What happens when you reach the threshold of life & death
- & come back? As long as humans have lived on the planet, there have
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Jay Mc Inerney, internationally celebrated author of Bright Lights, Big City, turns his hand here to his lifelong love affair with wine. Peals of wisdom are offered on the subjects of the best wine for romantics, the parallels between Californian wines & floundering Hollywood stars, the choice of wine for the author`s own debauched forty-eighth birthday party, the `high-testosterone grape` that is Colin Farrell, absinthe, `the wild green fairy`, & what wine is best drunk with chocolate. At the same time Mc Inerney is a genuine connoisseur, taking the reader on a tour through the wine regions of the world & imparting tried & tested advice on grapes & vintages, bouquets, noses & finishes. ...

Istanbul, once Constantinople, is the only city in the world to span two continents. A vibrant melting pot of olde-worlde European charm & Asian mystique, it truly is a city where anything is possible. From its progressive, modern economy & ultra-hip design scene to the beauty & tradition of its architecture, culture & people, Istanbul is a city that is moving fast
- not for nothing that it has been elected European City of Culture for 2010. Hg 2 Istanbul delves deeper than the rest to discover that there's a whole lot more to the capital of Asia Minor than belly dancing & hammams.
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A Hedonist's Guide to London brings one of the world's most exciting cities to life. Visiting the UK's capital is not just about big red buses & Piccadilly Circus, but gourmet cooking, chic bars, underground clubs & some of the best shopping in Europe. London's prominence on the fashion, food & design scene in recent years looks set to continue & this is just the guide to help the outsider become an insider. ...

Marrakech has been one of the most talked-about cities of recent years & continues to grace the style pages of magazines & newspapers across the world
- it has become a haven for those interested in design, shopping & the naturally exotic. The centrepiece in what is widely regarded as North Africa's adventure playground, it has brought international sophistication to this dusty, dry corner of the world. The riads are among the most elegant hotels in the world, the cuisine is out of this world & the architecture striking. Hg 2 will show you the very best this desert oasis has to offer.
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From the banks of the Seine to the streets of Montmartre, the City of Lights is imbued with a unique atmosphere & history. Hg 2 Paris unravels the, at times confusing, worlds of haute-cuisine, haute-couture & haute culture. For gourmands, a comprehensive take on the restaurant scene from world-famous temples of gastronomy to smoky bistros with sublime steak tartare, for shop-a-holics, the ultimate guide to style & fashion. Potter from the elegant shops of the Rue Faubourg St Honore to the eclectic Marais & art galleries on the Left Bank, taking in the superlative cultural highlights on the way. Finally get in step with the glamour & elegance of Paris's nightlife, with its influences drawn from North & sub-Saharan Africa & Asia. ...

Between the splendours of the modern & ancient worlds that make up The Eternal City there lie the small backstreets & wide piazzas humming with the hustle & bustle of everyday Roman life. Small, local trattorias sit beside the chicest & smartest of international restaurants. From the majesty of the Colosseum to the magical frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, Rome oozes history, style & sophistication. Hg 2 Rome delves into the Rome of the Romans, covering the thriving bar & club scene alongside the best of the best restaurants, intimate cafes & world-class shopping. ...

Deep in a wood in the Marches of Wales, in an ancient school bus there lives an old man called Bob Rowberry. A Hero for High Times is the story of how he ended up in this broken-down bus. It`s also the story of his times, & the ideas that shaped him. It`s a story of why you know your birth sign, why you have friends called Willow, why sex & drugs & rock`n`roll once mattered more than money, why dance music stopped the New-Age Travellers from travelling, & why you need to think twice before taking the brown acid. It`s the story of the hippies for those who weren`t there
- for Younger Readers who`ve never heard of the Aldermaston marches, Oz, the Angry Brigade, the Divine Light Mission, Sniffin` Glue, Operation Julie, John Seymour, John Michell, Greenham Common, the Battle of the Beanfield, but who want to understand their grandparents` stories of turning on, tuning in & not quite dropping out before they are gone for ever. It`s for Younger Readers who want to know how to build a bender, make poppy tea, & throw the I-Ching. And it`s a story of friendship between two men, one who did things, & one who thought about things, between theory & practice, between a hippie & a punk, between two gentlemen, no longer in the first flush of youth, who still believe in love.
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A masterpiece of Russian prose, Lermontov`s only novel was influential for many later nineteenth-century authors, including Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky & Chekhov. Lermontov`s hero, Pechorin, is a dangerous man, Byronic in his wasted gifts & his cynicism, & desperate for any kind of action that will stave off boredom. In five linked episodes, Lermontov builds up a portrait of a man caught in & expressing the sickness of his times. ...

On his travels through the wild mountainous terrain of the Caucasus, the narrator of A Hero of Our Time chances upon the veteran soldier & storyteller Maxim Maximych, who relates to him the dubious exploits of his former comrade Pechorin. Engaging in various acts of duelling, contrab&, abduction & seduction, Pechorin, an archetypal Byronic anti-hero, combines cynicism & arrogance with melancholy andsensitivity. Causing an uproar in Russia when it was first published in 1840, Lermontov`s brilliant, seminal study of contemporary society & the nihilistic aspect of Romanticism
- accompanied here by the unfinished novel Princess Ligovskaya
- remains compelling to this day.

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