Mike's books
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Books in Collection: 108
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The Outsider
Albert Camus Fiction Penguin Classics
"The Outsider" is probably the most wonderful book that Algerian genius Albert Camus ever wrote, drawing in theories from "The Rebel" and "The Myth of Sisyphus" as well as existentialist ideas from the likes of Sartre into a blistering indictment of human society.
Meursault, a bachelor, living in Algiers, leads a completely unremarkable life until he finds himself committing an act of violence. A man who is incapable of lying, in any sense of the word, his response challenges all of the absurd values which society holds to be fundamental. Meursault's responses to the law, religion and society shake at the very heart of what traditionalists hold to be morally correct.
Incredibly readable, no book will change your way of thinking quite like this one. It says so much for Camus' incredible skill as a prose reader that the book manages to strike the reader so much in such a short and digestable length. Joseph Laredo's translation is superb, this book is fantastic - buy it and read it, over and over again.

The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger Fiction Penguin Books Ltd
Since his debut in 1951 as "The Catcher in the Rye", Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent". Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his 16-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins:If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two haemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive), capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation. --"Amazon.com"

The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-food World
Michael Pollan Wine & Winemaking Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
This book is very similar to 'fast food nation' in the way that it exposes the hidden mechanics of the food industry. But it does not focus solely on fast food.



The first section concentrates on the way a MacDonalds meal is produced, from its humble(?) beginnings in a corn field in Iowa, to the end product being consumed in the author's car; fascinating and page turning. The middle section concentrates on an 'organic' meal, and really opened my eyes to the idea of organic - it is not all you think it to be, and after reading this book I have reassessed what I think to be an environmentally friendly food. The last section outlines the author's search for a meal from foraging in the forests and fields around his Californian home. Fascinating again. Noone should think they know enough to pass this book by.



I gave it four stars, because the last section gets a little heavy going, but it all ties up well at the end, and worth sticking with it; I love the way that he concludes that the first (fast food) and last (foraged) meals are both two extremes and both unsustainable in the present world. MacDonalds should be saved for a 'treat' once a year and although he doesn't say it, he implies that we should all aim towards consuming locally produced, (not neccessarily organic) food that is the least 'costly' towards the environment - outlined in the meal of the middle section.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid Fiction Penguin Books Ltd
Mohsin Hamaid's short novel reminds me stylistically of Nabakov and Camus but its subject matter is very contemporary: the impact of 9/11 on a young Pakistani in New York and on his complicated web of relationships. The combination makes for a gripping read and a great literary contribution to an understanding of the tragic divide between the Muslim world and the West.

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
Douglas Coupland Fiction Abacus
Don't even bother to read my humble review...go and buy this book RIGHT NOW! By far Coupland's finest novel. If you are already a fan, I assume you've already read Generation X as it is essentially the foundation for all that is Coupland. If you haven't read any of his books, this is certainly the way to start, if you want the full impact of Coupland's unique style of expression and imagery. If, however, you'd prefer a more subdued introduction, go for All Families Are Psychotic or Shampoo Planet, but at some point everyone must read Generation X! The images and stories Coupland incorporates into this novel are a combination of beauty, sadness, loneliness, humour and pure imagination. Unbelievable, that's all I can say - read it.

Written on the Body
Jeanette Winterson Vintage
"Written on The Body" is a tender dissection of erotic love. The prose is like a poem, lush with wit and imagery, but behind the luxuriant relish of the words, there is a scalpel-sharp cut of emotions. Love and longing are the wounds through which Winterson's imagery flows. The novel begins with regret: "Why is the measure of love loss? It hasn't rained in three months ... The grapes have withered on the vine." The narrator is also suffering from a heart-stricken drought. She is grieving for the loss of her true love, Louise.
Louise has flowing Pre-Raphaelite hair, and a body besieged by leukaemia, her cells waging war: "here they come, hurtling through the bloodstream trying to pick a fight." But Louise is not dead, merely abandoned by the narrator with the best of intentions. As the lament continues, striking in its beauty and dazzling inventiveness, more of the love story is revealed. The narrator has been a female Lothario, falling in love, and out again, swaggering like Mercutio. But then she meets Louise, married to Elgin--"very eminent, very dull, very rich"--and is hopelessly, helplessly smitten: "I didn't only want Louise's flesh, I wanted her bones, her blood, her tissues, the sinews that bound her together." Elgin persuades her to leave for the good of Louise's health, and all is undone.
Winterson does not shy away from grief, or joy. She has acutely described how love can transform a life, but also destroy it too. But, for Winterson, where there is love there is hope: "I stretch out my hand and reach the corners of the world ... I don't know if this is a happy ending but here we are let loose in open fields." "Eithne Farry"

