'Despite the unpromising financial situation, after twenty-odd years trying to make a living on and around Grub Street - several novels published to grudgingly respectful reviews and negligible sales - I feel that this might just be the year in which something happens. Then again it might not. But hope drives all writers on.' '6th April 2007. Writing income for the year so far: -£300.' This is Chris Paling's diary of trying to make a living as a writer through the typical career trajectory of what is deemed a 'mid-list' novelist. In renumeration terms, writing is a career that often ends in disappointment and despair, and occasionally disgrace. Paling artfully explores what compels him and so many others to write - the battling joys and agonies of when that compulsion beds itself in one's psyche, and a day without writing is a day wasted. His is a fascinating insight into the writing process as he tracks the need to write something new or something old in a new way, something relevant, something that needs to be written when very little actually does, in search of that ever-elusive goal of being 'in print'. By turns moving, wry and brutally honest, the book unveils the rewarding yet soul-baring life of a novelist. At its heart it is a love letter to the art of writing and also a profound reflection on the forces that drive us all. 228pp.

During his 72 years and more than 150 films, John Wayne imparted a seemingly endless amount of advice, wisdom and good old-fashioned common sense to his audiences. That wealth of knowledge has been collected for the first time by the people who loved and knew him best from the official John Wayne Collector's Edition magazine and with the help of his youngest son Ethan. Featuring exclusive photos and stories and memorabilia from the family archives, it has a mock leather flexible cover and approximately 100 full page archive photos, some in colour, some film stills such as The Comancheros 1961 in typical cowboy outfit opposite a quote about Honesty: 'I suppose my best attribute, if you want to call it that, is sincerity. I can sell sincerity because that's the way I am.' On Patriotism: 'Just give the American people a good cause, and there's nothing they can't lick.' As Rooster Cogburn in True Grit 'Baby sister, I was born game, and I intend to go out that way.' With his friendly image and easy demeanour, the likeable Hollywood icon lives on through his words. Remainder mark. Softback, 144pp.

Madre Mia! Now this is special, a huge big white box containing four CDs with playing time 240 minutes, a 239 page softback course book and a big fold out A4 prompt card, double-sided Table of Grammar. A-Z it covers accentuation, pronouns, interrogative words, prepositions, main verbs, the subjunctive and word order. Superbly organised, the book begins with first conversations and greetings, nationality and family, shopping, places, asking the way, travel, jobs, at home and in the house, people, hobbies, at the restaurant and hotels, regulations, games, emergencies and illness, invitations, meetings, clothes, telephoning, holidays and more. With great dialogues to follow, you will be asked how a name or word is spelt and learn to respond accordingly. There are plenty of exercises as you work your way through, and little plays like visiting the Museum of the Prado or listen and follow the transcript of the six plays including the last one on Don Quijote de la Mancha. An authentic flavour with lively dialogues, appealing and varied exercises with their solutions, plays and interviews for developing listening comprehension. All the units are individual and separated and easy to follow. Beginner to intermediate level. Incredible value new box set.

For complete beginners in the excellent Teach Yourself series, like a "rockstar" teacher Mike is 100% new and breaks with traditional Mandarin Chinese curricula. Using his witty sense of humour and logical step-by-step approach, he blends 60 short practice lessons and audio that complements this Coursebook. He will teach you essential Chinese in no time as he makes learning really good fun. He covers pinyin, the four tomes and writing system, words, phrases and typical conversations and in no time, you will be able to talk about yourself, family, friends, your job, home, your cats and dogs. Season 2 takes you much further because of course you will want to eat beef fried rice, ask where the toilet is, buying and selling, clothes, travel and future plans. The CD enclosed has all the audio for you to practice over and over again at your own pace and the 130 page 19 x 24cm softback is clearly laid out with all the characters and plenty of space for your exercise answers, reviews, line art and photos.

