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List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £1.94
Author:
Chris Cleave
By Sceptre
 Possibly a life-changing read, 2010-03-01
Perhaps the marketing hype about "not giving away what this novel is about" is over the top, but this is marketing, not the novel itself. The story is compelling, sometimes harrowing but always deeply sympathetic to the human condition.
As to criticism of the prose style, I feel that this misses the point. Voice is important in this novel - and it's not giving anything away to say that there is more than one narrative voice - and the styles chosen perfectly reflect the character. In terms of structure, tone and style this novel is believably written and successful.
Life changing? Certainly life affirming: and a read that gently challenges preconceptions and world pictures. I am not the same person I was since reading it, and others I have recommended it to have had the same experience.
BTW, in America the novel is published under the title "Little B".
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £5.90
Author:
Siri Hustvedt
By Sceptre
An engrossing read, 2010-02-22
I really enjoyed this book. In it Hustvedt embarks on a journey to try and discover why she is the victim of violent, epileptic-like seizures from time to time. She pulls in commentators and experts from the worlds of neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, philosophy etc. and in the process dismantles the arguments of some and supports the arguments of others. Along the way there are several very interesting case histories. One in particular comments on how people remember when they are involved in the act of writing. Ask a person to remember something verbally and you probably won't get very far; but give them a pen and paper and ask them to begin their passage of writing with 'I remember...' and you may get a lot of memories that the writer themselves forgot.
In the end you're left wondering what the 'self' is? Do we really know who 'me' is? I have to say that I've never given this much thought before, but Hustvedt's book has now made me think about it a great deal.
Highly recommended.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £2.55
Author:
John le Carré
By Sceptre
George Smiley takes on the Soviet Union, Part One, 2010-02-02
After publishing three books with George Smiley (GS) in a major or minor role, and one spy novel without him (A Small Town in Germany), John Le Carré (JLC) produced the monumental "Karla"- trilogy with GS as the undisputed hero.
This volume, first published in 1974, is Part One of the trilogy and in this reviewer's opinion JLC's very best creation among many other masterpieces. The principal theme in the book is the search for a "mole", an inside man turned traitor, within the higher echelons of the Circus, which runs some 600 agents worldwide. There have been inexplicable failures and disappointments. Control, the nameless head of the Circus is becoming suspicious of all of his staff, at a time when his health is declining rapidly. He becomes an increasingly marginalised person, poring over piles and piles of files, when a new source managed by a man keen to take Control's place, begins to enthral Whitehall with high quality reports...
Suddenly brought out of retirement, GS attends the debriefing of a rather dubious field agent and is requested to pursue the outcomes of the interview. In utter secrecy, GS starts his campaign to find the mole, aided by the trusted Peter Guillam and Retired Inspector (Special Branch) Mendel, who appeared first in JLC's debut Call for the Dead.
What makes this book exceptional is its plot, its dialogues, its atmosphere and more than ever, its characters. Chapter One about unhappy public schoolboy Bill "Jumbo" Roach meeting ex-betrayed spy, shot in the back, Jim "Rhino" Prideaux, ranks among the greatest first chapters in spy novels, on par with Trevanian's opening of The Loo Sanction. Totally brilliant.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £2.68
Author:
Chris Cleave
By Sceptre
Original, entertaining, authentic and believable, 2009-12-24
An East End [of London] woman decides to write a letter to Osama bin Laden after a team of his suicide bombers wreck her life by indiscriminately blowing up the crowd at a football match, killing both her husband and her four-and-a-quarter year-old son, along with over a thousand other football fans.
The letter is written, mainly in the authentic language of an East End gal, but with snippets of people from other worlds. The grammar and punctuation is appaling, but it is totally in context. She relates, to Osama, all of the events and all of her feelings from immediately before the atrocity to many months afterwards.
There is a lot of humour interspersed throughout the tragedy. One of the funniest passages that I have read recently will not spoil your enjoyment of this book.
It didn't smell posh in Harvey Nichols it smelled of all the different perfumes in the world very strong and mixed up together. It felt like having your throat scraped. I took my boy into John Lewis once and it smelled just like that in the perfume section. Yuk Mummy he said. It smells nice and nasty all at once. It smells of angels feet.
Hilarious!
I can understand why some people do not like this style of writing and cannot get into the book at all. This is a book that you will either love or hate. It is either one star or five stars plus plus. I cannot tell what it will be like for you, but I would recommend that you give it a chance. For me, it was one of the best books that I read in 2009.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £1.00
Author:
David Mitchell
By Sceptre
It's hard not to become ensnared by words beginning with the letter B, when attempting to describe Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell's third novel. It's a big book, for start, bold in scope and execution--a bravura literary performance, possibly. (Let's steer clear of breathtaking for now.) Then, of course, Mitchell was among Granta's Best of Young British Novelists and his second novel number9dreamwas shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Characters with birthmarks in the shape of comets are a motif; as are boats. Oh and one of the six narratives strands of the book--where coincidentally Robert Frobisher, a young composer, dreams up "a sextet for overlapping soloists" entitled Cloud Atlas--is set in Belgium, not far from Bruges. (See what I mean?) Structured rather akin to a Chinese puzzle or a set of Matrioshka dolls, there are dazzling shifts in genre and voice and the stories leak into each other with incidents and people being passed on like batons in a relay race. The 19th-century journals of an American notary in the Pacific that open the novel are subsequently unearthed 80 years later on by Frobisher in the library of the ageing, syphilitic maestro he's trying to fl...