Candide
Voltaire Fiction Penguin Classics
Ever since philosophers began thinking about the meaning of life, a favorite question has been "Why do bad things happen to good people?". In Voltaire's day, this issue was primarily pursued either from the perspective of faith (everything that happens is God's will and must be for Divine purpose) or of reason (What do these events mean to you, as you interpret them subjectively?). Infuriated by the reaction by some members of the church to a horrible loss of life from an earthquake in Lisbon, Voltaire wrote this hard-biting satire of the human condition to explore these questions.
Before reading further, let me share a word of caution. This book is filled with human atrocities of the most gruesome sort. Anything that you can imagine could occur in war, an Inquisition, or during piracy happens in this book. If you find such matters distressing (as many will, and more should), this book will be unpleasant reading. You should find another book to read.
The book begins as Candide is raised in the household of a minor noble family in Westphalia, where he is educated by Dr. Pangloss, a student of metaphysical questions. Pangloss believes that this is the best of all possible worlds and deeply ingrains that view into his pupil. Candide is buoyed by that thought as he encounters many setbacks in the course of the book as he travels through many parts of Europe, Turkey, and South America.
All is well for Candide until he falls in love with the Baron's daughter and is caught kissing her hand by the Baron. The Baron immediately kicks Candide out of the castle (literally on the backside), and Candide's wanderings begin. Think of this as being like expulsion from the Garden of Eden for Adam. Soon the penniless Candide finds himself in the Bulgarian army, and receiving lots of beatings while he learns to drill.
The story grows more far-fetched with each subsequent incident. To the casual reader, this exaggeration can seem unnecessary and annoying. It will remind you of the most extreme parts of Swift in Gulliver's Travels and Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel. But subtly, Voltaire is using the exaggeration to lure the reader into making complacent judgments about complacency itself that Voltaire wants to challenge. The result is a deliciously ironical work that undermines complacency at a more fundamental level than I have seen done elsewhere. Basically, Candide challenges any view you have about complacency that is defined in terms of the world-view of those who are complacent.
Significant changes of circumstances (good and ill) occur to all of the members of the Baron's household over the course of the story. Throughout, there is much comparing of who has had the worst luck, with much feeling sorry for oneself.
That is the surface story. Voltaire is, however, a master of misdirection. Beneath the surface, Voltaire has another purpose for the book. He also wants to expose the reader to questioning the many bad habits that people have that make matters worse for everyone. The major themes of these undercurrents are (1) competing rather than to cooperating, (2) employing inhumane means to accomplish worldly (and many spiritual) ends, (3) following expected rules of behavior to show one's superiority over others that harm and degrade others, (4) focusing on money and power rather than creating rich human relationships, (5) hypocritical behavior, and (6) pursuing ends that society approves of rather than ends that please oneself.
By the end of the story, the focus shifts again to a totally different question: How can humans achieve happiness? Then, you have to reassess what you thought about the book and what was going on in Voltaire's story. Many readers will choose to reread the book to better capture Voltaire's perspective on that final question, having been surprised by it.
Candide is one of my favorite books because it treats important philosophical questions in such an unusual way. Such unaccustomed matching of treatment and subject matters leaves an indelible impression that normal philosophical arguments can never match. Voltaire also has an amazing imagination. Few could concoct such a story (even by using illegal substances to stimulate the subconscious mind). I constantly find myself wondering what he will come up with next. The story is so absurd that it penetrates the consciousness at a very fundamental level, almost like doing improvisation. In so doing, Voltaire taps into that feeling of "what else can happen?" that overcomes us when we are at our most pessimistic. So, gradually you will find yourself identifying with the story -- even though nothing like this could ever happen to you. Like a good horror story, you are also relieved that you can read about others' troubles and can put your own into perspective. This last point is the fundamental humanity of the story. You see what a wonderful thing a kind word, a meal, or a helping hand can be. That will probably inspire you to offer those empathic actions more often.
After you have finished Candide, I suggest that you ask yourself where complacency about your life and circumstances is costing you and those you care about the potential for more health, happiness, peace, and prosperity. Then take Voltaire's solution, and look around you for those who enjoy the most of those four wonderful attributes. What do those people think and do differently from you?

The Girl in Times Square
Paullina Simons Fiction Harper
I chose this book as it was on a listmania where the reader had also read and enjoyed several books that I had so I figured there was a good chance I'd like this too. I was right - I LOVED it!



I took it on holiday with me as it is such a thick, meaty book and I figured it may take a while to read, but I got so into it that it actually took no time at all to read. The chapters are short and also the type that make you think "just one more chapter til I put it down" and then you get to the end of the next one and think "just one more....".



This is an unusual love story with some unexpected events. The love and, above all, friendship between Lily and Spencer is beautiful and very moving. I don't want to ruin it for anyone by revelaing what happens but it truly is what it says on the back of the book....a story about love, friendship, lies and betrayal. I have never read any of Paullina Simons books before but I will most definitely reading more.



