, and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists — all of whom have much to gain from our dietary confusion. Indeed, real food is fast disappearing from the marketplace, to be replaced by nutrients, and plain old eating by an obsession with nutrition that is, paradoxically, ruining our health, not to mention our meals. Michael Pollan's bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we might start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives and our palates and enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy.

Gideon is more than a hit man. In a world of money, violence, women, and love on the run, he's the master of the game. Now Gideon's got the job of a lifetime. The prize is the woman he desires and a cool million. The problem is it's just the kind of hit that can make him more enemies. Like the two beautiful strangers on Gideon's tail. Are they there to protect him or bring him down? There's one way to find out. Follow them into an underworld where killers and victims alike thrive on the darker passions of revenge and desire.

O.S.S. Agent Dick Canidy returns on another desperate mission behind enemy lines. The O.S.S. has dispatched Dick Canidyaleading a team of operatives with questionable loyaltiesaon a mission to convince the Axis powers that the D-Day invasion will not take place on the beaches of Nazi-occupied France.

It is 1936. America has just elected Berzelius Windrip to the presidency-and his fascist policies turn the U.S. into a totalitarian state.

As the popularity of Elizabeth Kostovaas bestselling The Historian proves, thereas always an audience bloodthirsty for quality, page-turning horror. Now, in a marvelously horrifying turn, John Marksaa former 60 Minutes producerasinks his satirical teeth into twenty-first — century media. In Fangland, Evangeline Harker is an employee of the legendary TV news magazine The Hour, Sent on assignment to Transylvania, she delivers more than a story when mysterious e-mails, coffins, and a creepy guy named Torgu descend on the New York office. This darkly funny tale will appeal to vampire and horror aficionados as well as anyone whoas fed up with what passes for anewsa today.

A master of the american short story Included in this rich collection are: «The Piazza, Bartleby the Scrivener, Benito Cereno, The Lightning-Rod Man, The Encantadas, The Bell-Tower», and «The Town-Ho's Story.»

Now in mass market paperback-Tad Williams' triumphant return to high fantasy!

Meet John Rain. Assassin. He follows his own code — he needs no one, trusts no one — until betrayal transforms him from hunter into hunted and loner into loyal friend. Haunted by the past Rain kills to order and leaves no trace, but the death at his hand of an old man has unforeseen complications — and soon Rain is trying to protect not just his carefully preserved anonymity but his own life and those of the people he cares for. A stunning, page-turning reinvention of the hitman thriller, «Rain Fall» marks the introduction of a compelling new series character and major new thriller writing career.

He almost took your life. Now his is in your hands...After psychologist Kit Quinn is brutally attacked by a prisoner, she is determined to get straight back to work. When the police want her help in linking the man who attacked her to a series of murders, she refuses to simply accept the obvious. But the closer her investigation takes her to the truth behind the savage crimes, the nearer Kit gets to the dark heart of her own terror.

In the conclusion of the Tir Alainn Trilogy, the uneasy alliance between Fae and humans may not be enough to defeat the Inquisitors-leaving them no choice but to seek out the witches of the House of Gaian. But can they be trusted?

In this Higgins adventure classic, an Allied spy operation is suddenly jeopardized just as it's about to discover Rommel's plans for defeating the D-Day invasion.

Police Detective Kathleen Mallory recognized the crime scene: victim hanging, hair in mouth, fire burning. It happened twenty-one years ago, when Mallory was a child. She also recognized the victim...

Zoe Luce is a successful interior designer in the Arizona town of Whispering Springs who's developed an unusual career specialty-helping recently divorced clients redesign their homes, to help them forget the past and start anew. But Zoe knows that some things can't be covered up with a coat of paint. And when she senses that one of her clients may be hiding a dark secret, she enlists P.I. Ethan Truax to find the truth. Working together, they solve the mystery... and barely escape with their lives. But Ethan's exquisite detection skills are starting to backfire on Zoe: she never wanted to let him find out about her former life; she never wanted to reveal her powerful, inexplicable gift for sensing the history hidden within a house's walls; she never wanted him to know that «Zoe Luce» doesn't really exist. She never wanted to fall in love with him. Now, no matter how much she resists, Ethan may be her only hope-because the people she's been running from have found her. And just when Zoe dares to dream of a normal life and a future with the man she loves, her own past starts to shadow her every step-and threatens to take her back into a nightmare.

Kate never intended the get-over guy to fall in love with her... No, Keith was just the lovely fella who was definitely not her type, but would help her feel good about herself while she got over one of the World's Biggest Bastards. However, after the initial shock of hearing herself agree to marry him, Kate reckons that for once she is doing the right thing. A future with a wonderful man who is kind, generous, great in bed, sure to be a model husband and father and who — no mean feat this — can put up with her big mad family, is exactly what she wants. But is it? Because whatever her head might be doing, she can't stop her heart pushing her towards the most surprising — and unsuitable — man she could possibly fall for...