'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Danny Miller
|title=Kiss Me Quick
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=The jacket cover is certainly eye-catching, a nice sepia-tinged photograph of Brighton seafront. The Prologue opens in the year 1939, also in the Brighton area. A young Jack Regent is enjoying the start of what appears to be a new life. He's apparently paid the price for previous 'events' and is now a reformed character. Or is he? The next couple of pages would suggest otherwise. But then again, Jack's smart, very smart. He makes sure that he doesn't get his hands dirty. He leaves that for others. For the mugs.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849015163</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|summary=Count Lev Tolstoy came from a privileged family. He was born on 28 August 1828; unfailingly superstitious for the rest of his days, he therefore adopted 28 as his lucky number. Like most young men from a similar background, he joined the Russian army. The Crimean war proved to be the making of him in that it developed his social conscience, opened his eyes to the conditions endured by those born to a less lofty position in the social order than himself, and impressed on him the fervent belief that everybody in Russia ought to have the chance to learn to read and write. As a result he became a born-again repentant nobleman in the light of having seen how the other half (or more than half) lived, he took a long hard look at the world around him, turning into a rebel against organized religion and the authority of the state in the process. All this was exacerbated by his travels throughout Europe shortly afterwards, in which he was impressed with the comparative freedom he saw in other countries and then found the return to his homeland thoroughly depressing in the few years before the emancipation of the serfs.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681383</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Antonio Tabucchi
|title=Pereira Maintains
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=The summer of 1938 was particularly hot and oppressive in Lisbon and Dr Pereira was suffering. He was overweight to start with and the situation wasn't helped by the amount of sugary lemonade which he drank. He was the cultural editor of an undistinguished newspaper and felt over-burdened by the amount of content he had to produce but this was better than the political side of the paper as he was sure that he wanted nothing to do with European politics. Something of a recluse, his closest, indeed only, confidante was a picture of his dead wife. All that was about to change when he met Francesco Monteiro Rossi - a strangely charismatic young man who would bring Pereira to the point of committing an act of reckless rebellion.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847675719</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mary Beard
|title=Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=The introduction does not spare the reader of the horror of a volcanic (Vesuvius) eruption in the year 79 CE. As the local residents literally ran for their lives clutching what they could easily carry ' ... a deadly, burning combination of gases, volcanic debris and molten rock travelling at huge speed ...' leaves the reader with an horrific mental image. All that last minute panicking was in vain. No one could survive such an onslaught. Nature at her very worst indeed.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684714</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lucy Dawson
|title=The One That Got Away
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Lucy Dawson's latest novel is a cut above run-of-the-mill chick-lit pap. Molly Greene is happily married to Dan, and they live a normal twenty-first century life in a small town. She is a successful salesperson for a medical supplier. The couple struggle with the bills and hope to buy their own place. She spends time with two old girlfriends whose situations are different from hers, but who know our heroine inside out and will always be there for her for long, boozy heart-to-hearts. So far, so predictable.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751542520</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gervase Phinn
|title=Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Stars
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
|summary=I spent many of my teenage years reading James Herriot's books, and I found that this collection of anecdotes and poems by Gervase Phinn had a real flavour of Herriot about it. Perhaps it was just the setting, for Phinn was a school inspector in the Dales for many years, but I think he also has that knack of capturing a situation, and a character, and bringing out the humour without making the person appear ridiculous. Here he collates stories from his other books, some Christmassy and others not, and he relates them with several of his own poems interspersed between.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141036435</amazonuk>
}}
[[Category:History]]
{{newreview
|author=Simon Garfield
|title=Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
|rating=4.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=A quality typeface is a bit like a good referee at a football match in that you only really notice them if something has gone wrong. A referee is there to facilitate the players on the pitch, not to be the star of the show (though watching Match of the Day these past few weeks you'd often beg to differ). So it is with typefaces. A good type helps the reader, enhances the flow and makes the viewing experience easy and simple. Well sort of.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683017</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Bethan Darwin
|title=Two Times Twenty
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=You can tell from the beginning of this novel that you're in Wales. The young Anna (as we travel back in time) is meeting what will be long-term friends, Bob and Jane. We find Anna rather proudly introducing her two young sons and Bob butting in with 'Duw, good-sized boys for their age ... Make good rugby players one day.' But the Welsh location and all things Welsh is given a subtle touch.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190678423X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Christine Stovell
|title=Turning the Tide
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=We're in the seaside location of Spitmarsh. It's seen better days, frankly. And that's putting it mildly. It has ' ... a local economy so depressed it was almost suicidal'. Ms Harry Watling loves her town in spite of the negative vibes. She wouldn't change a thing. You can tell that she's an optimist because even although she's having difficulty keeping her business afloat, she's still happy with her lot. She's not afraid of hard work and seems to work almost round the clock and in all weathers to carry out her boat-building and repairs business. But it's a constant battle.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931259</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ann Turnbull and Sarah Young
|title=Greek Myths
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=One word keeps coming to mind when looking at this book: lavish. Sixteen well-known stories are presented here, in a book positively overflowing with brightly coloured illustrations. Generous use of gold makes the book feel even more special, and the only danger, if you buy it for a child, is that you may not be able to bring yourself to give it away.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406300837</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Clara Vulliamy
|title=The Bear with Sticky Paws and the New Baby
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=When Pearl's new baby brother arrives, she resents the fact that he is the baby and that she is supposed to be the grown-up sister. She tries to persuade her mum that she is still a baby too but with no success. It is at this time that the Bear with Sticky Paws arrives and they decide to play at being babies. The bear excels at making a mess while eating without a spoon, getting Pearl to dress him and scribbling all over her pictures. It is through all of these activities that Pearl comes to realise that she can do so much more than any baby and perhaps she is quite happy being that little bit more grown up after all. By the time the bear leaves, she has completely revised her opinion of her little brother and presents him with a beautifully drawn picture that has no scribbles at all.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408300664</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Valerie Benaim and Yves Azeroual
|title=Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni: The True Story
|rating=3.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=In November 2007 the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy was newly divorced from his second wife and, despite his position and busy life, feeling rather lonely. He accepted an invitation to a dinner party from a friend and met supermodel and recording artist, Carla Bruni. The attraction between them was instant – she had already said that she wanted a man with nuclear power and he was smitten by the attentions of a beautiful, famous and intelligent woman. Within months they were married.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0907633145</amazonuk>
}}