I really, truly enjoyed this and I hope you do as much as I did.

How to Be Free
Tom Hodgkinson Health, Family & Lifestyle Penguin Books Ltd
I am nearing the end of this book. I love the style in which it is written. Its kinda like listening to one of your friends in the pub enthusiastically telling you about their world philosophy. In this sense it is spirited and motivating, but sometimes you do have to puzzle over some of the somewhat tenuous links that are used to support a some of the arguments. The name-dropping of the author's illustrious friends (Damian Hirst and Keith Allen et al) kinda winds me up too.



Inspiring though this book is, I do feel that maybe many people arent in such a privelleged position to be able to make the kind of broad-sweeping changes that the author is suggesting. Im sure that not everyone has the kind of job that would translate easily to a freelance/self-employed model, nor one which is mostly based at home. In this sense Tom is quite lucky to be an author and to have had a well-paid career prior to his new life. Yes, I would like to quit my job, pop down to the west country, buy a nice cottage with a few acres and live mortgage free. Yes, I would like to potter around in the garden, do the odd days work in my study and then later trot into town on my horse and meet my bohemian chums in the local village pub for a hearty sing-sing. But somehow im not sure it would be so easy for many of us. If youve ever seen River Cottage on TV and noted a mixture of idyllic simple-living with the uncomfortable undercurrent of privillege, then you may see a parallel in this book.



Nevertheless this book is packed full of ideas to get you motivated, and for me it did turn some established 'facts' on their head. I did agree with a lot of the sentiment in this book and I would recommend anyone to read it, but dont expect a robust well-honed philosophical argument. This book is to inspire only, but it does it exceptionally well.

Once Upon a Time in the North
Philip Pullman Science Fiction & Fantasy David Fickling Books
Bonus content inside the book


Common Sense, Rights of Man, and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine Society, Politics & Philosophy Signet Classics

Cherry: A Novel
Matt Thorne Fiction Weidenfeld & Nicholson
The basic idea behind the book is that a thouroughly unlikeable and unsympathetic 30-something English teacher has a 'strange encounter' with a strange man. Then some other stuff happens, then a man arrives and takes his specifications for his ideal woman, then she appears, then she goes again and he has to do some horrible things to get her back... (in a nutshell!)



I imagine it's the fantasy of many men to be able to specify the exact requirements of your ideal woman, have someone make a list of them and then have her appear on your doorstep... so it might appeal for that reason



The main problem I had with the book is that Steve, the central character, is so awful that I really didn't care what happened to him at all. An English teacher who doesn't like books and doesn't read?? I didn't get it. As a character Cherry was at least reasonable likeable, if a bit pathetic.



Don't get me wrong, this book is worth a read, but perhaps beach reading rather than an attempt to improve yourself!



Just a little warning...the bit with the bloodied cotton wool balls made me feel quite unwell...

The Dreamers
Gilbert Adair Fiction Faber and Faber
Oh, how I loved The Dreamers.



I first became aware of the book when the film came out, which I meant to see but never got around to. Then I meant to read the book, and never got around to that either, not least because I kept forgetting Gilbert Adair's name for some reason. Finally, finally, I read it in one sitting just before Christmas.



The Dreamers follows three young people in Paris in 1968 as civil unrest begins to rumble. The Amazon blurb says:



"A tale of sexual obsession set during the Paris street riots in 1968. The Dreamers is about a young American student who comes to Paris in 1968. Obsessed with film, he becomes involved with two fellow cineastes, a brother and sister whose incestuous relationship opens up to include him in their menage. Cocooned in their apartment the three of them push themselves further and further into excess until the violence in the streets invades their lives with violent consequences."



Which pretty much sums it up. But this short book is written so skillfully that the quickly darkening atmosphere of both the brewing unrest and the increasingly tense and sexual games that the three youths play is dripping from the page. While I am certainly no film buff (the polar opposite in fact) there is a cinematic quality throughout the text, which may be as much to do with the fact that Adair rewrote the 1988 story (originally titled The Holy Innocents) when he was writing the screenplay for the film, as it is to do with Adair's filmy past.



And the sex is only a small part (oh ho! no pun intended! sorry.) in the middle, and while I had a vague fear that it would be completely superfluous - like most sex scenes I tend to think - these didn't seem to be at all. The eroticism between the characters and the violence steadily building literally outside their apartment seem to each become manifestations of the other; in this alternate universe of the trio's own making the riots appear to make perfect sense. To them, and to the reader.



The ending too, seems perfectly fitting, though I'm not going to spoil it for anyone by saying what it is. This is a short, delicious book. Go read.

The People's Act Of Love
James Meek Fiction Canongate Books
This book produced a wider than usual range of opinion in my Reading Group.



