3 Sep 2010
By Vladimir
In Philosophy books
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Learning to Live: A User's Manual by Luc Ferry
When I had Learning to Live in my hands, although I was supposed to offer it to our loyal book reviewers, I couldn’t resist the temptation to read it myself. I had to peek into this book despite the aversion I feel for all kind ‘for dummies’ books, self improvement or fashionable books. Dumbing-down tendencies that surround us make me cringe but I risked by starting reading this ‘manual’.
To be fair to Luc Ferry he is not advertising his book as self improvement manual which will by the end of the last page give you a clear answer to all difficult questions about our existence.
Luc Ferry
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2 Sep 2010
By sunmeilan
In Fiction Books, History fiction
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Crimson Petal and the White (The) by Michel Faber
It is London in the 1870s and it is common practice for all men who can afford it to head for a high-class prostitute when they can. One of these prostitutes is Sugar, who has the added benefit of doing things that other girls generally won’t do. William Rackham, the heir of Rackham Perfumeries, hears of Sugar and seeks her out. Thrilled by what he finds, he moves Sugar into her own lodgings, for which he pays, so that he can ensure Sugar is his and his alone. Sugar, a clever, street-wise teenager, soon finds a way to establish herself in Rackham’s own home, as a governess to his daughter, Sophie.
London, Michel Faber
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2 Sep 2010
By Anjana Basu
In Contemporary fiction, Fiction Books
Black light, the other name for ultraviolet light, a searing ray that reveals things hidden to the naked eye with occasionally harsh effects because no one can stand u/v rays for too long. Rimi B Chatterjee’s new book takes this characteristic as its premise.
The novel opens quickly enough in the everyday world of Satya, a reporter who’s given up his beat for the staid world of the teletext and the edit desk. His calm is shattered when a call from home tells him that his aunt Medhasri has fallen off her balcony – the implication is suicide but no one wants to utter that word since the repercussions would be scandalous where a traditional Bengali family is concerned.
Rimi B. Chatterjee
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31 Aug 2010
By kingfisher
In Contemporary fiction, Fiction Books
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One Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell
I have read a couple of other novels by Lisa Jewell which I very much enjoyed but none have come near the absolute pleasure I have recently derived from reading One Hit Wonder which I think is a wonderful novel! Before I started reading it I did wonder whether it would live up to the praise heaped on it on the back cover – ‘will keep you up all night in a sweaty addicted reading frenzy (The Times) and ‘stands out from the mass of chick-lit like a poppy in a cornfield’ (Nova) – but having read it I have decided that it is certainly worthy of this praise and more!
Lisa Jewell
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27 Aug 2010
By eilidhcatriona
In Autobiography, Travel books
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Olive Season (The) by Carol Drinkwater
The Olive Season is the second in Carol Drinkwater’s series of autobiographical books about life in the South of France, and the trials and tribulations that come with running an olive farm and doing up and old villa.
I first read the series years ago when I bought the first three books during one of my crazes for travel writing (escapism in an Aberdonian winter). I enjoyed them but wasn’t as in love with them as I was with others. On revisiting them recently however, I felt I appreciated them more.
Carol Drinkwater
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27 Aug 2010
By kingfisher
In Children books
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Stormy Weather by Debi Gliori
Stormy Weather by Debi Gliori really is the perfect bedtime book for small children – even though you might not think it from the title. This is an absolutely gorgeous book telling of little ones across the world curling up safely and going to bed even when the weather is not too good. It depicts all sorts of small creatures cuddling up with their mummies and it cannot fail to make you go ‘aaahh!’ as you are reading with a small child.
Debi Gliori, picture book
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27 Aug 2010
By Anjana Basu
In Short stories, Society
The Lepchas are a tribe who we hear about or encounter intermittently – the smiling faced people who inhabit parts of the Dooars, Darjeeling, Nepal, south western Bhutan and Sikkim – glimpsed perhaps on a holiday or seen in their tribal finery in photographs. As with all tribal folk, the Lepchas have their own rich lore of folk tales, stories of how the world they call their own began. ‘In the beginning there was nothing …Then Itbu-moo, the Mother Creator, shaped the mountains, the rivers, and the lakes. But something was missing. Why did her creation feel empty? So, taking a fresh ball of snow, she created the first man’ whose name was Fudonthing.
