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Bound by Contract
by Helena RavenscroftSamantha Bentley and her cousin Ross have been an illicit item for years. When Ross becomes involved with the submissive Dr. Louisa Richmond, Sam senses Ross's waning interest in her own volatile and domineering personality. She reads the classic novel Venus in Furs, which inspires her to experiment with being his slave for a month. Dr. Louisa is determined not to be left out, however, and when she shows up at Sam and Ross's country hideaway, there is a sudden shift in the rituals of power and punishment. Submitting to the sexual whims of others changes Samantha's idea of how far she's willing to go, and each cathartic act of humiliation pushes her further into the realms of liberation and pleasure.
Bouncers and Bodyguards: Tales from a Twilight World
by Robin BarrattBouncers and Bodyguards is a collection of astonishing true stories about the tough world of personal protection and nightclub doors from some of Britain's most notorious figures.Read how Charlie Bronson helped his friends out on the doors of his local in the early '70s before being banged up for well over 30 years; how Dave Courtney misses the violent world of the doors; how ex-football hooligan Mickey Francis ran most of Manchester's doors back in the '80s; and how an ex-Foreign Legion bodyguard spent over a week cooped up in a bleak warehouse guarding Iraqi votes in central Baghdad.By turns funny, sad and shocking, these candid accounts were written exclusively for this publication by individuals who have spent much of their working lives in what is a volatile, violent and frequently unpredictable industry.Compiled by former bodyguard, ex-mercenary and well-known nightclub bouncer Robin Barratt, Bouncers and Bodyguards is an exposé of an infamous twilight world about which rumours have often circulated but the truth has never really been uncovered - until now.
Boulting's Velosaurus: A Linguistic Tour de France
by Ned BoultingFind yourself confused, nodding along when a rouleur relates how le biscuit was effrité (crumbled)? How today they’re feeling Angers (past caring)? Fear no more, for Boulting's Velosaurus will illuminate, enlighten and, frankly, mislead. In his Velosaurus, ITV Tour de France commentator and cycling writer Ned Boulting provides the ultimate lexicon of nonsense terminology surrounding the esteemed Tour de France. Featuring essential vocabulary like Alpe (an Alp), panache (riding with doomed flamboyance, conscious of the need to renew one’s contract), moutarde (any race that ends, begins or passes through the city of Dijon) and maillot (a jumper, obviously), Boulting’s Velosaurus is the ideal companion to all things peloton for linguistically-challenged fans of non-automotive two-wheeled sport.'Deserves to be on any Tour de France fan’s shelf.' Cycle
The Bottom Corner: A Season with the Dreamers of Non-League Football
by Nige TassellIn these days of oligarch owners, superstar managers and players on sky-high wages, the tide is turning towards the lower reaches of the pyramid as fans search for football with a soul.Plucky underdogs or perennial underachievers, your local non-league team offers hope, drama or at least a Saturday afternoon ritual that's been going for decades. Nige Tassell spends a season in the non-league world. He meets the raffle-ticket seller who wants her ashes scattered in the centre-circle. The envelope salesman who discovered a future England international. The ex-pros still playing with undiluted passion on Sunday mornings. He spends time at clubs looking for promotion to the Football League, clubs just aiming to get eleven players on a pitch every week, and everything in between.One thing unites them: they all inhabit the heartland of the beautiful game.'The Bottom Corner is a wonderful journey through life in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. A fascinating tale of a very different world of football from that of the overpaid stars of the television age' Barry Davies
The Bottle-Top King
by Jonathan KebbeRESPECT. That's what Lewis wants from his classmates. Nicknamed USELESS LEWIS or LOO BRUSH, he's fed up with his stammer, fed up that he can't pluck up the nerve to join the drama club - and fed up that the only football he gets to play is pretend matches with his collection of bottle-tops at home.Then Lewis' gangly mate Zulfi puts together a team for a five-a-side charity tournament. And he wants LEWIS to play! Can the bottle-top king burst out of his shell and show everyone the hero inside?A fresh, deliciously humourous story from a downtrodden pipsqueak who knows deep down he's a genius!