From the St. Cuthbert Gospel to the Luttrell Psalter, from Beowulf to Chaucer, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Sir Thomas Malory, and the Paston Letters, Mary Wellesley tells us about the authors but more importantly introduces us to the artists, the ink-makers, vellum preparers and pigment grinders and all the others who contributed their different gifts to these great communal manuscript achievements. Immersive, conversational and intensely visual, full of gorgeous illustrations and shimmering description, Wellesley explores the lives of medieval manuscripts and the men and importantly women who made them in a book that brings you into the heart's core of literature. Here are the scribes and patrons, illuminators and parchment makers and the bonds across the centuries between the author and the men and women who made the manuscripts; few people have described the experience so eloquently as this talented historian. She tells the story of those who made and kept the beautiful, fragile objects that have survived the ravages of fire, water and deliberate destruction to form a picture of both English culture and the wider European culture of which it is part. Without manuscripts she shows many historical figures would be lost to us, as well as those of lower social status, women and people of colour, their stories erased and the remnants of their labours destroyed. Wellesley describes the production and preservation of these priceless objects and has an insistent emphasis on the early role of women as authors and artists. 50 colour plates, 367pp, paperback.

Scrolls from the Middle Ages is a beautifully illustrated, full-colour guide which celebrates the paper phenomenon, highlights the most interesting items in the period and represent the people who made, commissioned and used them. The author, Thomas Forrest Kelly is a historian and professor of music at Harvard University who has estimated there are about 600 scrolls in Latin and European vernacular languages. The book transports readers to Ancient Egypt where papyrus scrolls were an exclusive product for the country as the plant was cultivated along the Nile, and then travels on to Ancient Greece and Rome where Ionic capitals on pillars resembled a scroll partially opened. Learn that a scroll usually represented audible, often important, speech such as the words of angels, evangelists and prophets including in depictions of the Annunciation scene where the angel Gabriel might appear with a scroll on which is written 'Ave Maria' and a similar one rests on the Virgin Mary with the response 'Ecce ancilla domini'. Discover the most famous map in scroll form, Tabula Peutingeriana (Peutinger's map) from the 13th century, which shows the itineraries of the late Roman world and attempts to put everything about travel into a single document. The book also gives thorough insight into the use of scrolls among performers during the Middle Ages as medieval plays, moralities, mysteries and farces would give each actor their own part written out separately on a scroll which could be held inconspicuously. The author also notes that the scroll itself became associated with the part so we now refer to characters in performances as actors' roles'. But the most spectacular part of the book is the collection of photos of medieval scrolls. There is a photo of a 15th century Indulgence Roll which consists of seven little prayers to be said with Hail Mary and Our Father in order to gain indulgence. The 16th century Ripley Scroll is featured in detail and depicts an alchemist as a 'Philosophical Tree' growing from a fountain in which nude male and female figures cavort. There are also photos of two mosaics from the 6th century church of San Vitale in Ravenna which shows the prophet Jeremiah displaying his scroll in classical fashion while evangelist Saint Luke holds a codex that reads 'Secundum lucam' (according to Luke) while a container full of scrolls sits at his feet. Colour photographs, 194pp.

A treasure trove for history buffs, Marsh fleshes out the context behind famous quotations associated with each day of the year, sending us back and forth in history from the time of the Ancient Egyptians to the world we live in today. 'You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war.' (25th April 1898) newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst urges war artist Frederick Remington to stay in Cuba while Hearst publishes lurid tales of an imaginary conflict. 'I am tasting the stars!' (4th August 1693). The monk Dom Pérignon tests the result of his new techniques in the making of a sparkling wine, and champagne is born. 'I shall hear in heaven.' (26th March 1827), the profoundly deaf Ludwig van Beethoven dies leaving us with those poignant last words. 'It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.' (10th April 1919), Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata lives up to his own dictum by dying on his feet in a hail of bullets. 'From the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step.' (18th October 1812), Napoleon's all-conquering Grande Armée begins its slow and ignominious retreat from Moscow. From 1st January 404AD the last gladiator fight: 'Hail, Caesar! They who are about to die salute you.', 2nd January 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella capture Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain: 'You do well to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man' to 31st December 192AD: Emperor Commodus is assassinated: 'A befuddled drunkard shall not outwit a woman deadly sober.' The book is a real feast to enjoy day after day, the text containing hundreds of quotes in all about 1,200. Morsels of history to tempt you day after day, a hefty tome of 680pp with pagemarker.

