In Vintage's 21st anniversary year, this book is a mission statement about the paramount importance of reading to our quality of life.
 
In any 24 hours there might be sleeping, eating, kids, parents, friends, lovers, work, school, travel, deadlines, emails, phone calls, Facebook, Twitter, the news, the TV, Playstation, music, movies, sport, responsibilities, passions, desires, dreams. Why should you stop what you're doing and read a book? But people have always needed stories. We need literature -- novels, poetry -- because we need to make sense of our lives, test our depths, understand our joys, and discover what humans are capable of. Great books can provide companionship when we are lonely or peacefulness in the midst of the commuter rush. Reading provides a unique kind of pleasure and no-one should live without it.
 
The ten essays in this book tell us about the experience of reading, why access to books should never be taken forgranted, how reading transforms our brains, and how literature can save lives. In any 24 hours there are so many demands on your time and attention -- make books one of them.

A favorite back in print! A child discovers, in the old house and overgrown garden she passes every day, that wonders wait in secret.

One day, on the way to the park, a little girl climbs the gate of an old yellow house. Although no one has lived there for a very long time, a little boy suddenly appears before her. 'Come and play with me,' he beckons. He leads her through an enchanted garden, showing her all its marvelous inhabitants: a tiger playing with its cubs in the long grass, a dolphin leaping in the goldfish pond, a pelican roosting high in the apple tree. Then the mysterious boy is gone, the girl's mother is calling, and all is as it was before. In this well-loved picture book, Blake Morrison and Helen Craig bring us to a place where, for a moment, magic is real.

First published in 1993 this is the film tie- in starring Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent and Juliet Stevenson. An extraordinary portrait of family life, father-son relationships and bereavement, it includes an new afterword.

The marriage of Gertrude and Walter Morel has become a battleground. Repelled by her uneducated and sometimes violent husband, fastidious Gertrude devotes her life to her children, especially to her sons, William and Paul - determined they will not follow their father into working down the coal mines. But conflict is inevitable when Paul seeks to escape his mother's suffocating grasp by entering into relationships with other women. Set in Lawrence's native Nottinghamshire, Sons and Lovers (1913) is a highly autobiographical and compelling portrayal of childhood, adolescence and the clash of generations.
In his introduction, Blake Morrison discusses the novel's place in Lawrence's life and his depiction of the mother-son relationship, sex and politics. Using the complete and restored text of the Cambridge edition, this volume includes a new chronology and further reading by Paul Poplawski.

An extraordinary portrait of family life, father-son relationships and bereavement. It became a bestseller, and inspired a whole genre of confessional memoirs. This new edition includes a new afterword by the author.

Teachers and practitioners in mental health or creative writing, and often in both, describe activities, exercises, and other elements that they have used to lead successful workshops that teach people to write for therapeutic purposes. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Il processo Bulger ripercorso tra storia e mito. Nel 1993 due bambini di dieci anni rapirono in un supermercato e uccisero un bambino di due anni, James Bulger. Blake Morrison cerca di comprendere le ragioni del terribile gesto, si immedesima nei genitori della vittima e si espone in prima persona raccontando i suoi successi e insuccessi di padre.