Botham's Book of the Ashes: A Lifetime Love Affair with Cricket's Greatest Rivalry
by Sir Ian BothamSir Ian Botham and the Ashes are as closely intertwined as willow and leather or Merv Hughes and his moustache. You simply cannot think of one without the other. In this book, Sir Ian takes you on a ride through a lifetime's relationship with cricket's oldest and most treasured prize, revealing just how it has shaped his life and how he has helped to turn it into the contest it is today.From the moment he first watched the likes of Ken Barrington stride to the wicket in jaw-jutting defiance to the day he flayed Australia's bowling attack around Headingley as if playing with his mates in the park, and then onwards to his role in commentating on what was arguably the finest series of the lot, in 2005, Sir Ian has a rich and varied connection with the Ashes, and he tells all here.The Ashes is a series that has provided incredible highs and heartbreaking lows for English and Australian fans alike over the past 35 years. Sir Ian has often been at the centre of the roller-coaster ride. Whether it is his account of his days as England's dogsbody in 1977 in Melbourne or the story of his refusal to let Bob Willis bowl downwind until he was angry enough to skittle the Aussies in 1981, all is revealed in depth in Botham's Book of the Ashes.
Botchan
by Natsume SosekiBotchan is a modern young man from the Tokyo metropolis, sent to the ultra-traditional Matsuyama district as a Maths teacher after his the death of his parents. Cynical, rebellious and immature, Botchan finds himself facing several tests, from the pupils - prone to playing tricks on their new, naïve teacher; the staff - vain, immoral, and in danger of becoming a bad influence on Botchan; and from his own as-yet-unformed nature, as he finds his place in the world. One of the most popular novels in Japan where it is considered a classic of adolescence, as seminal as The Catcher in the Rye, Botchan is as funny, poignant and memorable as it was when first published, over 100 years ago.In J. Cohn's introduction to his colourful translation, he discusses Botchan's success, the book's clash between Western intellectualism and traditional Japanese values, and the importance of names and nicknames in the novel.
The Bostonians
by Henry JamesPublished in 1886, The Bostonians begins with the arrival in Boston of Basil Ransom, a young Mississippi lawyer in search of a career. Through his cousin, Olive Chancellor, Ransom comes to meet Verena, the beautiful daughter of a charlatan faith-healer and showman. When they hear Verena talk, Olive hopes to win the girl over to the feminist cause, Ransom is attracted to her looks, and a battle for possession of the girl begins.With its discussion of the situation of women and its uncompromising depiction of the city and the media, THE BOSTONIANS is a modern novel which is immediately accessible and relevant today.
The Boss
by Monica BelleFelicity is a girl with two different sides to her character, each leading two very separate lives. There's Fizz - wild child, drummer in a retro punk band, and car thief. And then there's Felicity - a quiet, polite, and ultra efficient office worker. But as her attractive, controlling boss takes an interest in her, she finds it hard to keep the two parts of her life separate. Will being with Stephen mean choosing between personas and sacrificing so much of her life? But then, it also appears that Stephen has some very peculiar and addictive ideas about intimacy himself.
The Boss: The Life and Times of Horseracing Legend Gordon W. Richards
by John BuddenThe sudden death of Gordon W. Richards in late September 1998 brought a premature end to a legendary training career which had seen him rise from obscurity to national fame as master of his profession. Consigned to racing's scrap-heap with a broken back at the age of 29, he scraped a living as a livery stable proprietor and horse-dealer in a remote part of Northumberland until, five years later, he `discovered' Playlord and a new dawn broke. Rugged, demanding, often outspoken, sometimes ruthless but never lacking in humour, Gordon made relentless progress through the training ranks. `The Boss', as he was widely known, liked to run his stable his own way. Horses, not humans, headed the pecking order, as many famous riders and owners discovered to their cost. Few escaped unscathed, but in over 30 years he employed only six stable jockeys, and two of these, Ron Barry and Jonjo O'Neill, gained championship honours. The Boss charts the successes of the man who twice saddled more than a hundred winners in a single season and who scooped the pool in the Aintree Grand National on two occasions. This enthralling biography, written with full co-operation of Richards himself, provides a compelling insight into the forces that drove him to become one of the most respected trainers in the world.
