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.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." —Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we could do things differently.

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.

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

It's a time of change for Josh. He has a relatively new stepdad and a brand new baby sister. But for Josh's younger brother, Jamie, the family upheaval has deeply disturbing consequences: he refuses to speak, and after a vivid, frightening dream develops an obsession with wild cats. With his parents so preoccupied, it's up to Josh - who's always been the quiet one - to keep the family together and find a cure for his brother's strange behaviour. And in helping Jamie to recover his voice, Josh discovers an unexpectedly resonant one of his own. CATCALL is a tense, gripping and atmospheric novel, full of powerful ideas, and blending deep psychological tension with fast-paced action - highly-acclaimed author Linda Newbery at her most compelling and insightful.