Collection: Adult Non Fiction - Languages and Literature

A transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, through classic and modern literary works that are in conversation with one another and with the world around them Inspired by Jules Verne's hero Phileas Fogg, David Damrosch, chair of Harvard's Department of Comparative Literature and foun...

What makes a place so memorable that it survives for ever in a word? In this captivating round-the-world jaunt, Paul Anthony Jones reveals the intriguing stories of how 80 different places came to be immortalised in our language. Beginning in London and heading through Europe, Africa, Asia, Austr...

Serge has bought a modern painting for a large sum of money. Marc hates it and cannot believe that a friend of his could possibly want such a work. Yvan attempts, unsuccessfully, to placate both sides. If your friendship is based on tacit mutual agreement, what happens when one person does someth...

The healing power of reading has been renowned since Aristotle; focus, flow and enlightenment can all be discovered through this universal act. The Art of Mindful Reading embraces the joy of absorbing words on a page, encouraging a state of mind as deeply therapeutic and vital to our wellbeing as...

We are not born readers, we learn to turn words into worlds. But why is fine writing lauded while excellent reading is ignored? In The Art of Reading, philosopher Damon Young reveals the pleasures of this intimate pursuit through a rich sample of literature: from Virginia Woolf's diaries to Batma...