*BY THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE* 'Laxness at his best: a reminder of the mad hilarity of the Icelandic sensibility. An endearing and unforgettable voice' Nicholas Shakespeare Abandoned as a baby, Alfgrimur is content to spend his days as a fisherman living in the turf cottage outside Reykjavik with the elderly couple he calls grandmother and grandfather. There he shares the mid-loft with a motley bunch of eccentrics and philosophers who find refuge in the simple respect for their fellow men that is the ethos at the Brekkukot. But the narrow horizons of Alfgrimur's idyllic childhood are challenged when he starts school and meets Iceland's most famous singer, the mysterious Garoar Holm. Garoar encourages him to aim for the 'one true note', but how can he attain it without leaving behind the world that he loves? 'It is a novel (a world) that transmits something of the wonder of life' Murray Bail

Alfgrim was an abandoned child whose mother gave birth to him in the turf cottage of Bjorn of Brekkukot, the fisherman, on the outskirts of Reykjavik. Written by Iceland's finest author, this is the beautifully crafted tale of Alfgrim's boyhood in the home of his grandparents in the early years of the 20th century and how everything changes when he goes to school and meets the singer Gardar Holm.

Drawn from original research, this work takes an international perspective of the subject of marketing to the 50 and over demographic and includes insight into how leading multinationals view the 50-plus market.

An Anchor Books Original Seventy-four distinguished writers tell personal tales of books loved and lost–great books overlooked, under-read, out of print, stolen, scorned, extinct, or otherwise out of commission. Compiled by the editors of Brick: A Literary Magazine, Lost Classics is a reader’s delight: an intriguing and entertaining collection of eulogies for lost books. As the editors have written in a joint introduction to the book, “being lovers of books, we’ve pulled a scent of these absences behind us our whole reading lives, telling people about books that exist only on our own shelves, or even just in our own memory.” Anyone who has ever been changed by a book will find kindred spirits in the pages of Lost Classics. Each of the editors has contributed a lost book essay to this collection, including Michael Ondaatje on Sri Lankan filmmaker Tissa Abeysekara’s Bringing Tony Home, a novella about a mutual era of childhood. Also included are Margaret Atwood on sex and death in the scandalous Doctor Glas, first published in Sweden in 1905; Russell Banks on the off-beat travelogue Too Late to Turn Back by Barbara Greene–the “slightly ditzy” cousin of Graham; Bill Richardson on a children’s book for adults by Russell Hoban; Ronald Wright on William Golding’s Pincher Martin; Caryl Phillips on Michael Mac Liammoir’s account of his experiences on the set of Orson Welles’s Othello, and much, much more.

Thanks to a curse, Prince Vanya was born with a silent heart. Luckily, he has his talking horse (conveniently named 'Horse') to help—and he'll need it. The prince is on a quest to save Melodia, Princess of Rather Fishlike Things, who's suffering from a certain amount of brainwashing. On his way he'll encounter friends and foes, most of them with attitude. Meanwhile, Melodia keeps stumbling into adventures of her own. Will the prince manage to rescue the princess? Will he break free from his curse? And most importantly, will there be a happily ever after?

Bringing the science of psychology to life! The 2nd Australasian edition of Psychology and Life emphasises the science of psychology, with a special focus on applying that science to students’ everyday lives. As a result, the features of Psychology and Life support a central theme: psychology as a science, with a focus on applying that science to real life experiences. Australasian research, examples and statistics help make the theory even more relevant for today’s students. Psychology and Life 2e provides a rigorous, research-centred survey of the discipline while offering students special features and learning aids that will make the science of psychology relevant, spark their interest and excite their imaginations.

This collection of soul-nourishing stories celebrates the caring, compassion, and craziness of small-town life. Filled with delightful discoveries and sweet surprises about the blessings of everyday existence, these tales of people just like us offer extraordinary glimpses of grace and goodness...: little Margaret, whose first day at school resulted in a black eye, cut lip, and sudden case of the chicken pox, a young teacher named Rosa, who taught a class full of rowdy youngsters to believe that fish really can fly, Marice and her pink plastic purse, which caused a schoolyard ruckus that left an indelible memory in Groveton

"An enthralling, heartening study of a man of unflagging interest in life" Independent "A thoroughly researched biography" New York Review of Books "Provides readers of English with a perfect introduction to the life and works of an outstanding writer, one whom everyone should read" Irish Times "I am thoroughly convinced by Gudmundsson's portrayal of Laxness" J. M COETZEE A strong and memorable portrayal of a man who fought heroically to write for the world, but in one of its rarest languages. Halldór Laxness won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955. During his life, which spanned nearly the entire century, he not only wrote sixty books, but also became an active participant in Europe's idealistic debates and struggles. In the 1930s, Laxness became attracted to Soviet communism. He travelled widely in the Soviet Bloc and, despite witnessing some atrocities, remained a defender of communism until the 1960s. But his political leanings never dominated his work. Laxness continually sought to divulge the world of beauty that lurks beneath the everyday, ensuring his artistry remained a sanctuary of humanism and reflection. In this biography, Guðmundsson has been granted access to unique material by Laxness' family. As a result, the interrelationships between Laxness' personal life, his politics and his career are meticulously examined. What emerges is a grand description of a fascinating personality in which the manifold conflicts of the 20th century are mirrored. "Laxness is a writer of the first degree, a writer I dreamed of coming close to" BORIS PASTERNAK, 1960 "When in a bad mood I have picked one of your books. And there the pure and deep sound has welcomed me, strong and charming from the first page" KAREN BLIXEN in an open letter to Laxness in 1952 Translated from Icelandic by Philip Roughton

"Roni Horn (b. 1955) is a prominent contemporary artist known for her sculptures, photography, and installations inspired by landscape and the natural world, and especially the isolated landscapes of Iceland, where she has travelled and lived for substantial periods of time since the early 1970s. Horn's work explores geology and climate; the interplay of nature, art, and place; and the relationships between words, appearance, androgyny, and the self. Horn is author of more than twenty books and artist's books, and is herself the subject of more than thirty books and exhibition catalogs, including a survey published by Phaidon and many by Steidl. Examples of her work include You Are the Weather (1994-96), a series of photographs of a young woman bathing in Icelandic hot springs; Pair Objects (1988), identical metal sculptures placed in two different locations; and the installation Library of Water (2007) in Iceland, with columns that enclose water from melting glaciers. Horn is arguably the most important visual chronicler of the landscape of Iceland. Upon graduating from her MFA program at Yale, she traveled to Iceland, journeying across its interior on a motorcycle. Over thirty years, she has continually returned to Iceland to explore and record the astonishing beauty of its geology, climate, and culture. This book will contain a range of texts, from evocative vignettes to illustrated essays written for Iceland's most widely-read newspaper. A combination of artists' writings and travelogue, the texts reveal Iceland as one of Horne's most important influences and inspirations, and record a unique and beautiful environment undergoing climate change"--

This book is a culmination of good clean jokes. Doctor jokes, lawyer jokes, men and women jokes, animal jokes, God and devil jokes and many more. These jokes are meant to to inspire, bringing laughter and smiles to people who really need a little happiness in their day to day lives. These jokes are meant for all friends and family, and can lift anyone's spirits. One of the problems in the world today is that we don't laugh enough. So I hope this book can help change the world one laugh at a time.