Born in 1958, the only child of a dinner lady and a sheet-metal worker, Geoff Dyer grew up in a world shaped by memories of shortages and the Second World War. But far from being a story of hardship overcome, Homework is a celebration of opportunities afforded by the post-war settlement.

It captures his time at primary school – discovering the tactile delights of Airfix, the combative seasons of conkers and plagues of verrucas at the local swimming baths. Then, at eleven, comes the crux, the exam that decided the future of generations of British school kids: splitting them between secondary modern and grammar schools. One of the lucky winners, Dyer goes to Cheltenham Grammar School to face the tribulations of teenage life – sport, gig-going, romantic fumblings, fights (well, getting punched in the face) – and other misadventures a place where he develops a love of literature (and beer and prog rock). At the threshold of university, Dyer gets his first intimations that a short geographical journey – just forty miles up the A40 – might drastically change the trajectory of his life.

Recalling an eroded but strangely resilient England, Homework traces roots that extend into the deep foundations of class society. dyer carries us back, with characteristic comic affection, to the joys and lingering questions of every childhood, and asks what it means to live through an era of intense transformation.

In this endlessly stimulating investigation into ‘things coming to an end, artists’ last works, time running out’, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last achievements of writers, painters, athletes and musicians who’ve mattered to him throughout his life. He examines Friedrich Nietzsche’s breakdown in Turin, Bob Dylan’s reinventions of old songs, Beethoven’s final quartets, Jean Rhys’s return from the dead (while still alive) and much more.

Much attention has been paid to so-called late style – but what about last style? When does last begin? How early is late? When does the end set in?

In this endlessly stimulating investigation, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last achievements of writers, painters, athletes and musicians who’ve mattered to him throughout his life. With a playful charm and penetrating intelligence, he examines Friedrich Nietzsche’s breakdown in Turin, Bob Dylan’s reinventions of old songs, J.M.W. Turner’s paintings of abstracted light, John Coltrane’s cosmic melodies, Jean Rhys’s return from the dead (while still alive) and Beethoven’s final quartets – and considers the intensifications and modifications of experience that come when an ending is within sight. Oh, and there’s stuff about Roger Federer and tennis too.

This book on last things – written while life as we know it seemed to be coming to an end – is also about how to go on living with art and beauty, on the entrancing effect and sudden illumination that an Art Pepper solo or an Annie Dillard reflection can engender in even the most jaded sensibilities. Blending criticism, memoir and repartee into something entirely new, The Last Days of Roger Federer is a summation of Dyer’s passions and the perfect introduction to his sly and joyous work.

From the acclaimed writer and critic Geoff Dyer, an extremely funny scene-by-scene analysis of Where Eagles Dare – published as the film reaches its 50th anniversary

A thrilling Alpine adventure starring a magnificent, bleary-eyed Richard Burton and a coolly anachronistic Clint Eastwood, Where Eagles Dare is the apex of 1960s war movies, by turns enjoyable and preposterous. ‘Broadsword Calling Danny Boy’ is Geoff Dyer’s tribute to the film he has loved since childhood: an analysis taking us from its snowy, Teutonic opening credits to its vertigo-inducing climax. For those who have not even seen Where Eagles Dare, this book is a comic tour-de-force of criticism. But for the film’s legions of fans, whose hearts will always belong to Ron Goodwin’s theme tune, it will be the fulfilment of a dream.

‘Geoff Dyer’s funniest book yet. Who else would work in Martha Gellhorn on the first page of a book on the film Where Eagles Dare?’ Michael Ondaatje

‘One of our greatest living critics, not of the arts but of life itself, and one of our most original writers’ Kathryn Schulz, New York Magazine

From one of Britain’s most original writers, White Sands is a creative exploration of why we travel.

Episodic, wide-ranging, funny and smart, the linked journeys recall the themes of Dyer’s Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It – albeit with the wisdom of (middle) age.

From a trip to the Lightning Field in New Mexico, to chasing Gauguin’s ghost in French Polynesia, from falling for someone who may or may not be a tour guide in Beijing’s Forbidden City, to tracking down the house of an intellectual hero in Los Angeles, Dyer pursues all permutations of the peak experience including the trough experience.

In his trademark style he blends travel writing, essay, criticism and fiction with a smart and cantankerous wit that is unmatched. This is a book for armchair travellers and procrastinating philosophers everywhere.