Penguin Books strana 44 z 487

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Baron Bagge, a cavalry officer during the First World War, receives orders from his unhinged commander to ride into Russian machine guns. But instead of meeting certain death, he and his brigade pass, unscathed, into a peaceful, otherworldly country where festivities are in full swing… Alexander Lernet-Holenia, championed in his lifetime by Roberto Calasso, Stefan Zweig and Rainer Maria Rilke, triumphs in this dreamlike novel of mystery and yearning.

Wreckers sinks the old narratives of imperialism, revealing the violent, chaotic and improvised reality of empire-building from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. 'Clever and compelling book. The storytelling and the scholarship fairly spark off each other. It could be a model for how academics should write history for a general audience' The Times 'a flowing, gripping narrative, Wreckers is distinguished by enchanting stories' Peter Moore, Literary Review While figures such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan are celebrated for their maritime achievements - reaching the Americas, India, and circumnavigating the globe - focusing solely on these voyages distorts our perspective on the past. Many explorers ended up as castaways, clinging to the splintered timbers of their wrecked ships, while those who survived often faced resistance and ridicule from indigenous communities across the globe. Drawing on maritime stories from various languages and continents - from Brazil and Southeast Africa to India and the Philippines - Wreckers shares dramatic tales of the sea and the events on land that followed. This offers an alternative timeline for the century after Columbus' 1492 voyage and sheds light on the fractures and fault lines that accompanied the increasing geographical range of European ships. Simon Park argues that even when Europeans arrogantly claimed their own superiority, the truth was that they were often driven by a profound sense of greed and envy, and their actions included numerous mishaps. For example, in his hunt for gold, Martin Frobisher - who fancied himself England's Columbus and Cortés combined - transported worthless rocks across the Atlantic by the tonne. In the search for spices, Captain and profiteer Manuel de Sousa de Sepúlveda's ship was so overladen, it spewed its fragrant cargo when it crashed off the coast of South Africa. Moreover, in every place they went, Europeans depended on local know-how and goodwill - relying on indigenous knowledge of languages, geography, food and medicines. Wreckers reveals the precarious balance between imperious European powers, cunning locals who colluded to further their own agendas, and others who showed great tenacity in their resistance to European incursions. By focusing on stories of failure, defiance and comeuppance, Wreckers - a term Park uses to refer both to those who were wrecked and those involved in wrecking - offers a gripping and original account of a tumultuous period. It challenges the notion of unstoppable European dominance and enables a reimagining of history as a space of possibilities then, now and in the future.

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Priests with shotguns, scheming lovers and a necrophiliac gravedigger haunt the fables of Emilia Pardo Bazán, the formidable Spanish aristocrat, intellectual and feminist. These stories paint a rich and variegated image of Old Spain – sometimes tender, often provocative, always entertaining. But if you decide to visit, beware the Lady Bandit, whose strong, rough hands might grab your neck, and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze . . .

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books The whole town got involved with the hunger-artist; from day to day of his starving, people’s participation grew; everyone wanted to see the hunger-artist at least once a day; on the later days there were season-ticket holders who sat for days on end in front of his little cage Reading these stories by the master of the absurd is like entering a dreamworld in which nothing, and yet somehow everything, makes sense.

The world is on high alert. Across the Strait from Taiwan, China’s armed forces appear to be readying for war. Could the People’s Republic be preparing to invade its island neighbour? Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service has a mole deep within the Chinese Communist Party leadership – an individual in possession of intel that could defuse this fast-escalating situation. A ‘collector’ is sent to meet the spy and, in an anonymous Hong Kong café, the information is handed over. But before the collector can get the data to MI6, she is overpowered, drugged and abducted by persons unknown. Is it the MSS, China’s feared state security agency? Or has another, less predictable player entered the game? As geo-political tensions rise, MI6 field operatives Luke Carlton and Jenny Li are dispatched to find the missing agent and the precious intel she carries. With the clock ticking and tip-offs taking them to shady Macau casinos, tawdry night clubs and multiple dead ends, Luke is convinced they are being deliberately strung along. Then they get the vital lead they need. It points to Taiwan – a country frantically preparing for imminent invasion. And it’s there that Luke and Jenny uncover what is really going on. . . Drawing on his years of experience reporting on global security stories and in-depth knowledge of the security services, Frank Gardner has written his most frighteningly real, unnerving and explosive thriller yet.

Love caused this war. At least, that’s what the stories will say. When Cassandra’s patron god, Apollo, offers her the gift of prophecy – and all the power that comes with it – she seizes the opportunity. But when she fails to uphold her end of the bargain, she discovers just how very far she has to fall. No one believes her visions, which all seem to be of one girl – a girl who is going to start a war. Helen fled Sparta in pursuit of love – but is finding it elusive. Now she must navigate the fierce politics and danger of the Trojan court - including from its princess, who seems intent on driving her from the city. . . But when war finally strikes, Cassandra and Helen must deal with more than just the army at their walls. Cassandra and Helen's fates are more closely tied - and seemingly tragic - than they could have ever imagined. How can you change your future when the gods themselves are dictating your demise?

