Although Sophie wants to be helpful and good, sometimes she ignores her mother, father, and grandmother and must have a time-out.

Someone once said that books furnish a room. They also change our lives. We go to books for consolation and companionship, to be transported, moved and entertained, sometimes even to be terrified. The books furnishing our rooms tell the story of our lives and also help us to make sense of them. This is not a work of reference; it doesn't prescribe a canon or tell you how to read. Instead 1000 Books to change your life celebrates the transforming power of literature. 50 leading novelists, writers and critics draw the arc of a life lived in books, from birth to death. With Kate Clanchy on motherhood, Ali Smith on reading as a child, and Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Coe and Zadie Smith on the volumes that changed their lives, this book is a reminder of the difference that books make. Organised around themes inspired by Shakespeare's 'Seven Ages of Man', the book ranges from birth to death, taking in topics at all points in between, and covering both fiction and non-fiction, graphic novels as well as literary classics. Commentaries by Ali Smith, Nigella Lawson, Jonathan Franzen, Zadie Smith, Sarah Waters, Jonathan Coe, Barney Hoskyns, Amanda Craig and Nicholas Royle, to name a few, are complemented by Top Ten lists chosen by Time Out's unrivalled team of critics. Part of the 1,000 series launched with the bestselling 1,000 films to change your life 1,000 books is a similarly inspirational book.

Who are you when your brain is not you?' Jane Lapotaire is one of the lucky ones. Many people do not survive, let alone live intelligently and well again once they have suffered cerebral haemorrhage. In the long haul back to life - 'nearly dying was the easy bit' - she's learned much, some of it very hard lessons. Some friendships became casualties; family relations had to be redefined; and her work as an actress took a severe battering. The stress of living is felt that much more keenly when 'sometimes I still feel as if I am walking around with my brain outside my body. A brain still all too available for smashing by noise, physical jostling, or any form of harshness'. But she has survived and now believes it herself when people say how lucky she is. This is a very moving, darkly funny, honest book about what happens when the 'you' you've known all your life is no longer the same you.

Toronto is in full bloom, and this funky, happening tourist guide gives the big picture on bars and clubs, galleries and museums, and sites and amusements. Full color.

"Marvelous, terrifying fun, especially if you've ever suspected that the world is an unreal construct built solely to keep you from knowing who you really are. Which it is, of course."--"Rolling Stone" Ragle Gumm has a unique job: every day he wins a newspaper contest. And when he isn't consulting his charts and tables, he enjoys his life in a small town in 1959. At least, that's what he thinks. But then strange things start happening. He finds a phone book where all the numbers have been disconnected, and a magazine article about a famous starlet he's never heard of named Marilyn Monroe. Plus, everyday objects are beginning to disappear and are replaced by strips of paper with words written on them like "bowl of flowers" and "soft drink stand." When Ragle skips town to try to find the cause of these bizarre occurrences, his discovery could make him question everything he has ever known.

Cutting-edge writers--both American and British--lead readers through the BigApple in this collection of 23 stories culled from the pages of "Time Out NewYork" magazine.

This guide to Tokyo covers accommodation, food and drink, the sights, museums, art galleries and architecture, and the entertainments available. Information is given on opening times, admission prices and transport.