In 1919, after the revolution, a small group of the Czechoslovak Legion are stranded, controlling a Siberian town, and awaiting the eastward march of the newly victorious Reds. The town itself is home to a community of religious aesthetes united in having volunteered themselves for castration as a means of driving out evil. Wandering out of the woods comes a mysterious figure who claims to have escaped from an Arctic prison camp far to the North pursued by a cannibal. Added to the characters is strong-minded and lonely Anna who lives on the outskirts of the town with her young son.



In an interview, Meek has argued that the four central characters in the book are united by the belief that love exists and matters. The two male characters believe that love may go beyond that of one individual to another - of man to woman, mother to son, friend to friend - and extend to God's love, the People's love, a country's love. The attractions of such views, and the wickedness and cruelty that attach to some of their extremes, are explored in the relationships between the various protagonists.



One person in our group, whose opinions I usually find myself in agreement with, strongly disliked the book. He found it `manipulative' in that it appeared to select a number of topics not the subjects of many novels - the Czech Legion, communities of castrates, cannibals - and then construct a far-fetched tale in which to combine them. He also detected a misogynistic stance towards the character of Anna.



The book worked for me however - brilliant (quite literally) Siberian landscapes, characters dislocated through war and struggling for love and a sense of home, a period of history I only dimly understand, the impossibility of collective decision making in revolutionary times, the sacrifices made in the name of purification - and the ghastly notion of somebody planning a long journey through the bleakest of Arctic country deliberately fattening up his intended travelling companion beforehand!








The End of Alice
A.M. Homes Fiction Granta Books
This is not a book for the lily-livered. Bold, courageous and confrontational, The End of Alice is most disturbing. It is also very, very good. There is absolutely nothing engaging or delightful in this story which relates, through correspondence, the exploits of an imprisoned paedophile and his young, wild prototype. It is uncomfortable reading: repulsive and gripping in almost equal measure. Deliberately shocking, Homes forces unpleasant questions, at each and every turn of the page judging perfectly how readers are likely to react, catching them in their own doubts with scary precision. The erotic correspondence, delicious to the letter writers, works well in revealing how a paedophile, imprisoned twenty three years ago, is also witty and intelligent, manipulative and guiltily complicit. Turning the final page comes as a relief: can't imagine anyone actually enjoying reading this novel but it is rewarding in its own way. A unforgettable literary questioning of liberalism and modernity, it deserves attention.

Dirty Work
Julia Bell Fiction Young Picador
Hope never thinks anything interesting will happen in her life. She seems to be on the fast track to nowhere, and her parents despair of ever understanding her.



She is jolted out of her quiet and idyllic life when she encounters Oksana, a Russian girl who has been sold as a sex slave. Hope's tentative friendship with Oksana leads to her own kidnapping by the owner Oksana is running from. These girls have only each other, and they will have to overcome their bitterness and prejudice and work together to escape from their captors.



But will it be too late?



DIRTY WORK is a riveting and captivating read. The pages go by quickly, and Ms. Bell keenly builds suspense throughout the entire book by interspersing flashbacks of Oksana's past in between telling the two girls' predicament. Without being inappropriate or too mature for teens, DIRTY WORK easily conveys the horrors of human trafficking and how very easy it is to get caught up in it.



This terrifying, entrancing novel will certainly grab your attention, and won't let go until long after the book is finished.



Reviewed by: The Compulsive Reader

Vernon God Little
Dbc Pierre Fiction Faber and Faber
If there's any justice, it is only a matter of time before the work of the curiously-named DBC Pierre becomes essential reading for anyone interested in cutting-edge writing today. "Vernon God Little" is a book that has a totally individual (and very quirky) identity, from a writer with a finger on the pulse of contemporary society (particularly its less comfortable aspects). Pierre is also a satirical writer in the vein of such talents as Terry Southern, and there is a manic quality to his work that makes the experience of reading him both disorienting and exhilarating. As a first novel, this is a remarkable achievement.
Teenager Vernon Gregory Little's life has been changed by the Columbine-style slaughter of a group of students at his high school. Soon his hole-in-the-wall town is blanketed under a media siege, and Vernon finds himself blamed for the killing (rather than the real culprit, a friend of Vernon's). Eulalio Ledesma is his particular nemesis, manipulating things so that Vernon becomes the fulcrum for the bizarre and vengeful impulses of the townspeople of Martirio. After a truly surrealistic set of events, Vernon finds himself heading for a fateful assignation in Mexico with the delectable Taylor Figueros (everyone in the book has names as odd as the author's).
By setting his novel in the barbecue-sauce capital of Central Texas, Pierre ensures that his narrative is going to be some distance from naturalistic writing. And as a scalpel-like satirical incision into the mores of contemporary America, reality TV and media hysteria, "Vernon God Little" often reads like a fractured modern-day take on such novels as John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces". --"Barry Forshaw"