'The Remarkable Story of Personal Names' is the sub-title of this book that covers not just given names to a child but family names or surnames and social titles Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms and a quick peep at professional or entertainment names like Marilyn. Today parents aim to give their children distinctive names and there are wide variations between societies about when a child is given a name, who has the right to name a child, how the name is chosen, and what name is given. Some governments require parents to choose from a list of approved names and there are tens of thousands of given names, one book listing an incredible 140,000 names from Aabha to Zywona for girls, and from Aaban to Zy-Yon for boys. The book groups traditional names that go back many centuries and ends with new names from new words and takes a look at the influences on name givers and that only a few hundred years ago many names were used for both boys and girls. Other influences on name giving are less obvious, such as how names trickle down from the rich to the poor, and how there are fashions in names. Surnames are handed down from one generation to the next, and in Britain they go back nearly 1,000 years. Tom the blacksmith might be called Tom Smith and if his son Dick was a miller, he might be Dick Miller. Smith still remains the top surname in both the US and Britain, and in Wales, Jones is the unchallenged number one. Other surnames are becoming less common, the most obvious ones the embarrassing ones like Smellie, Daft, Balls and Bottom, names which in the past had different, unexceptional meanings. Migrants from non-English-speaking countries traditionally changed their surnames to help them fit more easily into their new country. There is also the custom of a wife changing her surname to that of a husband. A name gives you a good deal of information about a person and titles refer to a person's occupation, rank or qualification. Alternative spellings for surnames are fascinating, and in all, this is a rich and interesting history about names, identity and identification. 307pp.

'The Queen was very approachable. I felt that if I had met her in the street she would have talked to me, or to anyone for that matter. She seemed to be very interested, and seemed to have an unspoken understanding.' Having medals pinned on, trophy awards, on a Windsor walkabout during the Diamond Jubilee, receiving an MBE at Windsor Castle, performing for the Queen's birthday, being recognised for fund raising, official openings for example of the Perpetual Park in Henley-on-Thames or the Henley Royal Regatta Headquarters, here are members of the public who have been privileged to have met the late Her Majesty the Queen. 'The Queen asked Heather about going off to Afghanistan and me about my training for the World Championships in South Korea. She finished by saying she could see our rowing careers were still going very well. It did seem like quite a long chat which I enjoyed immensely and worth every second.' - Heather Glover MBE and Heather Stanning MBE, 2013. Lots of smiles and handshaking and never-before-seen photographs of Her Majesty at work, there is a colour page portrait of each contributor, a summary of what the Queen said in one paragraph, pithy quotes and memories galore, lifechanging moments of inspiration and wonderful anecdotes from 35 contributors who have shared the Queen's company as she has brought a smile to many faces. Her personality and sense of humour shine through and there are wonderful historical facts about The Queen's Watermen or the role of Mace Bearers, the Royal British Legion or MENCAP and the differences in meaning of OBEs. CBEs, KBEs etc. Each anecdote is written with its own integrity at its heart with no frills. Our Editor Annie Quigley has her own anecdotes! A wonderful way to say Thank You to our late monarch. With golden satin page marker, colour photos, 196pp.

In the famous Teach Yourself yellow learning series, here is the ultimate guide to becoming an English as a Foreign Language teacher with what to teach in English and how. Now fully revised to include insights from teachers working around the world, up-to-date information on technology as an aid to learning, comprehensive guidance on the increasingly popular task-based learning, invaluable advice on making the transition from learning to teaching, clear guidance on ongoing professional development and useful examples of teaching in different international contexts. Packed with info on teaching techniques, classroom management, practical lesson planning, successful job hunting and career development. With fantastic topics like fluency versus accuracy, lesson aims, unexpected problems, teaching one to one, grammar and conditional sentences, language terminology and useful glossary and much more. 270 page paperback with clear headers and layout.