A Year In The Village Of Eternity

The village of Campodimele in the Aurunci Mountains has been called 'the village of eternal youth' by the scientific community, after a study revealed the astonishing longevity of its inhabitants. The average life expectancy of the Campomelani is 95, compared to the European average of 75 for men and 82 for women. Not only do the villagers live to an extraordinary age, but they also enjoy healthy and active lives at an age when many people in the UK have succumbed to general infirmity or the three major plagues of Western life: cancer, heart disease and diabetes. How do they do it? Tracey Lawson decided that the only way to find out was to spend some time living in the village herself. This book chronicles twelve months in the life of Campodimele, focusing on the seasonal cooking and eating habits that doctors believe are the key to the villagers' long lives. There are insights from such colourful characters as Gerardo, who still zips down to the wheat fields on his aged scooter, and Maria, who is often seen chasing hens up the hill on her 83-year-old legs, as well as a year's worth of timeless, simple recipes that will seduce even the busiest urbanite. With full-colour plate sections to show off the wealth of gorgeous photography, A Year in the Village of Eternity is at once a Mediterranean cookbook, a sensible and inspiring food manual and a stunning, unique travel book; a winning cross between Under the Tuscan Sun and Jamie's Italy with a dash of You Are What You Eat.

A group of kids from hell come to Earth on one of the craziest nights of the year—Halloween—in this “entertaining, high-octane” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade adventure about teamwork, friendship, shattering expectations, and understanding the world (or otherworld) around us. Malachi and his friends are just your regular average kids from hell. The suburbs that is, not the fiery pit part. But when Hell’s Bells ring out—signaling that a soul has escaped from one of the eternal circles, Mal and his friends can’t help but take the opportunity for a little adventure. Before they know it, they’ve somehow slipped through the veil and found themselves in the middle of Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night. And what’s even worse, they’ve managed to bring the escaped soul with them! As the essence of one of history’s greatest manipulators gains power by shifting the balance on Earth, Mal and his squad-mates—along with some new friends that they meet along the way—work desperately to trap the escapee, save the people of Earth from the forces of evil, and find the portal back to their own dimension. If they can’t manage it before their parents realize they’re gone, they’ll be grounded for an eternity. And an eternity in hell is a very, very long time.

Following on from A Life of One’s Own and An Experiment in Leisure, Eternity’s Sunrise explores Marion Milner’s way of keeping a diary. Recording small private moments, she builds up a store of ‘bead memories.’ A carved duck, a sprig of asphodel, moments captured in her travels in Greece, Kashmir and Israel, circus clowns, a painting - each makes up a 'bead' that has a warmth or glow which comes in response to asking the simple question: What is the most important thing that happened yesterday? From these beads – sacred, horrific, profane, funny – grows a sense of an ‘answering activity’, the result of turning one’s attention inwards to experience real joy. What Marion Milner conveys so vividly and inspirationally is her lifelong intention to live as completely as possible in the moment. With a new introduction by Hugh Haughton, Eternity’s Sunrise will be essential reading for all those interested in reflecting on the nature of their own happiness – whether readers from a literary, an artistic, a historical, an educational or a psychoanalytic/psychotherapeutic background.

While travelling in Calgary, Alberto Manguel was struck by how the novel he was reading seemed to reflect the world he was living in. An article in the daily paper would be suddenly illuminated by a passage in the novel; a long reflection would be prompted by a single word. He decided to keep a record of these moments, rereading a book a month, and formed A Reading Diary: a volume of notes, impressions of travel, of friends, of public and private events, all elicited by his reading.