 Good condition and quick service, 2010-02-11
This book was received in good condition and came more quickly than I expected. Can't ask for more!
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £0.63
Author:
David Benioff
By Sceptre
Heartbreaking and heart-warming, 2010-02-17
Early in 1942, during the siege of Leningrad two young men are arrested, the penalty for their crimes summary death. But for some reason they are singled out and given a chance, find a dozen eggs within the week and they will earn their lives and freedom. The two men, one really no more than a boy are twenty year old Kolya, and seventeen year old Lev.
Kolya is a fine young man, big, blonde, confident, with the ability to charm himself out of the most impossible situations. Lev is small and thin, half Jewish, shy and self concious. They meet for the first time in prison following their arrest, and now find themselves thrown together on this unlikely and seemingly impossible mission. Lev initially resents Kolya, his natural ease with people, his optimistic disposition, his command of any situation, but over the few days they have together that gradually changes, as does Lev as he finds within himself strengths he never new he had.
Narrated by Lev, City of Thieves is a beautiful story; the unlikely friendship between the young men very touching. Their search for the eggs takes them into an number of dangerous and diverse situations, situations that enable them to prove both their courage and their care for each other. A most pleasurable and rewarding read that one does not want to hurry even when at its most dramatic; the conclusion is simultaneously both heartbreaking and heart-warming.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.50
Author:
Jake Arnott
By Sceptre
A superb read, 2009-10-07
I am a great fan of Jake Arnott's work and have also been fascinated with the life and works of Aleister Crowley since Unviversity days. So this book is a real treat for me.
These reasons apart - this is an excellent book, another demonstration of the authors uncanny skill in exactly capturing the atmosphere and social mores of the period in which his work is set.
Super detailing of the intertwined life of a professional soldier and the Great Beast... (or should it be the soldier and the hunchback?)
Even without any insight in Crowley's belief system this is still a cracking good read.....with some insight, you are able to appreciate this book more deeply and travel with its cast through its different planes.
Highly recommended!
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.79
Author:
John le Carré
By Sceptre
Classic of the spy genre, 2010-02-24
George Smiley is called out of retirement when an old operative called the General is murdered on Hampstead Heath. Initially requested to make sure that there is nothing that could tie the death to the Circus (which now finds itself prone to government whims), Smiley discovers that the General had claimed to have intelligence that could change the game between the west and the Soviet Union and enable him to finally defeat his old enemy, Karla. What follows is Smiley's delicate unravelling of the information that the General had obtained, a journey that will take him from Britain to West Germany, France and Switzerland and which will see him reunite with old colleagues, including Toby Esterhase, Peter Guillam and Saul Enderby.
One of the all-time great spy thrillers, Le Carre effortlessly weaves his storylines together, switching between Smiley's investigations and Madame Ostrakova's innocent trigger of the unfolding events. Smiley is a brilliant character - devoted to the Circus and loyal to the people who worked for him and yet not blind to their faults - a man in control of his emotions and yet unable to control his feelings about his wife Anne and her innumerable affairs. Indeed, Anne's affair with Bill Haydon lingers like a spectre over the events of the book with Smiley remaining unable to forgive her and seeking revenge for Karla's instigation of it.
Written in 1980 and set in the same period, it's fascinating to read of a time before mobile phones and computer technology were prevalent. The spies here rely on their memories and their instincts and luck plays as much a part as hard work.
There are some wonderful scenes in the book as Smiley follows up on old colleagues. His scene with the broken Connie is poignant and touching but there is also room for dark humour, such as his first encounter with the fearful Madame Ostrakova and moments of humanity, such as Smiley's scenes with Tatiana. The tension never eases up for a moment and its given such authenticity that you never question whether this could have happened.
This is a must-read book written by an author in complete control of his subject matter and ability.
List Price: £10.00
Our Price: £2.45
Author:
Gavin Pretor-Pinney
By Sceptre
The Cloud Colectors hand Book, 2010-02-20
A very useful informitive book which can easily fit in a pocket or bag to carry with you so you can always see what the clouds mean
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £5.85
Author:
Rob Ryan
By Sceptre
beautiful, 2009-02-10
This book is amazing. The best thing is it can be given to anyone, a partner a friend, your mum, your son.....
It is my favourite book of all time and really describes feelings that the majority of us would or will have at some point. Rob Ryan's work is spectacular, every time i see a book with an illustrated cover by him it always catches my eye.
I can say nothing negative about this book :)
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