'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Paul R Spiring (Editor)
|title=Rugby Football during the Nineteenth Century: A Collection of Contemporary Essays about the Game by Bertram Fletcher Robinson
|rating=3.5
|genre=Sport
|summary=The mid-nineteenth century represented the sporting equivalent of the 'big bang' in terms of winter sports in England, giving rise to the development of what today we call rugby union, football and rugby league, all from the same origin. Perhaps due to its popularity amongst the public schools of the day, rugby union for many years claimed the moral high ground, advocating amateurism and an emphasis on playing the game rather than providing a public spectacle. Indeed, the arguments over the dangers of professionalism, which initially led to the split into rugby league from the Northern clubs, continued in union for well over a hundred years right up to the former England captain Will Carling's description of the powers that be of the RFU as 'old farts'. In 1896 Bertrand Fletcher Robinson, together with contributions from a few leading players of the day, wrote Rugby Football which was the first volume in a successful nine-part series on Sports and Pastimes that was written for the Isthmian Library. This edition is effectively a facsimile of that book, with the addition of an introduction, penned by Patrick Casey and Hugh Cooke and compiled by Paul Spring.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190431287X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|summary=Some time about a hundred years hence and the predictions have come to pass. The sea levels have risen; the Gulf Stream has shifted its path. Climate change has hit Britain with a vengeance. Global Warming is the misnomer; of course the temperatures are, on balance, warmer. Snow is something most people only hear or read about. The real change, however, is the wet.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0385617623</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Bill Sheehy
|title=The Argentine Kidnapping
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Son Cardonsky is the type of guy that would make even the biggest of cowards want to take on the playground bully on their behalf. Which, funnily enough, is how Bernie Gould acquires Son Cardonsky as his 'best-friend-forever'; at least, that is, Son considers Bernie to be his best friend in the world, even if Bernie can't quite see it the same way.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709089945</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Lucas
|title=Something To Do
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=The little bear is boooored. He's desperate for something to do, but he lives in a monochrome line world, with nothing around except the horizon, and a couple of simple seagulls. He and the big bear go on an adventure to amuse and entertain themselves, and then create new surroundings by drawing them with a stick.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1862337268</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Abbott
|title=The Upright Piano Player
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The central character, one Mr Henry Cage (he'd approve of the courteous form of address) is white, middle-aged and middle-class. He appears to have a perfect, enviable life. Reaping the substantial rewards of a successful business, he's acquired along the way a lovely London home, a wife and a family. All boxes ticked, you'd think.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906694842</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Amy Husband
|title=Dear Miss
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=It's Michael's first day back at school and he really doesn't fancy sitting through maths and double geography. He writes a letter to his teacher, explaining that the secret service have recruited him to rescue a missing explorer. Letter after letter of his adventures follow, until Miss counters with a letter of her own...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845393732</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Joanna Davies
|title=Freshers
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Going to Uni is meant to be one of the best times of your life...that first taste of freedom from your family, learning independence, meeting new friends and discovering who you are. Oh, and a little studying of course! This book charts the first 'fresher' year of three students, Lois, Cerys and Hywel who are studying at Aberystwyth University during 1991/1992. I was interested because I did my first degree just a couple of years after this, and also I studied a post grad at Aberystwyth. Turns out this wasn't exactly a nice happy trip down memory lane however...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784140</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Trisha Ashley
|title=Chocolate Wishes
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=I know one should never judge a book by its cover, but somehow I always do. So I was expecting some light-hearted chick-lit when I began this book. I was a little startled to find several mentions of tarot cards, Mayan charms, and guardian angels - a somewhat bizarre spiritual mixture - within the first pages. What, I wondered, had I got myself into?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847561144</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=R J Anderson
|title=Rebel (Knife)
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Fifteen years after the events of Knife, the Queen of the Oakenwyld is dying of old age. She charges Knife's daughter, Linden, with the task of finding other faeries out in the world. Knife is now living in the human world with her husband Paul, and her mission to protect the Oak is put in jeopardy by the arrival of Paul's teenage cousin, Timothy.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408307375</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Justin Richards
|title=The Chamber of Shadows
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=It's London, 1886. A company building those new underground train tunnels finds a hidden vault at impossible depth - and seems to release into the world The Lord of Flies. A mysterious masked stage magician does the obviously impossible. A robotic killer stalks the streets, and a street gang of ruffians-on-the-up decides to solve the mystery. A man in charge of Fortean artefacts at the British Museum has a new employer, asking something much more evil from him. Surely all of that cannot be connected in some way? Surely one book can not have all those dark and mysterious elements we can probably all recognise, and put them into one period thriller without coming over as a horrendous porridge of parody?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571237991</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Margaret Leroy
|title=The Perfect Mother
|rating=3.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Perfection pervades every corner of Catriona's life She has a beautiful home, a charming husband, a well-behaved stepdaughter, and a cherished daughter of her own, 8-year-old Daisy. When Daisy is taken ill, Catriona does all a good mother would do to help her get better. But as Daisy's condition deteriorates with no sign of improvement, Catriona seeks more and more medical intervention, until eventually she is accused of being responsible for her daughter's illness.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778303527</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Andrew Porter
|title=The Theory of Light and Matter
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Both the book cover and its title are enticing, quirky, eye-catching. Personally, I'm a fan of most things American including American fiction, so I couldn't wait to start reading. I was not disappointed. Porter introduces us to characters, many of whom would probably be described as deeply flawed. He shares the darker side of modern-day American life with the reader - which is far from the bright lights of glitzy New York or the sun-drenched beaches of California. You could say that this is all about real life. To underline his point, Porter's characters are mostly local folks (to use a favourite American word) shuffling through life as best they can.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>022408982X</amazonuk>
}}