90 Classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Closely Watched Trains tells the story of Miloš Hrma, a young railroad apprentice coming of age in wartime Czechoslovakia. Miloš is overwhelmed with worries – about his virginity, his love for the conductor, and ongoing scandals in the stationmaster’s office – besides which the idea of fighting the Germans seems a simple affair. Poignant, humorous and the inspiration behind the 1966 Academy Award-winning film, this is a small masterpiece from one of the best Czech writers of the twentieth century.

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books ‘As for me I have one ambition only: to invent stories, very beautiful stories’ Gothic, expansive and truly spellbinding, Karen Blixen’s short stories offer incisive psychological portraits and imaginative visions of war, longing and tender love. Here, an orphan boy creates an elaborate fantasy of a life of grandeur, a feudal lord sets a peasant woman a deadly task, and a young woman resists against her captors, in the midst of conflict.

A beloved ruler who has her people’s heart. A forbidden prince who may have hers. Ahnna bled for her kingdom and now is haunted by the destruction of her homeland. So when the wealthy kingdom of Harendell claims her as a bride for its crown prince, Ahnna is prepared to do whatever it takes to gain influence as the future queen. But she soon discovers that beneath the beautiful surface of Harendell's court lurks dark secrets and even darker schemes. These revelations force her to question whether her new kingdom is the ally is claims to be... The only person who she feels she can trust is not her future husband, but his infuriating half-brother, James. And now Ahnna must decide whether saving her people will be achieved as a wife...or as a weapon.

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books 'I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys' Allen Ginsberg's poetry fomented a social and political revolution, and with its rawness and spontaneity changed the course of the American lyric. To read his profane and prophetic verses, about sex, death and America, as well as the humour of his humiliations and self-transformations, is to stretch consciousness and grasp an entire era.

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Known as Ireland’s Chekhov, Frank O’Connor was a master of the modern short story, with an eye for capturing the spaces between our selves and our surroundings. The Genius brings together some of his very best stories, often told from the perspective of young children and forming a revealing portrait of coming of age in postwar Ireland. Humorous and poignant in equal parts, these stories are a lesson in craft from a celebrated, prolific author.

From the moment she burst onto the MMA scene, Ronda Rousey was unbeatable. She repeatedly strung together back-to-back flawless victories, racking up a collection of records and forever changing the face of sports as the UFC’s first female champion. A superstar in her sport, she transcended athletics, appearing in blockbuster films and becoming a role model for women everywhere. Then, on November 15, 2015, it all came crashing down. In OUR FIGHT, Rousey explores the greatest challenge of her life and, ultimately, how she rebuilt her career into something better in the aftermath. She recounts how she replaced her pursuit of perfection with the pursuit of happiness and found a blessing in disguise amongst the wreckage. Following Rousey’s relatable journey, OUR FIGHT is a courageous narrative of career changes, marriage, motherhood, and facing your fears.

90 Classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me . . . In this glittering new selection of Fitzgerald's short stories, we meet Anson Hunter, 'The Rich Boy', whose opulent, haunting world paints a vivid portrait of the American elite. 'Absolution' offers a poignant glimpse into the soul of a young boy grappling with sin, whilst 'May Day' captures the whirling hysteria at the dawn of the Jazz Age.

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books A writer engulfed by a new obsession, an occasional sex-worker, a runaway, a teenager entering the workplace: these four tales of desire and dislocation explore the rough edges of relationships and the inner lives of women negotiating their precarious place in the world. In these coolly compelling and quietly devastating stories, Gaitskill evokes with razor-sharp precision the pleasure, pain, fear and longing that haunt modern life.

90 Classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Fabien tonight was wandering over the vast splendour of a sea of clouds, but below him lay eternity. Inspired by his career as an aviator, Saint-Exupéry’s soaring novel follows the journeys of three pilots delivering mail overnight. The author’s beautiful, weightless prose is as haunting as his own disappearance in flight, eerily foreshadowed by his protagonist Fabien, who becomes lost in otherworldly darkness. Letter to a Hostage, Saint-Exupéry’s meditation on displacement and friendship, also explores solitude and questions the human condition.

The old, top-down approach to leadership doesn't work any more. What we need is a more flexible, creative approach – one that empowers people to do their best work, rather than tells them to do so. In Creative Leadership, Rama Gheerawo applies the mind of a design expert to the twenty-first-century organisation. In particular, his book shows how success in the future will increasingly be dependent on a mastery of three basic principles: creativity, clarity and empathy. Drawing on his own experience in leading over 100 design projects with government, business and the third sector, it sets out a blueprint for engagement and success that applies to everything from small enterprises, to large multinationals.