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Phoenix | |
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List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £1.00
Author:
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
By Phoenix
 My perfect book, 2008-08-16
This novel is magnificent! I have just finnished it and probably wont pick up another book until I've let the brilliance of this one sink in. Many people told me that it was badly translated, well until this comment I wasn't even aware of the translation, I think it's perfect. Although at times I found it a challenging read as it is quite 'wordy', I will never forget the amazing story and can not praise it enough!
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £0.01
Author:
Paul Torday
By Phoenix
 What a pleasant surprise!, 2008-08-09
I'd seen this book in the shops and hadn't taken too much notice of it as the title rather put me off. I'm not particularly interested in fishing (well - not at all, really) and the Yemen sounded rather distant and obscure. However, a friend recommended it to me and lent me his copy. I put it on my pile of "books to read" (which is rapidly approaching the ceiling) where it remained for a while. I'd finished reading my last book and grabbed this one off the pile before rushing off to work one morning and how glad I am that I did! I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's witty, unusual, interesting, informative and has a clever and unexpected ending. I found the style of writing interesting, being a mixture of emails, reports, narrative, and correspondence, despite which it was not in the least bit confusing. Also, the rather terse (on one side, at least) correspondence between our hero (if that's what we can call him) and his wife brought a smile to my face as it possibly reflected some married couples' relationships all too well! I now know quite a bit about salmon, their habitat and their breeding habits that I didn't before reading this, which information was imparted totally painlessly and didn't detract from the plot. I'm so pleased that my friend persuaded me to read this book and I shall certainly recommend it to others. It was very different from anything I've read before. Do give it go!
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £1.44
Author:
Jostein Gaarder
By Phoenix
A novel to make you look at the world anew, 2007-12-07
I can't recommend this book enough. It isn't just a journey through Western philosophy - it is a story which encourages you to think about your reality and your life from angles you may never have looked before. Delivered through the medium of Alberto Knox - an enigmatic philosophy teacher who arrives in the life of Sophie in a mysterious letter, the book gives rise to a completely different view of reality.
It follows the story of Sophie and Hilde. As stranger and stranger things begin to happen in Sophie's world, it becomes a confusing question of what is going on. Alberto finally covers the philosophy of Berkeley, who posited that the world was nothing more than a figment of the mind of God, and then Sophie's world is turned upside down.
I sat thinking about the book long after I had finished it, contemplating the universe, and my reality and my life. It was like I was given the chance to look at in anew, through different philosophies I had not considered before. It was an incredible experience and one I would recommend to anyone who enjoys thinking.
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: £4.39
Author:
Trinny Woodall, Susannah Constantine
By Phoenix
The best body shape yet!, 2007-12-03
I've bought a few books about dressing for your body shape but this one is definitely the best one. Their advice is spot on and definitely changed the way I view my body. Most body shape books break down body types to about 6 at best but this book goes further with not only a lot more body shapes and but also describes traits like leg proportion, neck length and bottom size.
It has changed the way I shop. I now walk straight passed all the gorgeous but wrong for me clothes - no matter how fab! I look for shape first, fabric and colour next. My "what was I thinking" shopping mistakes have disappeared and I'm now feeling a lot better about my body. Not bad for one book!
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £2.37
Author:
Richard Hammond
By Phoenix
Fantastic. A riveting read for all ages, 2008-08-21
Now I'm 12 years old, but no, I'm not writing a review for the authored..kids..adapted thing. I'm sure you've gathered I prefer the real deal. This book truly is magnificently written. From cover to cover I was 'on the edge' (I wonder if this is where the book got it's name?) of my seat. I know many people say this, but this time it's literal. I couldn't put it down for the life of me.
I was reading this in the garden. I spent 15 or so minutes reading it when a wasp starting buzzing around my head, and yes I'm sure all of you reading this will know how unutterably irritating this is.
So I stood up and started hitting it with a tea-towel, but by the time I could get anywhere near it it had already flown away. And all the time I was doing this, I was still reading the book, so no wonder.
And then I spent 15 minutes standing up reading it, because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or what was going on around me, so I couldn't sit down........I was inside the book. Weird?! Spooky?! Yeah, I think so too.
When you're reading this book you get a feeling you're there. Especially the parts that Richard's wife, Mindy, wrote.
In the part where she was driving to the hospital where Richard was, I felt like I was there. In the car with her.
This book is a compilation, really, of everything that happened to the Hammonds as a family. As a whole. Everything you could possibly want to know is included in On The Edge.
It's the story of how the family adapted to knowing one of their members had brain damage. What you would tell the kids. As Richard said in his book promo, how he risked his life just to strap himself to the front of a jet-engine for kicks. It's the story of how he crashed a jet powered dragster at 288 miles-per-hour.
If you're looking to read a book in the near future, or have just finished a book (probably one you've just bought from ASDA in a 3 for 2 offer with a "Richard & Judy's Summer Read" sticker on the front cover, let's not deny it), and want a truly riveting read that could keep you entertained, on the edge of your seat for hours on end, then look no further. Richard Hammond: On The Edge is one of the most fantastic accounts I've ever read.
