A personal review of books, the only link between them is that there is NO LINK!
By Thomas F. Madden ISBN: 978-0-14-750980-2 First published 2012 427 pages Publisher: Penguin.org Cover photograph: Josef Hoflechner 5/5 Stars A super history of a once great city-state. Madden reveals how Venice was formed by refugees of the fallen Western Roman Empire, and was nurtured for most of its long life by the Eastern Roman Empire.… Continue reading Venice – A New History
by Philip Pullman ISBN: 978-1-407154-18-3 First published 1997 325 pages Cover illustration: Unknown Inside illustrations: Philip Pullman Publisher: Scholastic 5/5 Stars Fantastic, fast-moving fantasy adventure story, set in this world and 2 others - like it but different. The second in a trilogy, it reads easily and the plot flows freely. Balloonists, witches, Oxford gardens… Continue reading The Subtle Knife
by Stanislaw Lem ISBN: 978-0-241-31278-0 First published 1971 129 pages Cover illustration: Hayley Warnham 4/5 Stars An impressive and believable vision of the future. The future is chemically driven and chemically possessed. A new form of government is created, we live in the first chemocracy. Ijon Tichy has been 'saved' from a riot in Costa Rica,… Continue reading The Futurological Congress
by Andy Mulligan ISBN: 978-1-909-53113-0 First published 2010 211 pages Cover photography : Getty Images 4/5 stars A fantastic rip-roaring 'boys-own' tale, about life at a mile-wide trash site in the Philippines. The smells and sounds of living on a garbage site are given life. Do you know what a 'Stupp' is? Have you ever… Continue reading Trash
by Jane Harper ISBN: 978-1-74354-909-4 First published 2017 380 pages Cover design: MDCN Creative 3/5 Stars A very good, easy holiday read. Jane Harper's second published novel. Do you like outward bound retreats? Imagine going with the boss? Imagine going with the boss whilst simultaneously preparing to turn Crown witness and testify against them. Imagine… Continue reading Force of Nature
by Paul Kalanithi ISBN: 978-1-847-92367-7 First published 12th January 2016 225 pages Cover design: Liz Cosgrove 5/5 stars What makes a medic tick? What drives a surgeon? In this case a neuro-surgeon slash neuro-scientist. What drives him? Paul Kalinithi explains he was driven to understand death. To meet death and save life. To confront death… Continue reading When Breath Becomes Air
By C.S.Lewis ISBN: n/a First published 1954 188 pages Cover design: Stephen Lavis Illustrated by Pauline Baynes 5/5 Stars Fabulous fantasy tale of Shasta and his talking horse Bree. This is a tale of mistaken identity, a fabulous battle, duplicity and lies, courage and despair. It ranges from the desert to the mountains, across 3… Continue reading The Horse and his Boy
How to become the person you've always wanted to be. by Steve Chandler ISBN: 978-1-63265-090-0 First published 1997 234 pages Cover design Howard Grossman 5/5 Stars An incredibly motivating book. Spirit. Spirit guides this book. It turns difficult situations into a game. It sees fun and life everywhere. It takes the distressed and downhearted… Continue reading Reinventing Yourself
The Eclectic Book Review 