Absolutely on Music

Najbardziej osobista książka Stanisława Lema. Autoportret z okresu dzieciństwa i dorastania. Wysoki Zamek powstał w okresie największych triumfów pisarskich Lema jako autora fantastyki, ale do niej nie należy. Jest autoportretem pisarza z okresu dzieciństwa, dociekliwą, nie oszczędzającą siebie, ale też pełną humoru historią o rodzeniu się i kształtowaniu jego osobowości, inteligencji i wyobraźni. Na tle panoramy międzywojennego Lwowa Lem czyni siebie samego bohaterem opowieści o dojrzewaniu – nie mniej atrakcyjnej i pełnej zaskoczeń niż fantastyczne fabuły. Bo też po co zagląda się w dzieciństwo? Najpierw z przyczyn sentymentalnych i dla rekonstrukcji minionego świata. Potem jednak po to, by siebie – dojrzałego – zrozumieć i w centrum panoramy zbud...

Stanisław Lem planował dwa, może trzy opowiadania o pilocie Pirxie. Ku radości czytelników powstało ich więcej. Dzięki temu możemy dziś obcować z jednym z najsłynniejszych bohaterów literatury science-fiction.Kim jest Pirx? Jest jednym z nas. Nie ma w sobie nic z herosa i zdarza mu się wpadać w panikę. W decydujących momentach jednak dzięki inteligencji, a czasem dzięki łutowi szczęścia, udaje mu się znaleźć wyjście z opresji.Pirx dojrzewa z każdym kolejnym opowiadaniem. Razem z nim dojrzewają problemy, którym musi stawić czoła. Ale nie tylko to stanowi o wartości tych przygód – w każdym opowiadaniu pilot udowadnia, że człowiek ma szansę w konfrontacji z bezkresnym i zimnym kosmosem. Pilot Pirx pokazuje, że nasze słabości czasem mogą być naszą s...

Collected inside this book are diary entries, letters and newspaper clippings that piece together the depraved story of the ultimate predator. A young lawyer on an assignment finds himself imprisoned in a Transylvanian castle by his mysterious host. Back at home his fiancée and friends are menaced by a malevolent force which seems intent on imposing suffering and destruction. Can the devil really have arrived on England's shores? And what is it that he hungers for so desperately?

The silence of the jungle is broken only by the ominous sound of drumming. Life on the river is brutal and unknown threats lurk in the darkness. Marlow's mission to captain a steamer upriver into the dense interior leads him into conflict with the others who haunt the forest. But his decision to hunt down the mysterious Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader who is the subject of sinister rumours, leads him into more than just physical peril.

Dorian is a good-natured young man until he discovers the power of his own exceptional beauty. As he gradually sinks deep into a frivolous, glamorous world of selfish luxury, he apparently remains physically unchanged by the stresses of his corrupt lifestyle and untouched by age. But up in his attic, hidden behind a curtain, his portrait tells a different story...

Could drugs offer a new way of seeing the world? In 1953, in the presence of an investigator, Aldous Huxley took four-tenths of a gramme of mescalin, sat down and waited to see what would happen. When he opened his eyes everything, from the flowers in a vase to the creases in his trousers, was transformed. His account of his experience, and his vision for all that psychedelics could offer to mankind, has influenced writers, artists and thinkers around the world. The unabridged text of „The Doors of Perception” by Aldous Huxley. VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. A series of short books by the world's greatest writers on the experiences that make us human. Also in the Vintage Minis series: „Drinking” by John Cheever; „Swimming” by Roger Deakin; „Eating” by...

Rich or poor, we will keep together and be happy in one another. Christmas won't be the same this year for Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, as their father is away fighting in the Civil War, and the family has fallen on hard times. But though they may be poor, life for the four March sisters is rich with colour, as they play games, put on wild theatricals, make new friends, argue, grapple with their vices, learn from their mistakes, nurse each other through sickness and disappointments, and get into all sorts of trouble.

Lucie Manette has been separated from her father for eighteen years while he languished in Paris's most feared prison, the Bastille. Finally reunited, the Manettes' fortunes become inextricably intertwined with those of two men, the heroic aristocrat Darnay and the dissolute lawyer Carton. Their story, which encompasses violence, revenge, love and redemption, is grippingly played out against the backdrop of the terrifying brutality of the French Revolution.

A major anthology of great Japanese short stories introduced by Haruki Murakami This is a celebration of the Japanese short story from its modern origins in the nineteenth century to remarkable contemporary works. It includes the most well-known Japanese writers - Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata - but also many surprising new pieces, from Yuko Tsushima's 'Flames' to Banana Yoshimoto's 'Bee Honey'. Ranging over myth, horror, love, nature, modern life, a diabolical painting, a cow with a human face and a woman who turns into sugar, The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is filled with fear, charm, beauty and comedy. Edited by Jay Rubin with an introduction by Haruki Murakami

Toru Okada's cat has disappeared. His wife is growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has recently been receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out. He embarks on a bizarre journey, guided by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell.

A beautiful, moving story about a small Japanese café that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time, to find an answer to the question: what would you change if you could go back? For fans of The Guest Cat and If Cats Disappeared from the World.

Agatha Christie’s famous Miss Marple mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Lymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets – a town where even a sudden outbreak of anonymous hate-mail causes only a minor stir. But all that changes when one of the recipients, Mrs Symmington, commits suicide. Her final note said 'I can’t go on...'. Only Miss Marple questions the coroner’s verdict of suicide. Was this the work of a poison-pen? Or of a poisoner?

Zapis sześciu rozmów, które Haruki Murakami przeprowadził ze słynnym dyrygentem Seijim Ozawą w ciągu siedmiu miesięcy od listopada 2010 do lipca 2011. Rozmowy poświęcone są muzyce Beethovena, Brahmsa, utworom klasycznym w latach sześćdziesiątych, Mahlerowi, operom i uczeniu muzyki. Przeplatają je krótkie eseje. Dwaj miłośnicy muzyki dyskutują o różnych wykonaniach tego samego utworu, słuchając płyt z ogromnej kolekcji Murakamiego, czasami też oglądają wideo koncertów. Ich rozmowa jest luźna, dowcipna i wesoła. Książka obfituje w liczne anegdoty o znanych artystach, opowieści o Leonardzie Bernsteinie, Herbercie von Karajanie, Arturze Rubinsteinie i wielu innych. Czasami Murakami porównuje proces pisania do tworzenia muzyki, mówi o tym, jak ważną rolę ma...