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Charles Dickens - A Life$36.00 add to cart

February 7, 2012 marks the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Dickens' work transcends his time, language and culture. Book sales two centuries after his birth continue to make him the envy of contemporary bestselling authors, and his work remains an influence throughout the world, inspiring film, TV, art and other works of literature.

When he died in 1870, The Times of London successfully campaigned for his burial in Westminster Abbey, the final resting place of England's kings and heroes. Thousands flocked to mourn the best recognized and most-loved man of nineteenth-century England.

His personal life, however, was in perpetual chaos. Last fall's Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin gives full measure to Dickens' virtues as a writer but does not shy away from his temperamental treatment of his friends and family, paying special attention to his lifelong affair with the young actress Ellen Ternan.

Part of what made Dickens so revered was his ability to attract thousands of fans to his readings both in England and across North America. Not only did he give voice to his vast cast of characters, he was also a brilliant mimic and raconteur. Simon Callow explores this side of the public Dickens in Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World. In this short and lively study, Callow reveals an original genius who was driven as much by performance and showmanship as by literary endeavour.

 

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MWF Seeking BFF$17.00 add to cart

When Rachel Bertsche first moved to Chicago, she was thrilled to finally share a zip code, let alone an apartment, with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, she realized that her new life was missing one thing: friends. In her uproarious memoir, MWF seeking BFF, Bertsche describes how she went on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend Forever, and discovers how difficult -- and hilariously awkward -- it can be to make new friends as an adult. In a time when women happily annnounce they need a man but are embarrassed to admit they need a BFF, Bertsche uncovers the reality that no matter how great your love life is, you've gotta have friends.

The launch of the final issue of SANDBOX magazine originally scheduled for tonight, Thursday February 2, has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 7th. More information on the launch can be found here.

Come down to celebrate the immense accomplishments of the magazine that galvanized the creative community of Winnipeg and achieved such heights in such a short time, triumphing over adversity to the last!

We are currently contacting all those that have made reservations to tonight's event to inform them of the change.

 

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Thinking The Twentieth Century$37.00 add to cart

Our Author of the Month for February is celebrated historian Tony Judt.

Among the remarkable generation of historians who came out of Cambridge in the 1960s -- David Cannadine, Linda Colley and Simon Schama among others -- one name stands out. Well before his death in 2010 at the age of 62 from a progressive neurological disorder, Tony Judt proved himself a great historian of modern Europe and a brilliant political commentator. In his guise as a political and historical essayist, he was a fearless critic of narrow orthodoxies and bullying cliques, from communist apologists to the Israel lobby, from "liberal hawks" to progressive educationists.

Thinking the Twentieth Century is the final book by this unparalleled historian and public critic. Where Judt's masterpiece Postwar redefined the history of modern Europe by uniting the stories of its eastern and western halves, Thinking the Twentieth Century unites the century's conflicted intellectual history into a single soaring narrative. Spanning the entire era and all currents of thought in a manner never previously attempted, Thinking the Twentieth Century is a triumphant tour de force that restores clarity to the classics of modern thought with the assurance and grace of a master craftsman.