Gentlemen Of The Road

#1 SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE “A picaresque, swashbuckling adventure.”—The Washington Post Book World They’re an odd pair, to be sure: pale, rail-thin, black-clad Zelikman, a moody, itinerant physician fond of jaunty headgear, and ex-soldier Amram, a gray-haired giant of a man as quick with a razor-tongued witticism as with a sharpened battle-ax. Brothers under the skin, comrades in arms, they make their rootless way through the Caucasus Mountains, circa a.d. 950, living as they please and surviving however they can—as blades and thieves for hire and as practiced bamboozlers, cheerfully separating the gullible from their money. But when they are dragooned into service as escorts and defenders to a prince of the Khazar Empire, they soon find themselves the half-willing generals in a full-scale revolution—on a road paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of. Praise for Gentlemen of the Road “Within a few pages I was happily tangled in [Chabon’s] net of finely filigreed language, seduced by an old-school-style swashbuckling quest . . . laced with surprises and humor.”—San Francisco Chronicle “[Chabon] is probably the premiere prose stylist—the Updike—of his generation.”—Time “The action is intricate and exuberant. . . . It’s hard to resist its gathering momentum, not to mention the sheer headlong pleasure of Chabon’s language.”—The New York Times Book Review “[A] wild, wild adventure . . . abounds with lush language . . . This book roars to be read aloud.”—Chicago Sun-Times

An aged member of Manchester's homeless fraternity walked slowly along the street, hoping to collect enough spare change in the dirty and tattered polystyrene cup he was holding, to fund his next meal ... it was a pitiful sight! And as I carefully observed his progress, wondering if the public's generosity would extend to the cost of his much needed sustenance, I couldn't help but think to myself ... How do I possibly avoid giving this scruffy looking man any of my hard earned cash? It is said that you should never judge a book by its cover, yet the moment I laid eyes on George, that's exactly what I did! But in an unexpected turn of events and a surreal series of meetings, the man I had quickly pre-judged, revealed his extraordinary life. Funny, sad and heartwarmingly bizarre ... This is George's story!

"An idiosyncratic adventure, pulling you in and saying: 'this is, in fact, not what you were looking for; but its much more interesting."' - Terry Pratchet This flagship title in the Brewer's series was first published in 1870 to supply readers with material that was both entertaining and improving. The new 18th edition is filled with hundreds of new facts from designer babies to New York's sewer-dwelling alligators and brings back over 200 classic entries such as magic garters and Poison detectors.