Borneo, Celebes, Aru
by Alfred Russel WallaceRacked with fever, virtually broke and earning a precarious living through sending back to London the plumes of beautiful birds, Wallace (1823-1913) ultimately became one of the most heroic and admirable of all scientist-explorers. Whether living with Hill Dyaks or hunting Orang-Utans or sailing on a junk to the unbelievably remote Aru islands, Wallace opens our eyes to a now long vanished world.Great Journeys allows readers to travel both around the planet and back through the centuries – but also back into ideas and worlds frightening, ruthless and cruel in different ways from our own. Few reading experiences can begin to match that of engaging with writers who saw astounding things: Great civilisations, walls of ice, violent and implacable jungles, deserts and mountains, multitudes of birds and flowers new to science. Reading these books is to see the world afresh, to rediscover a time when many cultures were quite strange to each other, where legends and stories were treated as facts and in which so much was still to be discovered.
Born to Ride: The Autobiography of Stephen Roche
by Stephen RocheIn 1987, Irish cycling legend Stephen Roche had an extraordinary year – the year to end all years.June 1987: Winner of the Giro d’Italia July 1987: Secured the yellow jersey at the Tour De FranceSeptember 1987: Victory at the World Cycling Championships in AustriaBy winning the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and world championships in the same season, Stephen Roche defied all odds to win cycling’s ‘triple crown’.Born to Ride, his first full autobiography, takes this extraordinary year as the starting point to explore the rest of his life. He doesn't hold back as he examines the many ups and downs of his time on and off the bike, scrutinising victories, defeats, rivals, serious injury, doping allegations and agonising family breakdown. Beneath the charm and rare natural talent, Roche finally reveals himself as a smiling assassin - a master strategist who lives to attack. ‘One of the most riveting sporting biographies I've read’ Herald
Born To Heal
by Tony HoganIn Born to Heal, Tony Hogan tells us the story of his remarkable life, from his colourful childhood in County Wicklow to his experiences as one of Ireland's foremost healers. Blighted as a child by life-threatening illness, yet blessed with the extraordinary ability to heal others, Tony gradually matured his abilities and people began to seek him out to ask for his help. Born to Heal shares some of the techniques that Tony Hogan used to develop his own powers.Packed full of practical help on self-healing, this fascinating book also explores the power of the mind and absent healing. It is full of astounding case histories and is by turns funny, entertaining, insightful and moving. Ultimately, Born to Heal offers a positive message: human suffering can be relieved when all the normal remedies have failed.
Born to be Riled
by Jeremy ClarksonBorn to be Riled is a collection of hilarious vintage journalism from Jeremy Clarkson. Jeremy Clarkson, it has to said, sometimes finds the world a maddening place. And nowhere more so than from behind the wheel of a car, where you can see any number of people acting like lunatics while in control (or not) of a ton of metal.In this collection of classic columns, first published in 1999, Jeremy takes a look at the world through his windscreen, shakes his head at what he sees - and then puts the boot in. Among other things, he explains:• Why Surrey is worse than Wales• How crossing your legs in America can lead to arrest• The reason cable TV salesmen must be punched • That divorce can be blamed on the birth of JesusRaving politicians, pointless celebrities, ridiculous 'personalities' and the Germans all get it in the neck, together with the stupid, the daft and the ludicrous, in a tour de force of comic writing guaranteed to have Jeremy's postman wheezing under sackfuls of letters from the easily offended. Praise for Jeremy Clarkson:'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time OutNumber-one bestseller Jeremy Clarkson writes on cars, current affairs and anything else that annoys him in his sharp and funny collections. Clarkson On Cars, Don't Stop Me Now, Driven To Distraction, Round the Bend, Motorworld and I Know You Got Soul are also available as Penguin paperbacks; the Penguin App iClarkson: The Book of Cars can be downloaded on the App Store.Jeremy Clarkson because his writing career on the Rotherham Advertiser. Since then he has written for the Sun and the Sunday Times. Today he is the tallest person working in British television, and is the presenter of the hugely popular Top Gear.