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J.K. Rowling Young Adult Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand and jellybeans that come in every flavour, including strawberry, curry, grass and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J K Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". In the non-magical human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny Harry is renowned as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoilt, pig-like cousin Dudley.
A mysterious letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry from his dreary, Muggle-ridden existence: "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". Of course, Uncle Vernon yells most unpleasantly, "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Soon enough, however, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts with his owl Hedwig ... and that's where the real adventure--humorous, haunting, and suspenseful--begins.
This magical, gripping, brilliant book--a future classic to be sure--will leave children clamouring for a sequel. (Ages 8-13) --"Karin Snelson"

We
Yevgeny Zamyatin Science Fiction & Fantasy Penguin Classics
WE is a true classic and an extraordinary novel in many senses. It was the inspiration behind George Orwell's book 1984, and other subsequent books of the utopian/dystopian sub-genre, such as UNION MOUJIK, BRAVE NEW WORLD. The age-old conflict between individual self and the collective being that man has grappled with in our efforts to become more human is treated beautifully in thus book. What is peculiar about it is that the author never allowed politics to dominate. Overall, the Utopian-Fantasy is a recommended read.

The Book Thief
Markus Zusak Fiction Black Swan
The number one international best seller, what do you expect with a cover like that? Its bound to get some attention, the title and the blurb make it sound really appealing. However when you start to read it the location you are in and what is actually happening is not very clear.



A good idea, but lots of what seems like random bits of text thrown in all of a sudden that make you stop and think why is that there? What does that mean to say to me? It is a difficult writing style to get used to, to say it is narrated by death is an excellent way of telling a story and some brilliant perspectives come through, but trying to engage with and see from the point of view of death, who is not a character in the story poses some difficulty in knowing whose story it is. Death's or Liesel's?



The german language that is on most but not all occasions translated, is hard to pronounce and makes you feel as though you are half heartedly reading the story because you can't understand and appreciate the statements that are being made. I suppose that is what makes it authentic?



It is very choppy in that it jumps about from before people die to them being dead and then back to them being alive again, or so I think, they may not have died at that point (thats an example of how confusing it was), also it throws in some definitions from dictionaries that Liesel obtains, passages from books she steals. You wonder why they are there.



An OK book, not something I would recommend and certainly one that after all 554 pages I did not feel as though I had devoured it and really munched away at the pages with great appetite.



Definitely over rated, an unusual concept but personally a little too ambitious for my taste and possibly many others.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich
L.N. Tolstoy Fiction Penguin Books Ltd
The thoughts and feelings of a man towards his family and those around him as he gets progressively more ill and is then dying from a wasting disease that sounds like cancer. The opening chapters are quite light-hearted with some ruefully amusing reflections on marriage and attitudes towards ones career, but then the mood becomes much darker and he ends being cynical about his family, seeing them as wishing his death to come sooner so they can be free of the burden of caring for him. A short story but one with a lot to say about the human condition and by no means necessarily tied to its Russian background.

Lyra's Oxford
Philip Pullman Science Fiction & Fantasy David Fickling Books
Attention all serious book collectors and fans of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials". This undoubtedly beautiful package, cloth-bound in a classy red and adorned by numerous illustrations by master engraver and illustrator John Lawrence, is sure to be a must-purchase. A pint-sized pocket volume, "Lyra's Oxford" packages together a short story set in the same universe as his famous trilogy, a fold-out map of the alternate-reality city of Oxford which Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon inhabit, a short brochure for a cruise to The Levant aboard the SS Zenobia and a postcard from the inventor of the amber spyglass, Mary Malone. Pullman, in his introduction, suggests that the peripheral items within "might be connected with the story, or they might not; they might be connected to stories that haven't appeared yet. It's difficult to tell."
The story, "Lyra and the Birds", begins when Lyra and Pantalaimon spot a witch's daemon called Ragi being pursued over the rooftops of Oxford by a frenzied pack of birds. The daemon heads straight for Lyra and is given shelter. The creature was given Lyra's name as somebody who might help. The daemon is seeking one Sebastian Makepeace--an alchemist living in a part of Oxford known as Jericho. Together Lyra and Pan try to guide the daemon to the home of this man, but it is a journey fraught with more danger than they had at first anticipated.
Somehow, this is a book that puzzles and fascinates all at the same time. It's very sumptuous and lovingly crafted but tantalising brief. The fourth volume in Pullman's award-winning sequence is "The Book of Dust" and despite the author's reputation for taking his time in writing each of his longer works, it is now just too far away in the future to be funny anymore. (Age 10 and over)--"John McLay"

The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman Children's Books Scholastic

Subtle Knife, The
Philip Pullman Children's Books Scholastic

Northern Lights
Philip Pullman Children's Books Scholastic
Firstly, I am tired of reviewers 'comparing' this trilogy to JK Rowlings Potter Series. Secondly, There is no comparison. Meaning you may as well compare Chocolate with Steak. Both have their place at a well planned dinner table! We need to be reading a balanced meal.

