Someone once said that books furnish a room. They also change our lives. We go to books for consolation and companionship, to be transported, moved and entertained, sometimes even to be terrified. The books furnishing our rooms tell the story of our lives and also help us to make sense of them. This is not a work of reference; it doesn't prescribe a canon or tell you how to read. Instead 1000 Books to change your life celebrates the transforming power of literature. 50 leading novelists, writers and critics draw the arc of a life lived in books, from birth to death. With Kate Clanchy on motherhood, Ali Smith on reading as a child, and Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Coe and Zadie Smith on the volumes that changed their lives, this book is a reminder of the difference that books make. Organised around themes inspired by Shakespeare's 'Seven Ages of Man', the book ranges from birth to death, taking in topics at all points in between, and covering both fiction and non-fiction, graphic novels as well as literary classics. Commentaries by Ali Smith, Nigella Lawson, Jonathan Franzen, Zadie Smith, Sarah Waters, Jonathan Coe, Barney Hoskyns, Amanda Craig and Nicholas Royle, to name a few, are complemented by Top Ten lists chosen by Time Out's unrivalled team of critics. Part of the 1,000 series launched with the bestselling 1,000 films to change your life 1,000 books is a similarly inspirational book.

This book is a celebration of music's transformative power: how it shocks and soothes, frightens and comforts, amuses and appals, but above all how it moves us, perhaps when we least expect it. Over the course of more than 30 essays and features, a hand-picked array of writers, critics and musicians explore the songs that made a difference: to their lives, the lives of others and to music itself.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The book that sparked a revolution and inspired the hit Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo: the original guide to decluttering your home once and for all. ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE—CNN Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles? Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list). With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

Is the year ahead looking much the same as the last? Another 365-day grind of meetings, dinner dates, and deadlines? If so, try this book--the perfect gift for the adventurous reader. Part instruction manual, part therapy, part religious cult, part sheer anarchy, This Book Will Change Your Life will help you poke a stick in the spokes of your routine. It's not the soft-hearted kind of book that's interested in what you have to say; rather it contains 365 daily orders, each one of which could turn your humdrum existence into a daily free-fall. Whether learning to tell one joke properly, spending an hour talking to a tree, or choosing a motto to live by, This Book Will Change Your Life will lead you to make every day of the next year the first day of your new life.

The twentieth anniversary edition of the “utterly and shamelessly sensational” history of punk music—featuring new photos and an afterword by the authors (Newsday). A contemporary classic, Please Kill Me is the definitive oral history of the most nihilistic of all pop movements. Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Richard Hell, the Ramones, and scores of other punk figures lend their voices to this decisive account of that explosive era. Editors Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain—two of punk music’s greatest chroniclers—follow the movement from its roots in the 1960s underground of New York City, to its arrival in the UK with bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash, to its unlikely emergence as a global cultural force whose impact is still felt today.

“Heartfelt and ever-endearing—equal parts information and inspiration. This is a book to keep by your bedside and return to often.”—Amy Dickinson, nationally syndicated advice columnist "Ask Amy" More than one thousand extraordinary Americans share their stories and the wisdom they have gained on living, loving, and finding happiness. After a chance encounter with an extraordinary ninety-year-old woman, renowned gerontologist Karl Pillemer began to wonder what older people know about life that the rest of us don't. His quest led him to interview more than one thousand Americans over the age of sixty-five to seek their counsel on all the big issues- children, marriage, money, career, aging. Their moving stories and uncompromisingly honest answers often surprised him. And he found that he consistently heard advice that pointed to these thirty lessons for living. Here he weaves their personal recollections of difficulties overcome and lives well lived into a timeless book filled with the hard-won advice these older Americans wish someone had given them when they were young. Like This I Believe, StoryCorps's Listening Is an Act of Love, and Tuesdays with Morrie, 30 Lessons for Living is a book to keep and to give. Offering clear advice toward a more fulfilling life, it is as useful as it is inspiring.

Jonathan Coe is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed contemporary British writers. This comprehensive introduction places his work in clear historical and theoretical context, offering extensive readings of the author's ten novels from The Accidental Woman to Expo 58, including the remarkable What a Carve Up! The book explores Coe's biography and his experimentations with narrative, genre and comedy, as well as his thematic preoccupations with history, memory, loss and nostalgia. The first volume devoted entirely to Coe, this book includes: - A supporting timeline of key dates in literature and current events - An examination of the critical reception to Coe's works - An exclusive interview with Jonathan Coe himself