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.Last Argument Of Kings: The First Law: Book Three: Book Three of the First Law (Gollancz S.F.): Book Three of the First Law (Gollancz S.F.)
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by: Joe Abercrombie

March 20, 2008
In the week I write these words the "Long list" for the Booker prize has been released.The Booker is the UK's most prestigious prize for fiction, awarded to the best novel of the year, in the opinion of a collection of the "good and the great" of the literary establishment; plus a few "celebrity" names to help with the publicity. This years chairman is an ex Tory minister (God help us). Though I guess Arch Lector Glotka would approve. The list provoked huge rages of scorn from the publishing world because it dared to include a thriller, set in Stalin's Russia.(Can't remember the name: "Boy 44" or some such if you are interested look it up). The point being: thrillers have no place on a list of literary fiction such as the Booker is designed ... Read More:
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.His Dark Materials Boxed set (His Dark Materials)
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Philip Pullman

April 02, 2007
Northern Lights is brilliant in almost every respect; fast-moving, well-written, imaginative. The Subtle Knife is almost as good, but begins to be diffuse. The Amber Spyglass is, frankly, rubbish. In order to understand what is going on here, you have to have read an obscure essay by a second-rank German author (Heinrich v. Kleist) that Pullman is always going on about. By a logic that defeats me, it concludes that a re-temptation of Eve will undo the disaster that came from the first temptation. Hence Lyra (she's the new Eve, we're told) goes all tingly when she's kissed (only kissed, mind you). This saves the world (don't ask me how). Pullman's cosmogony/theology is even wackier than the Christian version to which he's so hostile. Nor does The Amber ... Read More:
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.The Lovely Bones
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Alice Sebold

June 06, 2003
I was recommended this by female co-workers but didn't take to it and reckon most men will feel the same. The plot would lend itself to being a thriller's but the book could barely be further from being one, despite a couple of Hitchcockian sequences. What we get is schmaltzy family drama which drifts along in a not particularly compelling fashion.
Bland incidents are relayed about the unsympathetic characters while all the time you wait for the real exciting bits to come, or at least some interesting philosophy. And you wait, and wait... but nothing arrives. There's definitely the germ of a great, if deeply unpleasant idea here, but airy sentiment and woolly storytelling muffle it. The conclusion especially is a real non event.
Finally, the ... Read More:
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."Dragons' Den": Success, from Pitch to Profit
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Duncan Bannatyne, Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Richard Farleigh, Theo Paphitis, James Caan, Evan Davis

June 02, 2008
Not living in the UK, I actually hadn't seen the programme and the book was a christmas gift. It's an easy read telling some good stories - and let's face it, who doesn't like a good story? I found the dragons' backgrounds very interesting and some of their values very close to mine. Lots of ideas in there for the budding entrepreneur. Would I actually go on the show with my own ideas - I'm not so sure. Would I contact certain dragons with a solid business proposition - I hope so.
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.101 French Idioms (Language - French)
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Jean-Marie Cassagne, Luc Nisset

January 01, 2000
I'm not a French speaker or learner myself, but bought this as a gift for a friend who is tackling the language. I'm sure they'll enjoy it as it's quite fun compared to the dry language texts I had to wade through at school. It's interesting to see that some French idioms are quite similar to ours but have an unusual slant. For example, where we have 'Pushing up the daisies', they have 'Eating the daisies from the roots up'; we write 'Rubber cheques', and they write 'wooden' ones (like taking a 'wooden nickel'?). Others are quite surreal 'Falling backwards into apples' sound quite painful, but to the French this is a soft landing. Although it's amusing, the text is scholarly enough to be useful to the serious student and the cartoons are excellent. You can't argue with ... Read More:
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.Atonement
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Ian McEwan

August 09, 2007
I don't know where to begin with this review. I have just finished reading Atonement and the last chapter and epilogue were really gripping and unputdownable. But earlier in the novel - the section covering Robbie's time at war - didn't really do it for me. I am not that fond of stories about war, and whilst I appreciate the mastery in the writing and the descriptions, I wasn't as moved as some.

I really like the scene in the library - that was very sensual and I was totally caught up in the moment. The first section of the novel was I felt a little rambling. Lots of 'big' words and flowing sentences which occassionally drove me to distraction - again I appreciated the mastery of the writing but it wasn't an especially easy novel to read on a train, full of distractions and ... Read More:
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.Marching Powder
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Rusty Young

July 02, 2004
I read this book on holiday last year in the Caribbean where even there the mad sub-city of San Pedro jail surrounded by the shabby residences of La Paz seemed another planet. Re-reading this book now is just as fresh and recommended to even those with no taste for such things. Briefly, marching Powder is the story of a British drug trafficker who was arrested in Bolivia and jailed in San Pedro prison. During his six-year stretch, McFadden served as a tour guide in a prison that thrived under a capitalist system made possible by bribery of officials.
This book belongs in the top ranks of prison books along with Papillon, A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook, Welcome to Hell: Letters and Writings from Death Row, Escape, and In the Belly of the Beast.
Papillon (Harper Perennial ... Read More:
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.The Rain Before It Falls
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Jonathan Coe

June 05, 2008
J Coe is male but he is hard on his own sex - the men in this book are not the best. Perhaps one or two are ok types but they lie low. The big secret of Rosamund is not so very shocking and the only thing slightly iffy is whether she did did do what Beatrix thought she saw her do.. Ungrateful, damaged, hard and frightening women abound, luckily slightly to the left of the Executrice herself. A multi layered story that was worth the telling with plenty of delightful period detail to set the scenes. Satisfying and enjoyable, the dissection of various mother / daughter relationships was worth the trouble. The setting out of their feelings was accepting and understanding. I went on thinking about it all afterwards (read it overnight) and will read it again less hurriedly to enjoy the writing.
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.Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses (Practice Makes Perfect)
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Dorothy Richmond

January 01, 2000
This book on Spanish verb tenses is the best I've ever seen. In fact, it is probably the only book of its kind. I haven't seen any other books like this one, probably because it would be a waste of time for someone else to write a book like this.

The book first explains the present tense in great detail. It explains how the present tense is used in every possibleway. Although, it doesn't explain that the present tense is often used to convey a future action more often than the actual future is.

Richmond's explanation of the past tenses is also very good, but I didn't like how the imperfect and the preterit were explained. What I did like was how the author explains that the irregular preterit conjugations have predictable patterns.

The subjunctive is ... Read More:
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.America Unchained: A Freewheeling Roadtrip In Search of Non-Corporate USA
City Travel Guides > Books > Paperback Deals
by: Dave Gorman

April 03, 2008
Having been a fan of Gorman's since the explosion of the 'Are You Dave Gorman?' project my one fear about his work since is where could he go from there? How many amazing accidents and coincidences can happen to one man?
Thats where this project comes in. No drunken bets, no amazingly serendipitus events - just a man wanting to see another side of life and documenting where that desire takes him.
And it takes him on an incredible journey - by turns hilarious, moving, scary, joyess - but above all human.
Highly recommended as both a travel book and a personal memoir of exploration.
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