Lepchas, Sikkim, Yishey Doma
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25 Aug 2010
By koshkha
In Contemporary fiction, Fiction Books
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Brightest Star in the Sky (The) by Marian Keyes
Marian Keyes’ latest book, The Brightest Star in the Sky, is set in and around a multi-occupancy residential building, 66 Star Street, which as you’d expect is in Dublin. It follows the lives, loves, triumphs and disappointments of the residents, a mismatched bunch that I found hard to imagine sharing a roof. On the ground floor we find Maeve and Matt the young married couple who seem to be rather more clingy than might be expected and are harbouring a horrible secret that explains their rapidly revealed reliance on anti-depressants. Heading to the upper floors we meet Jemima, the elderly protestant who lives with her dog and is temporarily putting up her pretty-boy catholic foster-son Fionn whilst he makes a gardening programme for a television channel. Jemima is a part time telephone psychic, a complete fraud of course, but one with a good heart.
Marian Keyes
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25 Aug 2010
By eilidhcatriona
In Contemporary fiction, Fiction Books
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Poisonwood Bible (The) by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is one of these books, a “modern classic” if you will, which everyone seemed to have read and raved about…except me. I finally caught up and read it recently; having noted a reference to it in a non-fiction book, I was keen to read a novel set in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The novel tells the story of the Price family; father Nathan, an American preacher, takes his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo in 1959 on a mission to spread Christianity. The Poisonwood Bible is the story of what happens in the village of Kilanga, and the aftermath over the next three decades.
Barbara Kingsolver, Congo
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25 Aug 2010
By kingfisher
In Crime fiction, Fiction Books
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To the Nines by Janet Evanovich
I had never read any books by Janet Evanovich and so I didn’t really know what to expect when I picked up ‘To the Nines’ to read. Nor had I realised that this book is just one of a whole host featuring the central character, Stephanie Plum. This did not matter in the least though, as To the Nines really works as a standalone story and I was not aware of any references to events in previous novels, although they were probably inadvertently there.
Janet Evanovich
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23 Aug 2010
By frangliz
In Travel books
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Paris 2010 (Everyman Mapguides) by Clemence Jacquinet and Shelley Wanger
I already owned the Rough Guide to Paris but felt that it was too heavy to take with me on a short trip where I would be walking around the city a great deal. I went in search of a guide book that was lighter in weight and was delighted when I found the Everyman Mapguide for Paris 2010. Paris 2010 is a guidebook with fold-out maps – ten of districts of Paris, as well as one for the city of Paris as a whole and one for the Paris Metro. Fold-out pages at the start of the book give very brief information on history, architecture, ethnic Paris and excursions that can be made. These pages also provide details of emergency phone numbers, internet cafes, opening times and a diary of events among other topics.
Clemence Jacquinet, France, Paris, Shelley Wanger
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23 Aug 2010
By koshkha
In Contemporary fiction, Fiction Books
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Elliot Allagash by Simon Rich
Seymour is the least popular kid at Glendale school, a Manhattan fee-paying school that’s “small and getting smaller every year”. It’s a shame he’s not doing better because his parents can’t really afford the fees to send him there and he suspects they might have worked out that their investment in his education doesn’t look like paying off. Of the 41 children in his year at his Manhattan school, he ranks himself as the 41st in terms of popularity but on the whole he’s pretty cool about that. Yes, he wishes he had a bit more status and particularly wishes that Jessica, the ‘hot’ girl with the breasts who borrows his pencils during detention, would notice him but he’s pretty resigned to being the butt of class jokes and getting called names by Lance, the top dog in the school’s basketball team. When a 42nd pupil joins the school everything is set to change for Seymour. The ‘new boy’ is like nobody he’s ever met before. Elliot Allagash is wealthy beyond the imagination of most of us mere mortals and Elliot has his eye on Seymour.
Simon Rich
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