I love The HP books equally as I do the 'His dark Materials' Trilogy.If you're looking to replace the 'Potter' rush with the Pullman books, it won't happen, this is a deeper and darker league. You will find yourself drawn into places and plots, lives and ideas almost impossible for many an imagination. Perfectly written and a great main course after the 'Potter' starter, however, I will be returning to the be-specticaled one for dessert. (The lighter option) Again, I say... No Comparison, maybe complimentary.

Enjoy your time with His Dark Materials,lose yourself in the questions the books will awaken and be prepared to miss your stop if you read it on the bus! I just hope the up-coming film does Pullman justice.

Theft: A Love Story
Peter Carey Fiction Faber and Faber
The wonderful and intriguing world of art forgery is explored in Theft: A Love Story, the Booker shortlisted novel by Australian author Peter Carey.



In my experience, reading anything by Peter Carey can be a bit of a hit or miss affair. There are certain books by him that I love (Jack Maggs, Oscar and Lucinda) and certain books I've struggled with and eventually abandoned (The Illywhacker, The True Story of the Kelly Gang). Fortunately, I found Theft: A Love Story to be immediately accessible and highly entertaining. I loved it's balance of humour and melancholy, and the twist at the end was a joy.



The story follows the lives of two very different Australian brothers -- Michael "Butcher" Bones, a wayward artist, and his "damaged two-hundred-and-twenty-pound" brother, Hugh -- who take turns to narrate their escapades chapter by chapter.



Their various run-ins with art dealers, collectors, critics and curators covers rural Australia, Sydney, Tokyo and New York. Accompanied by the mysterious Marlene, a woman with an eye for a genuine work of art, the brothers get themselves into all kinds of "situations".



It is, at times, laugh out loud funny and at others slightly distressing. But above all it's a fun read about a world characterised by deception and dishonesty, where no-one can tell the difference between the real thing and a fake, and where the road to artistic fame and glory is paved with criminal intent.

Timequake
Kurt Vonnegut Vintage
When I first heard about this book, I have to say I was excited. I knew vaguely of Vonnegut as does everyone involved in literature and yet I'd read very little so when I finally came to stopping off at a bookshop this novel was definitely on my list.



This was in many ways a very good novel and I don't want to start by rubbishing its bad points so instead I'd like to say that it is very well executed, written in nice poignant prose, has some very important things to say on the nature of discovery and mankind and gives you a good insight into a man who has had an impressive body of work over the years. By the end of the book I couldn't help liking the old coot, his switching between playful silliness and frank talk of serious issues convincing me that this was a man I would have liked had I met him soon enough. The details of Vonnegut's life do give depth to a novel essentially devoid of any protagonists or real characters even.



Despite all of this I can't help feeling a little cheated by this novel. As an excercise in post-modernism and cultural discussion, it's delightful. However this isn't the book I bought, isn't even close to what the blurb describes. Perhaps if it was better labelled I may have come out of the other end feeling less disappointed.



Fundamentally, Timequake is such as solid concept for a novel and automatically suggests so many ideas for a good realist narrative that what we have here really feels like a shadow of something bigger. Although Vonnegut tells us that he wasn't happy with Timequake One and that this is his redraft, there is very little evidence of the original story in the finished work. The Timequake itself is almost entirely brushed over, being covered almost solely in a 30 page section about how Kilgore Trout behaves after free will resumes. Given the fact that the novel is constantly struggling with the ideas of the modern age and destiny vs. free will, couldn't we have just a little more colour in these sections?



I was expecting from all I'd heard about this novel that I'd get a post-modern sci-fi novel placed firmly in a realist narrative and yet I got nothing of the sort. The fictional characters of the text were far less rounded than those that were real, an example being Vonnegut's alter-ego Trout, who seemed to be a rough stab toward an eccentric that doesn't really deserve the limelight in such a story. His fictional novels were all good concepts but Kilgore himself expresses no more personality than any of the novel's other fictional characters. On the whole, the 'story' was a little too easy.



As I have already said, Vonnegut's voice is insightful and intelligent and yet I feel somewhere a trick was missed in this novel. I'd have preferred to read it as two seperate pieces, one composed of the small and random 'real life' stories that Vonnegut tells and the other a narrative based piece of postmodernism that sticks to its guns. In addition, I wonder if Trout really needed one last outing.



For such a beautifully modern idea, arriving in a time when so much of our lives are relived material, this novel falls a little short. It's a good read and worth a look if you want to see how to break the rules and do it well but it wasn't the book I had wanted. Maybe a little more timequake'd do it good.

