Liz Marvin – författare

Think like you’ve got nine brains, feel like you’ve got three hearts, and hug as though you have eight arms. Wisdom begins in wonder: and there is no creature so weird and wonderful as the octopus. Wise, compassionate, strong yet adaptable – and with Houdini-like vanishing tricks – octopuses are the most fascinating creatures on the planet. They provide a masterclass in self-care and there is so much we can learn from them. With the help of Weird Is Beautiful you will discover: When to be strong, and when to be flexibleHow to sift through the flotsam and jetsam of your life to find the pearls you should cling toHow camouflage can be self-care, but when you should let your true colours shine!How to multi-task, even when you don’t have eight armsWhen to allow the currents of the ocean to sweep you along, and when to stick your tentacles to the rocks and resistHow to live wild, weird and freeWho said life above water can’t sparkle?

Sometimes brutal, always truthful straight-talking life advice direct from the stars.What does your day have in store?Find out this, and moreWith Astrology IRLDiscover:How to turn Monday into MonYay (Taurus - bring lovely snacks)Starry snog, marry and avoid (Aries + Virgo – you were warned)What’s your super power? (Cancer = Barack Obama in The Batmobile)Cosmic self-care (Scorpio – you'll feel less furious if exhausted. Work out.)Also turn to this book if you want to know if you should quit your job, what you should have for dinner, how to manage your boss and where to go on holiday.

This beautifully illustrated little book of canine communication explains the creative ways that our dogs talk to us, whether it’s tilting their head, chasing their tail or sitting on your feet.Dogs are the most common household pets throughout the world – for some, it’s an excitable Yorkshire terrier, for others an attentive Labrador retriever. But we can deepen that bond by accurately understanding what they’re trying to communicate. While we humans mostly rely on words to express how we feel, dogs mainly talk to us, and each other, through a series of facial expressions, body language and other doggy behaviour. If we want to really bond with our much-loved pets, we need to understand what they’re trying to tell us with that tail wag, hard stare, or when they’re destroying our favourite pair of shoes.

Taking sixty of the world’s most amazing flowers and flowering plants, including the corpse flower from Indonesia, the bat-face cuphea and the chocolate cosmos flower from Mexico, the Pohutukawa tree from New Zealand, the lipstick tree and the giant water lily from South America, the voodoo lily from the Mediterranean, the lesser-known plum blossom and the skeleton flower from Japan, and not forgetting the beautiful jade vine from the Philippines, this book will share their unique symbolism and the characteristics and strengths that allow them to thrive, inspiring us to follow their example and make the most of every moment.