Penguin Book Covers - Book Research

Books chosen and meanings of key words in the descriptions

Labels by Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Waugh chose the name "Labels" for his first travel book because, he said, the places he visited were already "fully labelled" in people's minds. Yet even the most seasoned traveller could not fail to be inspired by his quintessentially English attitude and by his eloquent and frequently outrageous wit. From Europe to the Middle East and North Africa, from Egyptian porters and Italian priests to Maltese sailors and Moroccan merchants - as he cruises around the Mediterranean his pen cuts through the local colour to give an entertaining portrait of the Englishman abroad.

Local
-         relating to a particular area or to the area in which you live

Abroad
-        In or to a foreign country or countries
-        Over a wide area
-        Felt or talked about by many people

Labels
-        A small piece of card, fabric or other material attached to an object giving information about it
-        The name or trademark of a company that produces recorded music
-        A classifying name given to a person or thing

Labyrinths by Jorge Borges

Jorge Luis Borges's Labyrinths is a collection of short stories and essays showcasing one of Latin America's most influential and imaginative writers. This Penguin Modern Classics edition is edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby, with an introduction by James E. Irby and a preface by André Maurois.

Jorge Luis Borges was a literary spellbinder whose tales of magic, mystery and murder are shot through with deep philosophical paradoxes. This collection brings together many of his stories, including the celebrated 'Library of Babel', whose infinite shelves contain every book that could ever exist, 'Funes the Memorious' the tale of a man fated never to forget a single detail of his life, and 'Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote', in which a French poet makes it his life's work to create an identical copy of Don Quixote. In later life, dogged by increasing blindness, Borges used essays and brief tantalising parables to explore the enigma of time, identity and imagination. Playful and disturbing, scholarly and seductive, his is a haunting and utterly distinctive voice.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A poet, critic and short story writer, he received numerous awards for his work including the 1961 International Publisher's Prize (shared with Samuel Beckett). He has a reasonable claim, along with Kafka and Joyce, to be one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century.

 Labyrinth
-        Complicated irregular network of passages
-        Complex and confusing arrangement
-        Complex structure in the ear which contains organs of hearing and balance

Magic
-        Apparent use of mysterious or supernatural forces to make something happen
-        Conjuring trick
-        A mysterious wonderful quality
-        Supernatural powers

Mystery
-        Something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain
-        Secrecy

Roughing It by Mark Twain

A fascinating picture of the American frontier emerges from Twain’s fictionalised recollections of his experiences prospecting for gold, speculating in timber, and writing for a succession of small Western newspapers during the 1860s.

Speculating
-        Form a theory without firm evidence
-        Invest in stocks, property, or other ventures in the hope of profit but with the risk of loss

Frontiers
-        Border separating two countries
-        Extreme limit of settled land beyond which lies wilderness
-        The extreme limit of understanding or achievement in a particular area

Prospect
-        The possibility of something occurring
-        A mental picture of a future event
-        Chances of success
-        A person who is likely to be successful
-        Search for mineral deposits
-        Wide view of landscape