{"title":"Books by John Carey","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780300266993","title":"100 Poets – A Little Anthology","description":"A wonderfully readable anthology of our greatest poetry, chosen by the author of A Little History of Poetry  “Does anyone know more about poetry than John Carey? Almost certainly not.”—The Times   A poem seems a fragile thing. Change a word and it is broken. But poems outlive empires and survive the devastation of conquests. Celebrated author John Carey here presents a uniquely valuable anthology of verse based on a simple principle: select the one-hundred greatest poets from across the centuries, and then choose their finest poems.      Ranging from Homer and Sappho to Donne and Milton, Plath and Angelou, this is a delightful and accessible introduction to the very best that poetry can offer. Familiar favorites are nestled alongside marvelous new discoveries—all woven together with Carey’s expert commentary. Particular attention is given to the works of female poets, like Christina Rossetti and Charlotte Mew. This is a personal guide to the poetry that shines brightest through the ages. Within its pages, readers will find treasured poems that remain with you for life.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56232119271797,"sku":"9780300266993","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780300266993_4ea1eff2-e8ee-4e14-82c7-2fa5d1ed1fde.jpg?v=1786012618"},{"product_id":"9780300283426","title":"A Little History of Poetry","description":"A vital guide to poetry from ancient times to the present   Poetry is language made special, so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work – over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. This Little History is about some that have not.      John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly 4,000 years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our view of the world – such as Shakespeare, Whitman and Yeats – and more recent poets like Sylvia Plath, Seamus Heaney, and Marianne Moore who have started to question what makes a poem ‘great’ in the first place.     Little Histories – Inspiring Guides for Curious Minds","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56232234058101,"sku":"9780300283426","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780300283426_9ea07e33-9868-4fcf-b89c-9f99cb0661f1.jpg?v=1786012215"},{"product_id":"9780300273021","title":"Sunday Best – 80 Great Books from a Lifetime of Reviews","description":"A collection of John Carey’s greatest, wisest, and wittiest reviews—amassed over a lifetime of writing   In 1977, newly installed as a professor of English at Oxford, John Carey took the position of chief reviewer for the Sunday Times. In a career spanning over 40 years and upwards of 1,000 reviews, Carey has kept abreast of the brightest and best books of the day, distilling his thoughts each week for the entertainment of Sunday readers.      Contained in this volume is the cream of that substantial crop: a choice selection of the books which Carey has most cherished. Covering subjects as diverse as the science of laughter, the art of Grayson Perry, the history of madness, and Sylvia Plath’s letters, this is a collection of treats and surprises, suffused with careful thought, wisdom, and enjoyment. The result is a compendium of titles that have stood the test of time, offered with Carey’s warmest recommendation.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56232616984949,"sku":"9780300273021","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780300273021_757e7111-6657-4105-9249-17d6b3acc60a.jpg?v=1786012747"},{"product_id":"9780571355020","title":"The Essential Paradise Lost","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfter its publication in 1667, John Milton’s \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost\u003c\/i\u003e was celebrated throughout Europe as a supreme achievement of the human spirit. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Now it is little read. To bring readers back to Milton’s masterpiece, John Carey has shortened it to a third of its original length. In this fascinating reinterpretation, Carey reveals new insights about Milton’s sources of inspiration, while exploring divided readings of the work’s key characters. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Essential Paradise Lost\u003c\/i\u003e presents the epic’s greatest poetry, with linking passages that preserve its cosmic sweep – from the superhuman defiance of a ruined archangel to a pair of tragic lovers, bewildered to find themselves responsible for the fate of the whole human race.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56292771365237,"sku":"9780571355020","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571355020_9ad971ba-7b43-461c-94b8-432ddce7a350.jpg?v=1786014687"},{"product_id":"9781907776625","title":"The Connell Guide to William Golding's Lord of the Flies","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1954 William Golding was 43 years old and a nobody. He had been demobbed from the navy at the end of World War Two and returned to his pre-war job teaching English at Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury. Always hard up, he lived in what he called a “lousy council flat” with his wife, Ann, and their two young children. In 1952 he finished the novel that was to become Lord of the Flies, and sent it to five publishers and a literary agency. They all rejected it. The sixth publisher he tried was Faber and Faber, and the professional reader wrote her opinion on the typescript: “Time the Future. Absurd \u0026amp; uninteresting fantasy about the explosion of an atom bomb on the Colonies. A group of children who land in jungle country near New Guinea. Rubbish \u0026amp; dull.”  But the novel was rescued from the reject pile by a new recruit to Faber, and when it was finally published in September 1954 the poet Stevie Smith greeted it as “this beautiful and desperate book”. In the early 1960s cultural commentators noted that Lord of the Flies was replacing Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye as the bible of the American adolescent. Its anti-war tenor helped to ensure its profound impact on the young at a time when the Cold War was hotting up. Since then, his masterpiece has established itself as a modern classic. In this short, compelling guide, John Carey tells us how and why.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308763263349,"sku":"9781907776625","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781907776625_5cf56d62-7ce2-4129-966f-fa994f030bdd.jpg?v=1786029021"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-john-carey.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}