'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Wendy Law-Yone
|title=The Road to Wanting
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=We first meet Na Ga in her hotel room in Wanting, on the Chinese side of the border with Na Ga's native Burma (or Myanmar for the more geographically pedantic, although Burma is used throughout this book). She is attempting to commit suicide, but is interrupted by news from the hotel receptionist who tells her that her guide across the border, Mr Jiang, has just committed suicide himself. You might by now have the impression that this is not a cheery kind of book, and you'd be right up to a point, although it's certainly not without its light touches. In fact it's often quite beautiful, which makes the exposure of the seedier side so much more shocking.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701184086</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sue Eckstein
|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>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robin Wasserman
|title=Crashed
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Lia lives in a future where minds can be saved even if bodies can't. After a fatal car crash, her brain has been scanned, mapped, saved, and transferred into a machine designed to look and feel human. She'll live forever. We last saw her with her new mech "life" in tatters after Auden's terrible accident and her family's rejection. She can't see a future for herself amongst the orgs any more and so she rejoins Jude and his group of adrenaline junkie mechs at Quinn's mansion. It's a life of extreme thrill-seeking, backed up by Quinn's unlimited credit and Jude's shady contact at Bio Max, who supplies them with dangerous and untested, but exciting and cutting edge mods and updates.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847387659</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Yelland
|title=The Truth About Leo
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=Leo lives inside his own head for much of the time. You can't really blame him. He's always tired for a start. That's because he's often up early, tidying up the house after one of his father's rampages. His father drinks too much, you see, and sometimes he smashes up the house. Leo can't risk this being discovered because his father's the only person he's got since his mother died of cancer. He misses her like crazy, and he's afraid he'll be taken into care if anyone finds out about his dad's drinking.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141330031</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Dominique Lapierre
|title=A Rainbow in the Night
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=A book integrating otherwise piecemeal news stories picked up over the past forty years into a coherent explanation is always welcome. This book explores South Africa's history and development, from the earliest Dutch arrivals in 1652 to the first racially integrated elections in 1994.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0306818477</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Doug Stewart
|title=The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare
|rating=5
|genre=History
|summary=In the late 18th century, keen to impress the Shakespeare-obsessed father who paid him little attention, 19 year old William Henry Ireland forged a couple of Elizabethan documents to show him. With the older man completely taken in, his child then pretended he'd found a trunk full of lost artefacts belonging to the Bard – love letters to Anne Hathaway, a declaration of his Protestant faith, the manuscript of King Lear, and even entirely new plays. Ireland fooled not only his father, but also many of the prominent Londoners of the time, including Robert Southey, James Boswell, and the future William IV.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0306818310</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gill Linder
|title=Little Sapling
|rating=2.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Little Sapling is growing up, bit by bit. Like any plant, she stretches out into the sunlight. She competes with bindweed, and then is transplanted by a forester. On the way, she comes into contact with a number of animals, like Rabbit and Hedgehog.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312721</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sophie Hannah
|title=A Room Swept White
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=There's a classic Agatha Christie style hook at the start of this story. TV producer Fliss Benson receives a card with no message other than sixteen numbers arranged in four rows of four. On the same day Fliss takes over work on a documentary about cot death mothers and miscarriages of justice. Simultaneously, one of the mothers is found dead at her house with an identical numbered card in her pocket. Work out what the numbers mean and you will find the killer. But as this is a typically densely plotted Sophie Hannah story you will have to note every detail in every part of the book to reach the right conclusion. The plot has more twists than a spiral staircase, though there are clues that could help you, including one rather cheeky feature - if you can spot it. Sadly, I didn't until I was writing this review…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340980621</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=James Kelman
|title=If it is Your Life
|rating=3
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''If This Is Your Life'' is not so much a collection of short stories as a collection of pieces of creative writing. Kelman doesn't really do 'stories'. In nineteen pieces of writing of varying length from just a single page to more lengthy pieces, such as the story that gives its title to this collection, Kelman writes (mostly) about people on the edge of society. He addresses issues such as class, politics, gender, age and ill health.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241142423</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Philip Augar
|title=Reckless: The Rise and Fall of the City
|rating=4
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=The City, 1997. Many major institutions are struggling in the City, with high profile scandals taking down Barings and severely damaging the reputation of Morgan Grenfell.
The City, 2007. Less than a fortnight before becoming Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, at the Mansion House Dinner, describes the current time as 'an era that history will record as the beginning of a new golden age.'
The City, 8th October, 2008. Author Philip Augar states 'even the most conservative observer would have to concede that 8 October 2008 amounted to a catastrophic failure of private-sector banking in the UK.'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009952404X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Richard Denning
|title=Tomorrow's Guardian
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Eleven year old Tom Oakley thinks he's going mad when he seems to relive short periods of his life, and dreams about other people from different times. The reality is far stranger – he's a Walker, with the power to rescue those he dreamed about. Travelling to the battle of Isandlwana, the Great Fire of London, and a German U-Boat, guided by the mysterious Professor, Tom saves the lives of soldier Edward, servant Mary, and Able Seaman Charlie, who also have powers. There are others, however, with similar powers, who aren't as pleasant as Tom's new friends – and the four of them, allied with the Professor and his roguish helper Septimus, are pitched into a battle to save the worlds. That's intentionally plural – there are two parallel universes at stake here.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445251388</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kate Griffin
|title=The Midnight Mayor: A Matthew Swift Novel
|rating=5
|genre=Fantasy
|summary='A telephone rang.
I answered.
After that…
…it's complicated.'
Sorcerer Matthew Swift does not especially like danger. In fact, after the events that led to him destroying the Tower and his former teacher, Robert Bakker, he'd prefer it greatly if danger would leave him to mind his own business, thank you very much.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841497347</amazonuk>
}}
