Strange Neighbours

Boston becomes home to a host of paranormal creatures, unusual friendships, and surprising allies in the Boston Uncommon Series.

Three staunch and two casual mountain bikers recount with disarming honesty how they entered the sport and what it means to them today. When they started riding, some were only vaguely aware that they live in one of the world’s mountain biking hotspots—Vancouver, Canada—nor did they necessarily care. The youngest biker is in his mid-twenties. The oldest has reached retirement age. My Mountain Biking Neighbours: Conversations with Otherwise Normal People introduces the sport to the general reader, chronicling the expansion of a risky and countercultural activity into the recreational mainstream. This book’s emphasis is on people and their very human responses to slithering down rugged slopes on pedal-powered wheels. Its characters reflect on camaraderie, thrill, exercise, risk, and skill development. In addition, they touch on fashion, the legal and natural environments, and broken parts. Social connections, not adrenaline or hardware, emerge as the common thread in their disparate stories. Regardless of your cycling aspirations, My Mountain Biking Neighbours is a pleasant and informative read. The stories will broaden your horizons and stir your empathy.

Case study of New Delhi, India.

The figure of the stranger is in serious need of revision, as is our understanding of the society against which the stranger is projected. Under conditions of globalization, inside/outside markers have been eroded and conventional indicators of 'we-ness' are no longer reliable. We now live in a generalized state of strangeness, one consequence of globalization: we no longer know where our community ends and another one begins. In such circumstances it is often the case that neighbours are the nearest strangers. Strangeness occurs when global consciousness outstrips global connectivity and this means that we need to rethink some core elements of globalization theory. Under conditions of strangeness the stranger is a 'here today, gone tomorrow' figure. This book identifies the cosmopolitan stranger as the most significant contemporary figure of the stranger, one adept at negotiating the 'confined spaces' of globalization in order to promote new forms of social solidarity and connect with distant others.

Neighbours on the Green is a collection of short stories that take place in the village of Dinglefield Green. The narrator of these stories, Mrs. Mulgrave, is a cleverly observant and discreet woman. These witty stories include interesting plots and delightful character studies of the aristocratic community on the Green. The Scottish novelist, Mrs. Oliphant, entertains the readers with her vivid and realistic writing style. Her characters are all unique in their own particular way. The careful observations made by Mrs. Mulgrave in the stories are presented in an incredibly descriptive manner that their picture remains with the readers for a long time. This work is a perfect example of the domestic realism she used in her fictional works.