Sex is forbidden at the Dasgupta Institute, the Buddhist retreat where Beth Marriot has taken refuge. Beth has been working as a server in the kitchen, assisting the clients while also practicing meditation to calm her demons. Like the clients who pay to be there, the servers must observe the rules, and silence and separation of the sexes are chief among them. But Beth is at a crossroads in her life. She came here torn between two lovers, estranged...

"Why do we need fiction? Why do books need to be printed on paper, copyrighted, read to the finish? Why should a group of aging Swedish men determine what "world" literature is best? Do books change anything? Did they use to? Do we read to challenge our vision of the world or to confirm it? Has novel writing turned into a job like any other? In Where I'm Reading From, the internationally acclaimed novelist and critic Tim Parks ranges over a lifetime...

Twenty years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hellbent on doing it again. They are convinced by mate Gary King, who drags his reluctant pals to their hometown to once again attempt to reach the fabled pub called The World's End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind's. Reaching the pub is the least...