Born for the Road: My Story So Far
by Nathan CarterNathan Carter has become Ireland's biggest country music star. He is heralded by many as reviving the country music genre and bringing it into the mainstream. He has sold out venues across the UK and Ireland, has landed his own primetime show, and is loved and respected by legions of fans across Ireland.But how did a lad from Liverpool accomplish all this before the age of 27?In his revealing and inspirational autobiography, Nathan reminisces about his music filled childhood, and growing up in Merseyside with his Liverpool-Irish family. From his first taste of showbiz at the tender age of four, to his success on the north of England club circuit and his subsequent relocation to Donegal, Nathan explores the twists of fate that took him to chart success and to become Ireland's adopted poster boy for country music.
Born Fighter
by Reg Kray_______The shocking, gripping autobiography from one of the UK's most infamous criminals and gang leaders, and one half of the legendary Kray Twins, Reggie Kray.Reggie Kray is one of Britain's most notorious criminals. Together with his brother Ronnie, he rose through the ranks of London's East End gangland to run an evil empire of vice and villainy. But, after half a lifetime behind bars, Reg wants to set the record straight. Here, in his own words, is the true story of his life as one half of a criminal double act with his brother Ronnie, the chilling career of two street-wise kids who became standard-bearers of violence - from fire-bombings to shootings and cold-blooded murder. But here too is the inner voice of a one-time mobster who learned compassion through his own struggle to come to terms with a life sentence.
The Book Of Career Questions: Two Hundred Questions Which Will Change The Whole of Your Working Life
by Max EggertWhat job would you do if you knew could not fail? When have you been most happy in your life, and what does that tell you you should be doing at work? If you were appraised today what would your boss say -and what training would you ask for? This small book contains 200 questions of this type - answer them honestly and you will be rewarded by a real insight into yourself and your career.
Boring, Botty and Spong
by Russell AshHave you ever been to a place called Boring? Met Mr Botty? Used a piece of Spong equipment? These are just three of the real-life places, people and things from around the world that feature in best-selling non-fiction author Russell Ash's fabulous new book.Jam-packed full with lists of names plus fascinating facts, stories and anecdotes, Boring, Botty and Spong will keep you entertained for hours on end! You'll find names to make you wonder, think and certainly laugh out loud.
Booty Boys
by Jay RussellHard-boiled, hard-bodied black British private eye Alton Davies can't believe his eyes or his luck when he finds muscular African-American gangsta rapper Banji-B lounging in his office early one morning. Alton's disbelief - and his excitement - mount as Banji-B asks him to track down a stolen videotape of a post-gig orgy in which his homeboy, the notorious laydeez man Karamel, plays a starring and revealingly man-pleasing role.Alton has just twelve hours to catch up with the thief: exotic dancer Champain Blue. And while the rappers cruise the London streets in their twenty-foot Caddy, hungry for sex and distraction, Champain keeps one well-lubricated move ahead of an increasingly stretched and desperate Alton. The tension is mounting as time - and Karamel's reputation - ticks away.
Boot Sale: Inside the Strange and Secret World of Football's Transfer Window
by Nige TassellDiscover the hectic behind-the-scenes drama of transfer deadlines through the players, managers, chairmen, agents, scouts, analysts, fans, journalists, broadcasters and bookmakers.For football fans who hungrily feed on gossip and rumour, Christmas comes twice a year - once in August and again in January. These are the months when the transfer window dominates thoughts, when the prospect of a new signing or two reinvigorates the hopes and dreams of the hopelessly devoted.Nige Tassell goes behind the scenes to observe the workings of the transfer window and to examine why it continues to hold such fascination for a nation of football lovers. He speaks to players, managers, chairmen, agents, scouts, analysts, fans, journalists, broadcasters and even bookmakers to hear how they survive - and possibly prosper from - these red-letter months in the football calendar.Nobody writes about football like Nige Tassell: poignant, funny, nostalgic and reminds us why we love the game.
Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading
by Lucy ManganA love letter to the joys of childhood reading from Wonderland to Narnia.When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up new worlds and cast light on all the complexities she encountered in this one.She was whisked away to Narnia - and Kirrin Island - and Wonderland. She ventured down rabbit holes and womble burrows into midnight gardens and chocolate factories. She wandered the countryside with Milly-Molly-Mandy, and played by the tracks with the Railway Children. With Charlotte's Web she discovered Death and with Judy Blume it was Boys. No wonder she only left the house for her weekly trip to the library or to spend her pocket money on amassing her own at home.In Bookworm, Lucy revisits her childhood reading with wit, love and gratitude. She relives our best-beloved books, their extraordinary creators, and looks at the thousand subtle ways they shape our lives. She also disinters a few forgotten treasures to inspire the next generation of bookworms and set them on their way.Lucy brings the favourite characters of our collective childhoods back to life - prompting endless re-readings, rediscoveries, and, inevitably, fierce debate - and brilliantly uses them to tell her own story, that of a born, and unrepentant, bookworm.'Passionate, witty, informed, and gloriously opinionated' Jacqueline Wilson author of The Story of Tracy Beaker
The Bookseller's Tale
by Martin LathamA SPECTATOR AND EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020'A joy. Each chapter instantly became my favourite' David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas'Wonderful' Lucy Mangan'The right book has a neverendingness, and so does the right bookshop.'This is the story of our love affair with books, whether we arrange them on our shelves, inhale their smell, scrawl in their margins or just curl up with them in bed. Taking us on a journey through comfort reads, street book stalls, mythical libraries, itinerant pedlars, radical pamphleteers, extraordinary bookshop customers and fanatical collectors, Canterbury bookseller Martin Latham uncovers the curious history of our book obsession - and his own. Part cultural history, part literary love letter and part reluctant memoir, this is the tale of one bookseller and many, many books.'If ferreting through bookshops is your idea of heaven, you'll get the same pleasure from this treasure trove of a book' Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express
Books do Furnish a Life: An electrifying celebration of science writing
by Richard Dawkins'A rich feast of his essays, reviews, forewords, squibs and conversations, in which talent and passion are married to deep knowledge.' Matt Ridley'Enjoy the unfailing clarity of his thought and prose, as well as the grandeur of his vision of life on Earth.' - Mark Cocker, Spectator'Richard Dawkins is a thunderously gifted science writer.' Sunday TimesIncluding conversations with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley and more, this is an essential guide to the most exciting ideas of our time and their proponents from our most brilliant science communicator.Books Do Furnish a Life is divided by theme, including celebrating nature, exploring humanity, and interrogating faith. For the first time, it brings together Richard Dawkins' forewords, afterwords and introductions to the work of some of the leading thinkers of our age - Carl Sagan, Lawrence Krauss, Jacob Bronowski, Lewis Wolpert - with a selection of his reviews to provide an electrifying celebration of science writing, both fiction and non-fiction. It is also a sparkling addition to Dawkins' own remarkable canon of work.Plenty of other scientists write well, but no one writes like Dawkins... here is Dawkins the teacher, the scholar, the polemicist, the joker, the aesthete, the poet, the satirist, the man of compassion as well as indignation, the slayer of superstition and, above all, the scientist. - Areo Magazine
Books Burn Badly
by Manuel RivasOn 19 August 1936 Hercules the boxer stands on the quayside at Coruña and watches Fascist soldiers piling up books and setting them alight. With this moment a young carefree group of friends are transformed into a broken generation. Out of this incident during the early months of Spain's tragic civil war, Manuel Rivas weaves a colourful tapestry of stories and unforgettable characters to create a panorama of twentieth-century Spanish history. For it is not only the lives of Hercules the boxer and his friends that are tainted by the unending conflict, but also those of a young washerwoman who sees souls in the clouded river water and the stammering son of a judge who uncovers his father's hidden library.As the singed pages fly away on the breeze, their stories live on in the minds of their readers.
A Book of Uncommon Prayer
by Theo DorganA Book of Uncommon Prayer is a collection of spiritual and devotional texts, drawn from both inside and outside the limits of the world's religious traditions. Intended for believers and non-believers alike, it is organized with attention to the occasions of prayer, prayerful thought, and meditation. A Book of Uncommon Prayer is built around the idea that in an age marked at once by religious violence and the falling away of orthodox religious observance in the wealthy countries of the West, genuine spiritual curiosity is on the rise, and may be fed by a book that recognizes - and demonstrates - the universality of prayer.'This anthology offers rewarding material, well researched, often surprising and infinitely worthwhile' Irish Times'This excellent Penguin edition should rest handily within reach of anybody with an interest in the mystical or the ethereal' Sunday Tribune