'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Ursula K Le Guin
|title=The Left Hand of Darkness
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=It's hard to believe that ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' dates back to 1969: forty years on, it reads as well, or even better, then when it was originally written, and - deservedly - enjoys a classic status in the science-fiction canon, as well as being perhaps the best known sci-fi novel by Ursula LeGuin.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841496065</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Michael Lewis
|summary=It is impossible not to be impressed by the sheer scope of cultural historian Peter Gay's 2007 study of Modernism, newly released in this paperback edition. He notes in the introduction that it is not a 'comprehensive history' but rather 'a study of its rise, triumphs, and decline'. What is remarkable though, is the attempt to include the whole gamut of artistic fields in this coherent study.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099441969</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rachel Caine
|title=Carpe Corpus (Morganville Vampires)
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=If you haven't already, meet Claire. She is beholden to Mr Bishop, the horrid evil vampire that is ruling the town of Morganville, even more so than the other human, and vampire, inhabitants are, now that he has taken over things from Claire's former ruler Amelie. She is caught in a struggle between the two warring vampire factions, especially over an unusual form of disease among the undead - Amelie's side definitely trying to cure it, Bishop somehow trying to provoke it and profit from it. Not only that, her boyfriend is imprisoned, along with his father, one of the world's least subtle vampire hunters. Can she have enough quality time with him? Can she and her captured-and-turned ex-housemate Michael survive the horrid things asked of them? And who is Ada?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>074900777X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Joanne Dahme
|title=Tombstone Tea
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Having recently moved to a new school, in a new town, Jessie is struggling to make friends and fit in. She is afraid to show these new people who she really is - in her old school she often found she had 'blank' moments, when she could hear voices and 'see' people who weren't really there. In desperation to become part of a 'group' she accepts the dare of a group of girls to spend the night in the Cemetery and collect some gravestone rubbings to prove she was there. Once there she bumps into Paul, the handsome caretaker, and finds herself in the middle of a strange evening when, Paul claims, local actors get together to rehearse for something called the 'Tombstone Tea', a play in which they portray those buried in the graveyard...there's something strange though about these actors and Jessie soon finds herself caught up in a chilling drama.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0762437189</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland (translator)
|title=The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=[[The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland (translator)|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo]], the first of Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy of thrillers, was a fine stand-alone novel. The second in the series, [[The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland (translator)|The Girl Who Played With Fire]], continues the adventures of Lisbeth Salander, Larsson's finely crafted anti-hero. If you haven't read this second volume yet I advise you to stop reading this review now. I'm about to spoil the ending for you…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906694168</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Diane Chamberlain
|title=The Bay at Midnight
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The story starts properly when a letter is discovered. It will have devastating consequences for several families - and life will never be the same again. Apparently, the wrong person was convicted for a murder. Moreover, the writer of this letter appears to know who did commit this crime. Unfortunately, the writer dies before able to make contact with the police.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778303640</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Miller
|title=Sea Wolf
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Meet Hanna, Ned and Jik. They're on an unlikely quest to recover the world's biggest and richest pearl, from the hiding place Jik alone knows of, when there's a problem in the shape of a tornado. They're thrown from the craft they're on, Ned disappears - and then there were two. Hanna and Jik get rescued by the occupants of a horrid, piratical craft, engaged in very environmentally-unfriendly fishing. Jik gets overworked and underfed, and then there was one... Only one - Hanna - with the spunk, brainpower and energy to keep her spirit together, and try and get one up on the Maestro who commands the boat.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192729020</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Katie Davies
|title=The Great Hamster Massacre
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Meet Anna. Rather than write the usual staid what-I-did-in-my-holidays report for school, she is taking the time to tell us about her pet issues over the summer, from recalling the Old Cat, and the horror that is the New Cat, to the New Rabbit down the road, and her own demands for a hamster or two. There are family secrets to be revealed relating to hamsters of old, parents to argue with, and finally a trip to the pet shop - and that's just the start of Anna's troubles.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847385958</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Shirley Jackson
|title=The Lottery and Other Stories
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Even though it was written over sixty years ago, The Lottery, coming in at fewer than 3,500 words still has the power to shock. When it first appeared in the The New Yorker in 1948 it caused many outraged readers to cancel their subscriptions such was the devastating nature of the story. Time may have lessened sensibilities over the latter half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty first but The Lottery, like many of the other stories in this timely reissue, still packs a mighty punch.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141191430</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Hazel McHaffie
|title=Right to Die
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=It must be hard enough watching your partner die just once, but for Naomi, Adam's death is just the beginning. Coming across his personal, private diary of his time from diagnosis to subsequent demise, she is forced to relive the awful months during which his body began to betray him and his will to live was replaced with a will to die...on his own terms.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906307210</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Karen Sapp
|title=Christmas Is...
|rating=3
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Christmas is looming and thus the market for picture books featuring santas, presents and Christmas trees. It's hard to come up with anything new here, and it's rather not the point - is it? Christmas is, after all, about annually repeated celebration of traditional rituals that add delight and nourishment to the spiritual, emotional and social fabric of life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007303750</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gary Giddins and Scott Deveaux
|title=Jazz
|rating=5
|genre=Entertainment
|summary=At first glance this 700-page volume might look a little daunting. Do not be daunted. If you want a small pocket book which merely scratches at the surface and can probably be digested in a sitting or two, look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you want an extremely readable and comprehensive book on jazz which can not only be read cover to cover, but also retained as a work of reference to use again and again, I doubt if this can be bettered.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393068617</amazonuk>
}}
