Showing results by publisher "Canongate Books Ltd" in All Categories

In Toast on Toast - part memoir, part "how to act" manual - Steven Toast draws on his vast and varied experiences, providing the reader with an invaluable insight into his journey from school plays to RADA and from "It's a Right Royal Knockout" to the Colony Club. Along the way he reveals the secrets of his success. He discloses how to brush up on and expand your technical and vocal skills, how to nail a professional voiceover, and how to deal with difficult work experience staff in a recording studio....

We find ourselves in the austerity of the 1950s, when England's aristocracy was feeling the pinch. Bertie Wooster has gone to a residential self-help school to learn how to darn his socks. Until he re-emerges, Jeeves has signed up with Bill Rowcester (pronounced Roaster), an earl who is failing to make ends meet in trade, and yearning to sell his stately home, which has charm and damp in equal measure. In his new environment Jeeves is required to exert his mammoth brain to what would be breaking point for any normal intellect.

At the age of 30, Amy Liptrot finds herself washed up back home on Orkney. Standing unstable on the island, she tries to come to terms with the addiction that has swallowed the last decade of her life. As she spends her mornings swimming in the bracingly cold sea, her days tracking Orkney's wildlife, and her nights searching the sky for the Merry Dancers, Amy discovers how the wild can restore life and renew hope.

A groundbreaking new translation of Dostoyevsky's most radical work of fiction. In the depths of a cellar in St. Petersburg, a civil servant spews forth a passionate and furious note on the ills of society. The underground man's manifesto reveals his erratic, self-contradictory, and even sadistic nature. Yet in Dostoyevsky's most extreme and disturbing character, there is the uncomfortable flicker of recognition of the human condition. When the narrator ventures above ground, he attends a dinner with a group of old school friends.

Meet Jack Laidlaw, the original damaged detective. When a young woman is found brutally murdered on Glasgow Green, only Laidlaw stands a chance of finding her murderer from among the hard men, gangland villains and self-made moneymen who lurk in the city's shadows. Winner of the CWA Silver Dagger.

The Sick Bag Song chronicles Cave's journey with his band, the Bad Seeds, on a 22-day North American tour. Inspired by John Berryman's 'ream Songs, it is an epic exploration of inspiration, creativity, loss, love and death. The book blends poetry, lyrics, memories, musings, flights of fancy and journal entries. The Sick Bag Song began life scribbled onto airline sick bags acquired during the internal flights taken by Cave during the tour.

From infancy we are taught to edit ourselves, trimming out the darker, weirder, less acceptable parts in order to please others. But this addiction to approval is holding us back. What if we begin to be ourselves, honestly and fully? Insanely Gifted shows how to transform our thinking and turn our inner demons into allies. How to reframe disappointment (because not getting what we want can be as interesting and useful as getting what we want).

Matthew is a normal 11-year-old boy living with his parents and little sister in Surrey. He's too old and sensible to have an imaginary friend really. Yet when Matthew's parents keep finding him talking and arguing with a strange presence whom Matthew calls Chocky, that's what they believe it must be…at first. But Chocky is oddly sinister, and keeps asking Matthew all sorts of complicated questions about the world and making him behave in unusual and erratic ways. Then Matthew suddenly does something heroic, well beyond his capabilities; the media become interested and the interest in Matthew widens.

August 1973. The Glasgow drugs trade is booming and Bobby March, the city's own rock-star hero, has just OD'ed in a central hotel. Alice Winters is 12 years old, lonely. And missing. Meanwhile the niece of McCoy's boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes AWOL, McCoy is asked - off the books - to find her. McCoy has a hunch. But does he have enough time?

London, 1471. The War of the Roses rages on. Edward of York has claimed the English throne, and his Yorkist supporters gleefully slaughter their adversaries; there's no mercy for anyone who supported the Lancastrian cause. Margaret Beaufort - mother of Henry Tudor, the only hope for the House of Lancaster - knows her enemies are closing in. Desperate for help, she turns to Christopher Urswicke for protection. But when ruthless scheming and pitiless killings are the only routes to survival, Urswicke will have to choose where his loyalties truly lie.

The most acclaimed Scottish novel of all time, Sunset Song is a powerful portrait of a land and people in turmoil, seen through the life and struggles of its heroine, Chris Guthrie. In the years up to and beyond the First World War, Chris' resilience, like the land itself, endures despite everything and is portrayed with a lyrical intensity that echoes through the years and still resonates today.

At 14, Richard Holloway left his home in the Vale of Leven, north of Glasgow, and travelled hundreds of miles to be educated and trained for the priesthood by a religious order in an English monastery. By 25, he had been ordained and was working in the slums of Glasgow. Throughout the following 40 years, Richard touched the lives of many people in the Church and in the wider community. But behind his confident public face lay a restless, unquiet heart and a constantly searching mind.

Nick Cave reads from his introduction to the earliest of the four Gospels, which portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconnected disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. Cave's reading is preceded by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, reading an extract from the gospel.

Where do we go when we die? Or is there nowhere to go? Is death something we can do or is it just something that happens to us? Now in his ninth decade, former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, has spent a lifetime at the bedsides of the dying, guiding countless men and women towards peaceful deaths. In The Last Bus, he presents a positive, meditative and profound exploration of the many important lessons we can learn from death.

Fay Weldon reads from her introduction to Corinthians. A figurehead of the early Christian church, Paul sets out some of his thoughts on strife and division, spirituality, the bond of marriage and hopes for his own immortality in this book. Her introduction is preceded by a reading from the book by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh.

Matthew’s Gospel from the widely acclaimed modern literary classic The New Testament in Scots, now available as an audio digital download for the first time. Tom Fleming's reading brings out the poetry, wit, and humanity of William Lorimer's translation in a way which speaks to everyone. Lorimer (1885-1967) immersed himself in the Scots language from childhood, learning the rich Angus dialect of his locality. He devoted the last decade of his life to translating the New Testament into Scots.

Luke’s Gospel from the widely acclaimed modern literary classic The New Testament in Scots, now available as an audio digital download for the first time. Tom Fleming's reading brings out the poetry, wit, and humanity of William Lorimer's translation in a way which speaks to everyone. Lorimer (1885-1967) immersed himself in the Scots language from childhood, learning the rich Angus dialect of his locality. He devoted the last decade of his life to translating the New Testament into Scots.

Will Self reads from his introduction to Revelation, the final book of the Bible, which prophesises the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images, and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the 'Beast' will be destroyed, and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. The introduction is preceded by a reading from the book by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh.

John’s Gospel, from the widely acclaimed modern literary classic The New Testament in Scots is now available as an audio digital download for the first time. Tom Fleming's reading brings out the poetry, wit and humanity of William Lorimer's translation in a way which speaks to everyone. Lorimer (1885-1967) immersed himself in the Scots language from childhood, learning the rich Angus dialect of his locality. He devoted the last decade of his life to translating the New Testament into Scots.

Doris Lessing reads from her introduction to Ecclesiastes or, the preacher. Ancient tradition suggests that this world-weary lament is the work of Solomon in old age. Casting its eye over the transient nature of life, the book questions the story for wisdom and the truth, choosing instead to espouse the value of living for the moment. The introduction is preceded by a reading from the book by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh.