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'''Golden Hour'''
We've not recommended anything food-themed to you for a good long while. So our blast from the past this month is [[Toast: the Story of a Boy's Hunger byNigel by Nigel Slater ]]. The story of Nigel Slater's childhood will have you laughing out loud one minute and reaching for the Kleenex the next. It's about food. It's about childhood. It's about food. It's about sex. And it's also, you guessed it, about food. ''Toast'' is a lovely book - warm, rich, evocative. Even tasty! You should read it.
'''Books of the Month'''
In non-fiction, John recommends [[The A-Z of Victorian Crime by Neil R A Bell, Trevor N Bond, Kate Clarke and M W Oldridge]]. Victorian crime has never ceased to cast its spell, perhaps because it all happened so long ago that it disgusts us less than similar equally dreadful events in our own time. Our never-ending fascination with murders and other misdeeds from the nineteenth century is well catered for in this book which makes a very worthwhile and relatively light read as well as as a work of reference. It also provides an incentive to seek out other works in more detail.
For teens, Jill has two books for you this month. First up is [[The Call by Peadar o Guilin by Peadar o Guilin ]]. The Aes Sidhe are back. And in their quest to win back Ireland from humankind, they have placed a magical seal around the entire island. Nobody can get in or out. North? South? Doesn't matter any more. What does matter is The Call. Fewer than one in ten children survive this trial in the realm of the Sidhe. There are a good many survival game stories about at the moment, but The Call feels fresh and interesting and powerful. It's beautifully paced, remorseless and is peopled with characters you can believe in.
And then there is [[Here I Stand by Amnesty International ]]. Every so often Amnesty International gets together a number of great authors and produces an anthology of writing. This time, they've done it for younger readers. Twenty-five contributions explore where we are with human rights in today's society: the sacrifices many made to win them; the sacrifices that still need to be made to spread them; how, where and why these rights are under attack and how deep is the need to defend them. This is an important book and also a thought-provoking anthology with some wonderful contributors.