Judith Schalansky manages to recreate the dying art form of exploration in this little golden pocket book. With her you discover forgotten and deserted islands through the stories she gathers from lengthy research at libraries in Berlin. A beautifully illustrated piece of work which was unsurprisingly awarded the prize of Germany's most beautiful book.
- Frances |
Ash doesn't have high hopes for his summer holiday in India - the heat, the smell, the crowds!? No thank you. But everything suddenly changes when his Aunt and Uncle are killed in a car crash and he is forced to go on the run with his sister, Lucky. Battling demons from ancient Indian mythology and one seriously evil sorcerer, Ash must toughen up, learn the ancient fighting art of Marma-adi and befriend a half-snake demon princess in order to survive.
An incredibly exciting adventure, perfect for fans of Darren Shan and Rick Riordan.
- Jen |
This novel is a breath of fresh air in the young adult paranormal genre because 1) this story is not romance-led and 2) the main character isn't female with tortured yearnings. The Replacement has a brilliantly realised male lead in Mackie Doyle that embodies the adolescent angst of not fitting in with peers, of not belonging with their family, that their differences make them a freak. Except that for Mackie all those feelings are fact. Yovanoff has written a story that is new and exciting, and created a richly painted 'otherworld' that is as colourful, abstract and esoteric as a music video for a Marilyn Manson/Lady Gaga collaboration. I seriously, seriously enjoyed this novel, and since I am in the same company as Lauren Kate and Maggie Stiefvater in that enjoyment, I think it's pretty safe to say you will too!
- Neil |
Leaving the Atocha Station is a beautifully written debut by prizewinning poet Ben Lerner. Adam Gordon, an American poet in his early twenties, finds himself in Madrid on a prestigious fellowship. Tanked up on espressos, un-prescribed prescription tranquillisers and fluctuating levels of terror, Adam struggles to claim authenticity and maintain a grasp on the fine line between life and art. In many ways it can be considered a coming of age novel, or rather, a novel documenting an artist's growth into maturity, except we are left questioning whether this was ever actually achieved... Clever, funny and at times, poignant (despite our unreliable narrator's best intentions) this is a thoroughly enjoyable read. - Fran |
Bulgakov's surrealism acts for a somewhat eccentric guise; politics, death and love shape-shifting to reveal themselves in an altogether different light. Accompanied by a talking black cat with a fondness for vodka, the devil arrives in Moscow, destroying everyboday around him. The only two people adverse to his powers are a seemingly failed novelist, simply called the Master, and Margarita - the woman he loves. Incredibly humourous and allegorical, its worth reading just for the chapter in which Margarita is seen flying over Moscow on a man-turned-pig!
- Jenny |
Wells draws together my interests in middlebrow mass culture and science fiction - he's the master of both! It's tough to pick from his many great books, but The Time Machine is the one that has stayed with me the most. The final trip to the end of time itself is genius. - Chris
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Ashley Miller; Zack Stentz |
Oliver Jeffers; Oliver Jeffers Multi-award winning illustrator, Oliver Jeffers warms our hearts again with this sweet little tale about his familiar characters, the boy and his penguin. Penguin decides he wants to learn how to fly and in his excitement makes a very rash decision. Will the boy be able to save him and put everything right? Jeffers' dream-like illustrations make this utterly charming. - Jen
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Eric Ambler; James Fenton; Mark... In the lead up to World War II, Eric Ambler pioneered a new type of thriller which avoided the xenophobia and worship of violence which was commonplace before. This book is the best example of his work - it's an intelligent page-turner which accepts no cheap and easy explanations. - Chris
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Lucy Cousins; Lucy Cousins Read this and feel four years old again. Better still, read this to four year olds, out loud and with lots of sound effects. Hilarious and fun with a touching ending, Lucy Cousins tells the story of Dog, who thinks he is the best at everything, until he learns that his friends are actually better than him at some things, which leaves him feeling quite miserable. A massive dollop of bright, brilliant happiness. Plus, the donkey wears a sweater. - Jen
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Harry has always wanted a cat and when Mr Tiddles arrives Harry treats him ever so well. Harry loves Mr Tiddles. When Mr Tiddles decides to show Harry how much he too is loved, Harry begins to wonder where Mr Tiddles goes each night, where he finds Harry's lovely gifts and discovers that Mr Tiddles is not the lovely, fluffy cat that he believes he is. Great illustrations accompany this laugh out loud story. - Sam
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So you're sitting in class daydreaming as usual when the teacher disappears. At first you think it's a trick but then you realise that EVERYONE over the age of 15 is GONE.
What I love most about Gone is that you're not exactly sure what it is. Part Golding's Lord of the Flies, where the initial euphoria of no rules gives way to a savage dog eat dog way of life and part Lovecraftian horror where an ancient evil is controlling events to who knows what ends. The characters are well defined, being reluctant heroes with flaws that make them all too believably human, or at least part-human. Gone is a fast-paced, action-packed read which will make you hunger for more.
- Sam |
Zadie Smith’s debut novel is full of humour and pathos, will enrich the days you spend reading it, and make you sorry to see it end. Usually, I do not condone free reading in a bookstore-don’t crack the spine!-but read the first 6 pages or so. If, at the end of those pages you haven’t chuckled at least once or have the slightest curiosity about what happens next, that’s fine. You can walk away. Otherwise, you’ll have done yourself a favour. - Cindy. |
A Spanish critic, upon visiting Garcia Marquez’s hometown of Cartagena, chided that the author was merely recording the reality of Colombia, like “a notary without imagination.” It has the honour of having my favourite opening and closing sentences of any book I have ever read. Do not be discouraged by the density of the book; it is well worth a dozen false starts, as long as one day you complete it. This work of Garcia Marquez’s is earth-shattering in its beauty. - Cindy. |
The best writing transports you effortlessly to another time and place. Gabriel Gbadamosi does just this in Vauxhall, delving into the recent history of the area through the eyes of young Michael, who unwittingly records not just the physical changes but also the constant movement of people and cultures; London in microcosm. - Jasper
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Jorge Luis Borges; Donald A. Yates;... A planet that doesn't exist. A coin that can't be forgotten. A man who writes a book that already exists. This collection of Borges' magical, literary short stories is full of adventure. You'll meet Argentine rebels, detectives, wizards, theologians, spies, immortals, and more. But more than that, Labyrinthsis a cavalcade of wonders; its mind-expanding and metaphysical mysteries and paradoxes are quick and concise, and full of a sense of musing. Borges' tone throughout is playful, mythic, serious, faux-serious, poignant, elegiac - rendering each of these salacious intellectual tidbits with an incredible richness, rendering their simplicity giant. Yet Borges' greatest legacy, for me, comes of his seamless weaving of truth and tale. He invents long, feasibly deadpan histories for his factish fictions, weaving them back through our established past; he fabricates intellectuals in our history of ideas and embeds dusty new footnotes in our consensual bibliography. Just as, in one of the stories contained, the natural conclusion of a man who's dreamed another into being is to consider himself a dream, so Borges' work leaves us with the notion that what we've been calling reality is in fact the perfect, total fiction - and what we've been calling fiction, simply another shade of reality. This book is special. Vanquishing the unvanquishable, Labyrinths has reworked my scepticism and instilled in me a romance for mysticism, an unlikely optimism, and a faith, in the possibility of faith. Has it changed my life? Maybe not. But has it changed me? Certainly. - Gary |