At the centre of Music for Chameleons is Handcarved Coffins, a ‘nonfiction novel’ based on the brutal crimes of a real-life murderer. Taking place in a small Midwestern town in America, it offers chilling insights into the mind of a killer and the obsession of the man bringing him to justice. Also in this volume are six short stories and seven ‘conversational portraits’ including a touching one of Marilyn Monroe, the ‘beautiful child’ and a hilarious one of a dope-smoking cleaning lady doing her rounds in New York.

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is a member of Russia's dying aristocracy a man so lazy that he has given up his job in the Civil Service, neglected his books, insulted his friends and found himself in debt. Too apathetic to do anything about his problems, he lives in a grubby, crumbling apartment, waited on by Zakhar, his equally idle servant. Terrified by the bustle and activity necessary to participate in the real world, Oblomov manages to avoid work, postpone change and finally risks losing the love of his life. Written with sympathetic humour and compassion, Oblomov made Goncharov famous throughout Russia on its publication in 1859, as readers saw in this story of a man whose defining characteristic is indolence, the portrait of an entire class in decline.

Penguin Student Editions have been specifically designed for readers who are studying a text in detaol. They include a helpful introduction and explanatory notes, character sketches, a text summary, a chronology, language notes, a selection of questions and topics for discussion and analysis, as well as suggestions for further reading. There is not a modern short story writer anywhere to be compared with Roald Dahl. Each of his stories is so clever has such a startling twist at the end of it leaves the reader gasping. The then stories in this book may depict human nature at its darkest, but they are also brilliantly funny and completely unforgettable.

The controversial bestseller from Tom Clancy, the all-time master of the techno-thriller. CIA Deputy Director Jack Ryan joins the war on drugs. And when three American officials are assassinated in Colombia, the U.S. response is swift-and shocking.

Based on the legend of an early sixteenth-century astrologer and necromancer. Doctor Faustus is an enduring tale of the brilliant mind of a mortal man — and the soul he sold to the devil... This new edition includes a revised introduction, a history of the play on stage, and an updated bibliography by the editor, Sylvan Barnet of Tufts University.

Have you ever wondered what happened to your first love? Imagine bumping into her twelve years after you last saw her and realising you still fancy her rotten. This is what happens to Dig Ryan when he sees Delilah again. Now imagine you're Nadine. You've been Dig's best friend for the last fifteen years, and you've just realised that you're in love with him. Delilah was your nemesis at school and it turns out she stills is. When she resurfaces, you might find yourself feeling extremely jealous and start doing really childish things. Like phoning your first love, Phil, just to get your own back.... This is a story about ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends and what happens when you start messing with the past. And how sometimes what you're looking for isn't in the past or in the future, but right under your nose.

When I was sixteen I became an Islamic fundamentalist. Five years later, after much emotional turmoil, I rejected fundamentalist teachings and returned to normal life and my family. I tried to put my experiences behind me, but as the events of 7/7 unfolded it became clear to me that Islamist groups pose a threat to this country that we — Muslims and non-Muslims alike — do not yet understand. Why are young British Muslims becoming extremists? What are the risks of another home-grown terrorist attack on British soil? By describing my experiences inside these groups, the reasons I joined them and how, after leaving I recovered my faith and mind, I hope to explain the appeal of extremist thought, how fanatics penetrate Muslim communities and the truth behind their agenda of subverting the West and moderate Islam. Writing candidly about life after extremism, I illustrate the depth of the problem that now grips Muslim hearts and minds. I will lay bare what politicians and Muslim 'community leaders' do not want you to know. This is the first time an ex-member openly discusses life within radical Islamic organisations. This is my story.

The Bright Young Things of 1920s Mayfair, with their paradoxical mix of innocence and sophistication, exercise their inventive minds and vile bodies in every kind of capricious escapade, whether it is promiscuity, dancing, cocktail parties or sports cars. A vivid assortment of characters, among them the struggling writer Adam Fenwick-Symes and the glamorous, aristocratic Nina Blount, hunt fast and furiously for ever greater sensations and the hedonistic fulfilment of their desires. Evelyn Waugh's acidly funny and experimental satire shows a new generation emerging in the years after the First World War, revealing the darkness and vulnerability beneath the glittering surface of the high life.

Whether you’re learning alone or attending classes, you’ll find this complete Russian language course for beginners both accessible and indispensable. Designed to provide the student with an excellent command of basic Russian (the equivalent of A’ level standard) the book features thirty lessons punctuated by revision exercises to ensure you have fully understood what you have learned. The emphasis is on acquiring vocabulary, experiencing conversational language and learning useful grammar. The book also includes a vocabulary of 1,500 words and a glossary of grammatical terms.

Jeremy Clarkson knows there's more to life than cars. There is, after all, a whole world out there just waiting to be discovered. So, before he gets on with the job in hand, he'd like to take some time out to consider the bigger picture. Don't worry, he'll get on to the car bit eventually, but before he does, there's time to learn about: * Why Galapagos tortoises are all mental * France, reduced to the size of a small coconut * Why Jeremy Paxman and the bass guitarist of AC/DC aren't so very different * The problems of being English and God's most stupid creation And then there's the cars: whether it's the poxiest little runabout or an exotic, firebreathing supercar, anything on four wheels is approached without fear or favour. What emerges from the ashes is not always pretty. But it is, invariably, very, very funny.

'Yes, I loved her, it's the name I gave, still give alas, to what I was doing then. I had nothing to go by, having never loved before, but of course had heard of the thing, at home, in school, in brothel and at church, and read romances, in prose and verse, under the guidance of my tutor, in six or seven languages, both dead and living, in which it was handled at length'.

New Orleans, 1840s. Sent to watch over the decadent city, the angel Gabriel loses himself in the liquid pleasure of absinthe. So when his mistress, Anne, is murdered — and all evidence points to him — a foggy Gabriel cannot be sure he didn’t do it. His penance: to be forever denied love. Then in modern-day New Orleans he meets forensic scientist Sara Michaels...

The Russian Debutante's Handbook takes us from New York City's Lower East Side to the hip frontier wilderness of Prava—the Eastern European Paris of the '90s—whose grand and glorious beauty is marred only by the shadow of the looming statue of Stalin's foot. There, with the encouragement of the Groundhog, a murderous (but fun-loving) Russian mafioso, Vladimir infiltrates the American ex-pat community with the hope of defrauding his young middle-class compatriots by launching a pyramid scheme that's as stupid as it is brilliant. Things go swimmingly at first, but nothing is quite as it seems in Prava, and Vladimir learns that in order to reinvent himself, he must first discover who he really is.

Nan is an independent, free-spirited woman who couldn't care less what people think about her living alone in her beloved beach house. But when she discovers that the money she was relying on is running out and her house might be at stake, she knows that something has to change. Nan decides to rent out rooms in her house for the summer and soon people start moving in, filling it with noise, laughter and tears. Among them is Daniel, a recently separated father of two young girls, who's struggling to find out who he really is, and Daff, the single mother of a truculent teenager who blames her mother unreservedly for the divorce. As the house comes to life again, Nan finds her family extending. Her son, Michael, comes home for the summer and then an unexpected visitor turns up, turning all their lives upside down... Compelling, absorbing and poignant, The Beach House is a story of friendship, second chances and those moments that can change your life.