Fan of the Hamster or not, this is unmissable.
5 STAR *****
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.56
Author:
James Lee Burke
By Phoenix
Soaked in atmosphere, 2008-01-28
Set in and around New Orleans during and following destructive hurricane Katrina, the Tin Roof Blowdown is a complex piece of crime fiction. Graphic descriptions of the terror and destruction wrought by Katrina, and frequent reminders of the ineptitude of the authorities in handling the tragedy, form the backdrop as the drama unfolds. Drama involving the disappearance of a young priest, the murder of a young black rapist and an innocent black teenager with the father of the rapist's victim being accused, and somehow the involvement of organised crime.
With the NOPD overwhelmed, Detective Dave Robicheaux is called in to investigate. As he works in the company of his old friend and ex-cop Clete Purcel, Robicheaux finds his own family comes under attack form a deranged .
Soaked in atmosphere and full of detailed description, and not fearing to make political comment, this is a thoroughly involving story. Part narrated by Robicheaux, and part related in the third person, a devise which while providing the full picture of events also provides a personal view on matters, we get a clear picture of the intricacies of the plot; and such is the skill of the writer that we not only see inside Robicheaux's mind, but we can actually hear his voice when he speaks.
List Price: £6.99
Our Price: £1.79
Author:
Alice Walker
By Phoenix
Beautiful and Enlightening..., 2008-04-01
This was actually the first 'adult' book I read as a child - much to the shock of my grandparents!! I loved it and reading it again as an adult (understanding it that much more)has assured it as a favourite. I would recommend anyone to read this. It covers issues of race, sexuality, family, friendships and gender fantastically. The film version is very good and the book is a must to read.
List Price: £6.99
Our Price: £2.53
Author:
Jennifer Worth
By Phoenix
Bittersweet memories , 2008-08-27
This is a brilliant book that at times made me cry, and at others, laugh out loud. My own mother was a Cockney, born in the East End in 1920, and reading this book brought back bitter sweet memories of the way that she was, and the wonderful stories that she used to tell. It has helped me to appreciate her humour much more and understand where some of my own ways have come from. I particularly enjoyed the stories of Sister Evangelina and her escapades across the Thames, jumping from barge to barge and the obsession with bodily functions, and also Sister Monica Joan with her knitting needles. As for the ordinary women, what happened to Mary once she left prison, how did Mrs Jenkins' children die, and how many more children did Conchita have. One of my aunts had 22 of them, but 25?
Most of us cannot imagine the conditions that these women lived and worked in, and the daily struggle for survival. The modern existence is pampered in comparison. We complain about not having two bathrooms, while these women had one communal tap to each floor of the flats that they lived in and one shared toilet. Times may have been hard, and money tight, but they had more balls and more grit than anything you would see today, with no counsellors in sight!
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.07
Author:
J.G. Farrell
By Phoenix
"The first sign of trouble at Krishnapur came with a mysterious distribution of chapatis, made of coarse flour and about the size and thickness of a biscuit; towards the end of February 1857, they swept the countryside like an epidemic." Students of history will recognise 1857 as the year of the Sepoy rebellion in India--an uprising of native soldiers against the British, brought on by Hindu and Muslim recruits' belief that the rifle cartridges with which they were provided had been greased with pig or cow fat. This seminal event in Anglo-Indian relations provides the backdrop for J.G. Farrell's Booker Prize- winning exploration of race, culture and class, The Siege of Krishnapur. Like the mysteriously appearing chapatis, life in British India seems, on the surface, innocuous enough. Farrell introduces us gradually to a large cast of characters as he paints a vivid portrait of the Victorians' daily routines that are accompanied by heat, boredom, class-consciousness and the pursuit of genteel pastimes intended for cooler climates. Even the siege begins slowly, with disquieting news of massacres in cities far away. When Krishna...
Excellent, 2008-06-08
An excellent book telling of the mutiny. Whilst the book almost neglects the natives this isn't fiction dressed up as colonial propaganda. This is an incredibly humorous tale of a group of Englishmen trapped within a residency, besieged by a whole host of natives. As the siege progresses civilization, science and religion are all discussed along with the odd smattering of phrenology. An incredibly entertaining book and one very worth reading.
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: £4.48
Author:
Simon Sebag Montefiore
By Phoenix
Amazing, 2008-08-25
This is a great biography. It's fast moving, full of action and Montefiore really brings the young Stalin to life as you flick from page to spell-binding page.
You find yourself at turns liking the passion and charisma of the protagonist, and then repelled by his nascent cruelty and emotional coldness.
This book really explodes the myth that Stalin was simply a "grey blur" before he began to seize power in the 1920's. He was a competent, intelligent and experienced revolutionary, who was important to Lenin and popular with the party grass roots. His drive and personal magnetism are awe-inspiring, and Sebag Montefiore's book is an exercise in demonstrating how true greatness is born.
I can't wait to read the author's book on Stalin's later life, "The Court of the Red Tsar".
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