The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream
Paulo Coelho Fiction Thorsons
Like the one-time bestseller "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", "The Alchemist" presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a highly unique situation. And though we may sense a bestselling formula, it is certainly not a new one: even the ancient tribal storytellers knew that this is the most successful method of entertaining an audience while slipping in a lesson or two. Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andalucian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he's off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream.
Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishman's books, Santiago first learns about the alchemists--men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the "Soul of the World." Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy's misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night.
"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

Long Firm
Jake Arnott Literature & Fiction McArthur & Co / Hodder Trade

Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut Literature & Fiction Dial Press Trade Paperback
Unstuck in time, Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut's shattered survivor of the Dresden bombing, relives his life over and over again under the gaze of aliens; he comes at last to some understanding of the human comedy. The basis of George Roy's great 1972 film and

Brick Lane: A Novel
Monica Ali Literature & Fiction Scribner
"Monica Ali's gorgeous first novel is the deeply moving story of one woman, Nazneen, born in a Bangladeshi village and transported to London at age eighteen to enter into an arranged marriage. Already hailed by the London Observer as ""one of the most significant British novelists of her generation,"" Ali has written a stunningly accomplished debut about one outsider's quest to find her voice. What could not be changed must be borne. And since nothing could be changed, everything had to be borne. This principle ruled her life. It was mantra, fettle, and challenge. Nazneen's inauspicious entry into the world, an apparent stillbirth on the hard mud floor of a village hut, imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents when she is married off to Chanu, a man old enough to be her father. Nazneen moves to London and, for years, keeps house, cares for her husband, and bears children, just as a girl from the village is supposed to do. But gradually she is transformed by her experience, and begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. Motherhood is a catalyst -- Nazneen's daughters chafe against their father's traditions and pride -- and to her own amazement, Nazneen falls in love with a young man in the community. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters, and her new world. While Nazneen journeys along her path of self-realization, her sister, Hasina, rushes headlong at her life, first making a ""love marriage,"" then fleeing her violent husband. Woven through the novel, Hasina's letters from Dhaka recount a world of overwhelming adversity. Shaped, yet not bound, by their landscapes and memories, both sisters struggle to dream -- and live -- beyond the rules prescribed for them.

Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe Literature & Fiction Modern Library
Daniel Defoe relates the tale of an English sailor marooned on a desert island for nearly three decades. An ordinary man struggling to survive in extraordinary circumstances, Robinson Crusoe wrestles with fate and the nature of God. This edition features maps.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Marina Lewycka Literature & Fiction Penguin (Non-Classics)
“An amusing, astonishing debut . . . about how a family learns to let go of the past and live and love in the present.” —"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"

With this wise, tender, and deeply funny novel, Marina Lewycka takes her place alongside Zadie Smith and Monica Ali as a writer who can capture the unchanging verities of family. When an elderly and newly widowed Ukrainian immigrant announces his intention to remarry, his daughters must set aside their longtime feud to thwart him. For their father's intended is a voluptuous old-country gold digger with a proclivity for green satin underwear and an appetite for the good life of the West. As the hostilities mount and family secrets spill out, "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" combines sex, bitchiness, wit, and genuine warmth in its celebration of the pleasure of growing old disgracefully.

“A charming comedy of eros... A ride that, despite the bumps and curves in the road, never feels anything less than jaunty.” "—Los Angeles Times"
“Lewycka is a writer with a fundamentally optimistic vision of the future and a healthy curiosity about the past.” "—Chicago Tribune"
“Charming, poignantly funny.” "—The Washington Post Book World"

Indemnity Only
Sara Paretsky Mystery & Thrillers Dell
Meeting an anonymous client late on a sizzling  summer night is asking for trouble. But trouble is  Chicago private eye V.I. Warshwski's specialty.  Her client says he's the prominent banker, John  Thayer. Turns out he's not. He says his son's  girlfriend, Anita Hill, is missing. Turns out that's  not her real name. V.I.'s search turns up someone  soon enough -- the real John Thayer's son, and  he's dead. Who's V.I.'s client? Why has she been  set up and sent out on a wild-goose chase? By the  time she's got it figured, things are hotter --  and deadlier -- than Chicago in July. V.I.'s in a  desperate race against time. At stake: a young  woman's life.

Slow Man
J. M. Coetzee Literature & Fiction Penguin (Non-Classics)
J. M. Coetzee , one of the greatest living writers in the English language, has crafted a deeply moving tale of love and mortality in his new book, "Slow Man". When photographer Paul Rayment loses his leg in a bicycle accident, he is forced to reexamine how he has lived his life. Through Paul's story, Coetzee addresses questions that define us all: What does it mean to do good? What in our lives is ultimately meaningful? How do we define the place we call “home”? In his clear and uncompromising voice, Coetzee struggles with these issues and offers a story that will dazzle the reader on every page.

