Book Reviews

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  • A Certain Slant of Light

    Jo18 June 2009

    I fell in love with this book and read it within days of buying it. The way it is written is really beautiful and it captured my imagination. This is a book I can see myself reading over and over again. The subject matter was also something I'd never read about before and it interested me a lot. For people who like romantic books that are not cheesy and books about ghost, I recommend this book highly.

  • Uninvited

    Jo18 June 2009

    Like many people I got into reading vampire books after reading the Twilight series, but unlike these books, Uninvited, offers something a little different. Most of the vampire books that I have read are about unlikely people falling in love, they're all a little predictable, but this one had a more original storyline and an ending that I didn't see coming. I read this book in about 2 days because I couldn't put it down. I recommend it to anyone that likes vampire books but wants to read something a little different to the others.

  • Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter

    Naomi Stanley16 June 2009

    As a lover of chinese novels this book gets top marks from me.

    This is the story of the author, Adeline, growing up as an unwanted chinese daughter. Adeline is thought to be bad luck as her mother died following her birth. Ignored by her father, despised by her young stepmother, bullied by her siblings, Adelines childhood is one of sadness and deprivation.

    She forms a close relationship with her grandfather Yeye and Aunt Baba from an early age and only receives kindness from these two people.

    This family story is told against the backdrop of communist China, bringing Adelines plight in to a social context. As I have read many chinese novels I already had an understanding of Chinese history during this period so the brief social descriptions were enough for me. However, I would recommend starting with another novel, such as Wild swans, before reading this one to gain a much broader social understanding of communist China under Chairman Mao.

    The story follows Adeline up to her adulthood and her stepmothers demise.

    Throughout the book I was hoping for recognition and respect for Adeline from her family but sadly this is a true story and does not really happen.

    This book will have you wanting to cry and cheer at different points.

    If you love novels by chinese authors then do pick this book up for a read. You will fall in love with the main character and feel like your fighting the issues with her.

  • The Coincidences of Kyle

    brenda jones14 June 2009

    I liked how the story included a combination of mystery, action, romance, and comedy. It was written to keep you interested in reaching the end of each chapter and resulted in a stunning ending.

  • The stronghold: An account of the four seasons in the White Mountains of Crete

    mark stanley11 June 2009

    Crete. Imagine a straight line drawn vertically from Suda Bay to Loutro. Draw the horizontal from Kambanos to Episkopi. Where the two lines cross is the high peaks of the White Mountains. Fielding's book takes us from here to the north around Canea, south to Sfakia, west to Koustoyerako, and east to Gerani. And many places in between.

    This outstanding and hard to find book, was published in 1953. The beautiful jacket by John Craxton typifies the travel material, and this is essentially a travel guide, published by Secker and Warburg in the 1950s.

    'The stronghold' is the description of a journey into the White Mountains of Crete a decade after Xan Fielding had been there as an SOE operative in WW2. These highly dangerous operations, narrated by W Stanley Moss in 'Ill Met by Moonlight', George Psychoundakis in 'The Cretan Runner', and more recently by Patrick Leigh Fermor in 'Words of Mercury' form the backdrop of this revisiting narrative. The book is dedicated to Fielding's Cretan friends who lost their lives in the German occupation, so the book is threaded, through the lively and lyrical prose, with brutal reminders of the war against the Germans.

    The book is more than nuts and bolts travel guide though. The erudite Fielding touches on history, language, theology, folklore, architecture, and social mores. In some ways it is resonant of Leigh Fermor's travel writing with the journey of the narrative bolting off into all directions, sniffing out whatever takes Fielding's fancy.

    Places now regular stops on the tourist itinerary of Crete: Sfakia and the plain of Omolo entrance to Samaria are described in their charming 'natural' state. The beach at Sfakia, from where British and allied troops were evacuated in 1941, and where this writer has visited many times, is hard to imagine now against the photographs taken by Fielding's wife Daphne Bath; photographs which track their year spent in Crete.

    There are maps on the pastedown boards, a fold out map, and 18 lovely images to help you on your journey. If you love Crete, love travel, love history, then this book is for you. It has been my companion on numerous trips. The 'then and now' aspect has always been fascinating.

    A great read and highly recommended.

  • Dark Heresy Core Rulebook (Dark Heresy)

    Gareth09 June 2009

    This is the best Warhammer 40,000 role play book not only because it has all you need to start warhammer 40,000 dark heresy, but it has everything you would ever want to do in the Warhammer 40,000 world from trading on space stations to ship-to-ship fights

  • Paddles Up!: Dragon Boat Racing in Canada

    Lauria MacDougall08 June 2009

    This book is excellent reading for paddlers at all levels of the sport in Canada and around the world. It covers everything from choosing a paddle to dry land training, injury prevention, nutrition, breast cancer survivor teams and Canada's contribution to the sport.

    There is so much information contained within this book that it will be something I refer to back to time and again I'm sure.

  • Mastering Emergency Medicine: A Practical Guide: A Comprehensive Guide for MCEM (Mastering Series)

    dr gaya juhy06 June 2009

    Good book. Help ful for both MCEM B & C, as there is no other book available

  • Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases: Modern Methodologies

    Phillip01 June 2009

    I tell you why this was given a poor review; it is because the price that people are asking for it is ridiculous, no would ever pay it so no review is likely to suffice. I do like the sound and look of it but I would never pay that price in a million years.

  • Understanding 6-7-year-olds (Understanding Your Child Series)

    Margi31 May 2009

    I cannot describe how glad I was after reading this little book. As mum to a nearly 7 year old only child, I found it very reassuring. It helped me to understand the changes in behaviour that I have been noticing with my child. I first read the 'Understanding 4-5Year Olds' and found that extremely good as well. Well worth reading - I have been buying this as a present for all of my friends with similar aged children and they're all very happy!

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