Open main menu

Changes

no edit summary
'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
__NOTOC__
{{newreview
|author=Lauren Kate
|title=Torment
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Right, first things first. If you haven't read [[Fallen by Lauren Kate|Fallen]], go read it - or at least read a [[Fallen by Lauren Kate|review]] to see whether it sounds like your cup of tea - because this review will inevitably contain significant spoilers for the earlier Lauren Kate novel.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0385618093</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=David Calcutt
|summary=While before reading this book I considered myself to be vaguely familiar with the major facts about the American Civil War – the fight to liberate the slaves, the well-known battles, and the towering figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant, and Robert E Lee – I was keen to learn more about the war and get an in-depth view of it from a renowned historian. After finishing the book, I certainly consider myself to be far better informed on the military, and tactical, side of things, but found it a little lacking in certain other areas such as the causes and effects.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712616101</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Andrey Kurkov and Andrew Bromfield
|title=The Good Angel of Death
|rating=3.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Kolya cannot possibly expect what the act of moving flat, and finding a book among what the old folks who move out leave behind, might lead to. I can hint that it involves a trip of several hundreds of miles, involves a couple of pieces of anatomy the average man does not fancy leaving behind, a chameleon, Kolya being given as a husband-cum-present to a lovely young lady, and a lot more. The find involves Ukraine's national author, Taras Shevchenko, and a hunt for something he might have left behind in a desert abutting the Caspian Sea.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099513498</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=John Lennon
|title=In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works
|rating=3
|genre=Humour
|summary=During the height of Beatlemania, John Lennon used to doodle or write short poems or nonsense stories to pass the time (and there must have been a good deal of time to pass away on tour, if only waiting for screaming fans to leave them alone and go back home). Some of them were seen by Tom Maschler, literary editor at Jonathan Cape, who encouraged him to produce more. The results were published in two very successful short books in 1964 and 1965.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099530422</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Geoff Dyer
|title=Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi
|rating=3
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Meet Jeff. He's a journalist living in London, with a fine line in delaying his work effort and a keen eye for detail. He can see how the world is made better by a smile from a random shopkeeper - yet seems too grumpy to try it himself. Instead he suspects his habit of walking round, mouthing or speaking out his own inner thoughts is making him seem a scary old man. He can partly address this, by dying his hair. And he can stop walking round London when he gets commissions to report back from the modern arts Biennale in Venice. Soon, however, the only work of art he's at all worried about goes by the name of Laura...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184767271X</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Betty G Birney
|title=Humphrey's Great-Great-Great Book of Stories
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=There is nothing quite like being proven correct. And this is one of those rare times I have been. From the evidence of the sixth main Humphrey book, [[Holidays According to Humphrey by Betty G Birney|Holidays According to...]], I declared the whole series to be quite brilliant. The books, I decided, were cute without ever being cloying, clever without being too clever-clever, full of morals without ever forcing them on the reader, and packed with entertaining plot and lovely characters. And now the book reviewing gods have decided I read a fantastic collection of the last three novels, to expand my knowledge of the series.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571255949</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Diane Chamberlain
|title=Secrets She Left Behind
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=This is the third novel I've read by Diane Chamberlain and I felt as if I was visiting an old friend. I enjoyed the other two books and this one looked promising. Although many of the characters spill over from [[Before the Storm by Diane Chamberlain|Before The Storm']] this current book is a stand alone.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>077830387X</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Susan Finden and Linda Watson-Brown
|title=Casper the Commuting Cat: The True Story of the Cat Who Rode the Bus and Stole Our Hearts
|rating=4
|genre=Pets
|summary=In 2009 as Susan Finden set out to catch the bus from the bus stop opposite her house in Plymouth she noticed her cat Casper watching her. Afraid he would follow her across the busy road she urged the bus driver to move off quickly. But when the bus driver told her that ''the only thing you've got to worry about is that you're sitting in his seat,'' Susan finally had the answer to where Casper disappeared to each day.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857200089</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Daisy Goodwin
|title=My Last Duchess
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=There's plenty to enjoy in this debut novel by Daisy Goodwin. And first up is the elegant cover. I wanted to read the book as soon as I saw the photograph: a beautiful girl with great presence about her. The thoughtful look on her face and lack of ring on her finger hinted at an intriguing story. It was also a fair bet that this historical fiction, set in the nineteenth century, was about a romance, suitable or unsuitable. So the cover complemented the story – a quite unusual feat, judging by other offerings I have seen recently.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755348060</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Philip Ardagh
|title=Grubtown Tales: Splash, Crash and Loads of Cash
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=If there's one thing that we've learnt from the previous five Grubtown Tales, it's that Jilly Cheeter and Mango Claptrap are never separated. Whatever extraordinary circumstance of life turns up, they'll always work together. So why is Mango, in his shortest of short trousers as usual, sat on top of a floating mayor, in shark-infested seas, and why is Jilly only taking her poorly dog to the vet's? And what sort of help can we expect from a back story involving some liberated lab rats?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571253490</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=John Lindsay
|title=Emails From An Asshole
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
|summary=Some classified ads are crying out for trolling. John Lindsay replies to them, spins them a yarn, and strings them along for as long as possible. Sometimes the advert is fairly innocuous and he emails them anyway. These are emails from an asshole, after all.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1402778279</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Rebecca Elliott
|title=Milo's Pet Egg
|rating=3.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Milo the lemur discovers a pretty pebble one day. He prods it, and to his surprise it moves! He listens carefully, and finds that it's breathing, so he realises that it's an egg, calls it Snappy, and the two of them get up to all sorts of adventures.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408802007</amazonuk>
}}