Brideshead Revisited
Evelyn Waugh Literature & Fiction Back Bay Books
One of Waugh's most famous books, Brideshead Revisited tells the story of the difficult loves of insular Englishman Charles Ryder, and his peculiarly intense relationship with the wealthy but dysfunctional family that inhabited Brideshead. Taking place in the years after World War II, Brideshead Revisited shows us a part of upper-class English culture that has been disappearing steadily.

This Business of Books: A Complete Overview of the Industry from Concept Through Sales
Claudia Suzanne Business & Investing WC Publishing
The most complete single-volume book-industry reference is now available in an updated 4th edition.
This Business of Books is an indispensable tool for aspiring authors, teachers and industry professionals. Frank, reality-based and reader-friendly, it explains what every author needs to know about:
- Concept, Writing, Editing, Submissions, Publishing, Distribution, Marketing, Promotion & Sales
- Editorial-service providers
- Publishing contracts
- The 5-step process for creating a book
- When a plot isn't a plot
- Pros & cons of subsidy & self-publishing
- Editing do's & don'ts
... and much more. It's a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips!
"This book should be in every creative writing class in the country!" (Laurie Thomas, Creative Writing Instructor, Saddleback College)
Used in colleges throughout the USA
Selected for translation by China Renmin University Press
Also includes: a glossary of industry "buzz" words and terminology, valuable links and resources and a complete index

The Hundred-Year Lie: How Food and Medicine Are Destroying Your Health
Randall Fitzgerald World Dutton Adult
Combining the impact of the classic bestseller "Silent Spring" with "Fast Food Nation", "The Hundred-Year Lie" presents a devastating exposé of how chemicals in everyday products are ruining our health.
Over the past one hundred years, we have been guinea pigs in a vast chemistry experiment that uses our bodies, our health, and our good will to test the proposition that modern science can improve upon nature.
In "The Hundred-Year Lie", investigative journalist RandallFitzgerald shatters dozens of myths being perpetuated by the chemical, pharmaceutical and processed food industries.
Find out why you would never be FDA-approved—and why humans are becoming one of the most polluted species on the planet:
• The average American now carries a “body burden” of 700 or more synthetic chemicals, including Teflon, plastics, and dozens of pesticides.
• Musk fragrances used in detergents and air fresheners are not filtered out by our current water treatment facilities, ending up in our drinking water.
• The artificial sweetener aspartame, an ingredient in 1,200 food products from diet drinks to chewing gum, has been linked to eighty-eight toxic symptoms.

Fitzgerald not only sheds light on the problems we face from the unprecedented chemical onslaught, he presents suggestions for what we can to do to turn the tide.

Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment
Martin Seligman Health, Mind & Body Free Press
Over a decade ago, Martin Seligman charted a new approach to living with "flexible optimism." Now, in his most stimulating and persuasive book to date, the bestselling author of Learned Optimism introduces the revolutionary, scientifically based idea of "Positive Psychology." Positive Psychology focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses, asserting that happiness is not the result of good genes or luck. Seligman teaches readers that happiness can be cultivated by identifying and using many of the strengths and traits that they already possess - including kindness, originality, humor, optimism, and generosity. By frequently calling upon their "signature strengths" in all the crucial realms of life, readers will not only develop natural buffers against misfortune and the experience of negative emotion, they will move their lives up to a new, more positive plane. Drawing on groundbreaking psychological research, Seligman shows how Positive Psychology is shifting the profession's paradigm away from its narrow-minded focus on pathology, victimology, and mental illness to positive emotion, virtue and strength, and positive institutions. Our signature strengths can be nurtured throughout our lives, with benefits to our health, relationships, and careers. Seligman provides the Signature Strengths Survey along with a variety of brief tests that can be used to measure how much positive emotion readers experience, in order to help determine what their highest strengths are. The life-changing lesson of Authentic Happiness is that by identifying the very best in ourselves, we can improve the world around us and achieve new and sustainable levels of authentic contentment, gratification, and meaning.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Health, Mind & Body Harper Perennial
The bestselling introduction to "flow"--a groundbreaking psychological theory that shows readers how to improve the quality of life. "The way to happiness lies not in mindless hedonism, but in mindful change"."--New York Times Book Review"

The Millionaire Next Door
Thomas J. Stanley, William D. Danko Business & Investing Pocket

The incredible national bestseller that is changing people's lives -- and increasing their net worth!
CAN YOU SPOT THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR?
Who are the rich in this country?
What do they do?
Where do they shop?
What do they drive?
How do they invest?
Where did their ancestors come from?
How did they get rich?
Can I ever become one of them?

Get the answers in "The Millionaire Next Door," the never-before-told story about wealth in America. You'll be surprised at what you find out....

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell Business & Inv