Henry Eliot

The Penguin Classics Book is a reader's companion to the largest library of classic literature in the world. Spanning 4,000 years from the legends of Ancient Mesopotamia to the poetry of the First World War, with Greek tragedies, Icelandic sagas, Japanese epics and much more in between, it encompasses 500 authors and 1,200 books, bringing these to life with lively descriptions, literary connections and beautiful cover designs.

The Penguin Classics Book

For six decades the Penguin Modern Classics series has been an era-defining, ever-evolving series of books, encompassing works by modernist pioneers, avant-garde iconoclasts, radical visionaries and timeless storytellers. This reader's companion showcases every title published in the series so far, with more than 1,800 books and 600 authors, from Achebe and Adonis to Zamyatin and Zweig. It is the essential guide to twentieth-century literature around the world, and the companion volume to The Penguin Classics Book. Bursting with lively descriptions, surprising reading lists, key literary movements and over two thousand cover images, The Penguin Modern Classics Book is an invitation to dive in and explore the greatest literature of the last hundred years.

The Penguin Modern Classics Book

A Book of Bookish Lists

Shoes and Ships and Sealing-Wax

Curiocity E

Beautifully designed and gorgeously illustrated, this immersive, puzzle-like exploration of the history and psychology of mazes and labyrinths evokes the spirit of Choose Your Own Adventure, the textual inventiveness of Tom Stoppard, and the philosophical spirit of Jorge Luis Borges. Labyrinths are as old as humanity, the proving grounds of heroes, the paths of pilgrims, symbols of spiritual rebirth and pleasure gardens for pure entertainment. Henry Eliot leads us on a twisting journey through the world of mazes, real and imagined, unraveling our ancient, abiding relationship with them and exploring why they continue to fascinate us, from Kafka to Kubrick to the myth of the Minotaur and a quest to solve the disappearance of the legendary Maze King. Are you ready to step inside?

A Maze Book to Get Lost In

Follow This Thread

As a rule, we take care not to get lost, so why should we willingly enter a maze? Illustrated with a single red line, Follow This Thread examines dozens of real and historical mazes, and their uses in literature, art and film, from Pac-Man and Picasso to Kubrick and Kafka. Henry Eliot traces the history of our ancient relationship with mazes and labyrinths, and unpicks the paradoxical psychology involved in walking them, combining the myth of the Minotaur and a quest for the legendary Maze King, who disappeared in 1979. The text coils around the pages, recreating the experience of walking a labyrinth- at the 'centre' the reader physically turns the book upside-down and continues reading backwards.

Matt Lloyd-Rose

'The most ingenious, informative, inimitable, individual, innovative, insightful, inspiring, instructive, intelligible, intoxicating, intricate guide to the great city that I have ever seen. Bravo!' - Philip Pullman 'An endlessly fascinating guide to London ... an eccentric lexical juggernaut ... I doubt that anything of such crazy magnitude will be attempted again in a hurry' - Evening Standard 'The greatest book about London published in modern times ... an illuminated manuscript for the 21st century city' - Londonist 'However well you think you know London, you will discover something new on virtually every page, and the things you know well will be seen completely differently. Highly recommended' - The London Society Curiocity is a new A to Z exploring every aspect of life in London. Its 26 chapters weave together the city's stories with striking reflections, practical ideas and itineraries, and contributions from London voices such as Monica Ali and Iain Sinclair. The book is illustrated by artists including Chris Riddell, Isabel Greenberg and Steven Appleby, and at the heart of each chapter is an original hand-drawn map, charting everything from the city's international communities, underground spaces and children's dreams, to its unrealised plans, erogenous zones and dystopian futures. Curiocity is a unique guide that will transform the way you see and experience London.

An Alternative A-Z of London

Curiocity

Who had birds called Death, Wigs and Spinach? How do you spell the noise of a door slamming? Whose working title was The Chronic Argonauts? Henry Eliot - author, editor and insatiable bookworm - has ransacked the libraries and archives of world literature, compiling hundreds of bookish lists. This eclectic gallimaufry showcases his favourites: we witness the tragic ends of the Ancient Greek tragedians, learn the name of George Orwell's pet cockerel and rummage through Joan Didion's travelling bag; we consider the history of literary fart jokes, orbit the Shakespearean moons of Uranus and meet several pigs with wings. From the sublime to the ridiculous - and everything in between - Eliot's lists, recommendations and nuggets of trivia will delight, inspire and surprise anyone who loves reading. Beautifully presented with supplementary maps and illustrations, Henry Eliot's Book of Bookish Lists is the essential gift for book-lovers.

A sparkling miscellany of literary lists

Eliot's Book of Bookish Lists

As a rule, we take care not to get lost, so why should we willingly enter a maze? Illustrated with a single red line, Follow This Thread traces dozens of real and historical mazes, and their uses in literature, art and film, from Pac-Man and Picasso to Kubrick and Kafka. Henry Eliot reveals our abiding, ancient relationship with mazes and labyrinths, and unpicks the paradoxical psychology involved in walking them, combining the myth of the Minotaur with a quest for the legendary Maze King, who disappeared in 1979. The text coils around the pages, recreating the experience of walking a labyrinth, with its twists and turns, frights and fantasies.

Henry Eliot

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