TITLE | The Da Vinci Code |
AUTHOR | Dan Brown |
COMMENTS | A murder is committed in the Louvre museum. The victim, a leader of a religious sect and guardian of an ancient secret leaves cryptic clues as to the whereabouts of a great historical secret. The granddaughter of the victim - a cryptographer - and a famous American symbologist seek to unravel the clues to find the murderer and the great secret. They are closely chased by the French police and those seeking the secret.
This is a gripping thriller that explores some great mysteries from the Da Vinci pictures to the Holy Grail. |
RATING | Great suspense thriller: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | Was Mary Magdalene sitting on Jesus’ right hand side in Da Vinci’s picture of the Last Supper. See Dan Brown’s website: |
MORE INFO | http://www.danbrown.com/secrets/davinci_code/last_supper.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0552149519/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | The Curious Incident of the Dog |
AUTHOR | Mark Haddon |
COMMENTS | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Christopher is a 15-year-old autistic boy who is mathematically gifted. He decides to write his story after discovering the neighbour’s dog, which has been killed with a pitch-fork. He investigates the killing which leads to some heart-felt discoveries about his own mother and father.
Christopher runs away from home and embarks on a journey from Swindon to London. This is a mammoth task for Christopher, considering he has never been anywhere by himself or been on a train or tube, cannot bear to be with strangers, has a strong dislike of anything brown or yellow…. |
RATING | Superb, warm, humorous, touching book for young adults and adult readers: 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | Jane Austen was Mark Haddon’s inspiration for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. See extract taken from the Observer interview with Mark Haddon:
"Jane Austen was writing about boring people with desperately limited lives - yet Jane Austen writes about these humdrum lives with such empathy that they seem endlessly fascinating. And her first act of empathy is to write about them in the kind of book these woman would themselves read - the romantic novel. This was what I was trying to do in Curious Incident. To take a life that seemed horribly constrained, to write about it in the kind of book that the hero would read - a murder mystery - and hopefully show that if you viewed this life with sufficient imagination it would seem infinite." |
MORE INFO | http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/childrenandteens/story/0,6000,1189538,00.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099456761/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | The Shipping News |
AUTHOR | Annie Proulx |
COMMENTS | The story centres on Quolye, a third-rate newspaper writer and loser, who moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland with his two daughters and aunt. On a journey of self-discovery, Quolye learns of some dark family secrets, gains confidence in his writing and falls in love with Wavey Prowse who has a secret of her own. |
RATING | Contemporary American family drama in an atmospheric setting of a dying fishing community: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | Have you seen the film of Shipping News with Kevin Spacey, Judi Dench and Julianne Moore? Mainly not good reviews. See extract from IOFilm Review:
"Director Lasse Hallstrom admitted that E. Annie Proulx's novel would be a challenge to film and one gets the sense that the end vision was never fully formed from the start. Instead Hallstrom massages image and mood. There is much cinematic play on the rickety old house that Quoyle and co. move back into, whose guy ropes sing in the wind.
Soft ambient piano chords accompany shots of sweeping panoramas, dream sequences and memorable aquatic montages that hark back to Quoyle's disturbing childhood experience of almost drowning when his father threw him in the lake to teach him to swim. Aesthetically the film is pleasing, for a while, but the story and characterisation lose out. It's as if Hallstrom is reaching out to say something meaningful, but never gets round to saying it. Maybe you just have to be sensitive?" |
MORE INFO | |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841150592/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Enduring Love |
AUTHOR | Ian McEwan |
COMMENTS | Joe Rose and his girlfriend, Clarissa, whilst on a picnic in the Chilterns, witness a hot-air balloon out of control. Joe and four other men run to save the boy left in the balloon. The balloon surges upwards and the men let go apart from one who is carried high into the air before he falls and plunges to his death. Joe returns to his life as a rational, scientific professor but he constantly recalls the accident with feelings of self-reproach. Joe has to also deal with Jed Parry, one of the fellow rescuers, who becomes obsessed with Joe. Clarissa, however, believes that Jed is a figment of Joe’s imagination. |
RATING | Compelling suspense thriller: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Enduring love" - love that lasts forever, or love that is hard to bear? Is the enduring love between Clarissa and Joe, or Joe and Jed, or Jean and John?
An interview with Ian McEwan about Enduring Love. See the link below: |
MORE INFO | http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0398/mcewan/interview.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099276585/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Bel Canto |
AUTHOR | Ann Pratchett |
COMMENTS | In a South American country, a lavish birthday party is held in honour of an important Japanese businessman. A famous American opera soprano entertains the party of international guests. A gang of terrorists storm the party and take the guests as hostages. Months pass whilst the terrorists wait for the government to fulfil their demands. Yet from this bleak scenario, great love, compassion and music evolve whilst the hostages and terrorists forget their dire situation. |
RATING | Beautiful compelling read: 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | How much did Ann Pratchett know about opera before writing this book? See extract from Bookbrowse:
"I knew as much about opera as I did about baseball, which is to say nothing. But once I came up with the character of Roxane Coss I threw myself into learning about it whole-heartedly." |
MORE INFO | http://www.bookbrowse.com/index.cfm?page=author&authorID=645&view=interview |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841155837/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Atonement |
AUTHOR | Ian McEwan |
COMMENTS | One hot summer’s day in 1935, Briony Tallis, an over-imaginative 13 year old, witnesses an incident between her older sister Cecilia and Robbie Turner the son of the Tallis’s charlady. On reading a sexually suggestive note from Robbie to Ceclia that evening leads Briony to mistakenly believe that Robbie is the culprit to a crime committed late that night.
Through Briony’s testimony a tragedy ensues. Robbie is sent to prison and is then released early to join the army in World War II. Briony comes to realise her mistake and seeks atonement through her nursing career and through her writing a novel. |
RATING | Period drama, beautifully written: 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | Ian McEwan explains what Jane Austen has to do with Briony.
"One is that for Briony, who is 13 at the time - who sees it and makes a misjudgement in indicting the wrong man - this is the beginning of a life's process. The second thing has a lot to do with Jane Austen. The heroine of Northanger Abbey is a young girl whose head is stuffed with gothic novels, and she misreads the situation in a parallel way. A huge indulgence in literary models by Briony is partly what leads her to make her misjudgement."
See full text from the Guardian - link below. |
MORE INFO | http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,627239,00.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099429799/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | A Thousand Acres |
AUTHOR | Jane Smiley |
COMMENTS | A retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear, A Thousand Acres, tells of an aging father, Larry Cook, who retires and plans to leave his three daughters, Rose, Ginny and Caroline, his thriving 1,000 acre Iowa farm. The youngest daughter, Caroline, is against the idea and Larry cuts her out of the settlement. As Larry deteriorates into an angry drunk, he turns against his two daughters, Rose and Ginny, who struggle to cope with the grim realities of life on the farm.
Drama and tragedy ensue as the family are divided when Larry and Caroline bring a law-suit against Rose and Ginny, long-guarded secrets are confronted and the sisters become rivals over Jess Clark, a friend and neighbour. |
RATING | Beautifully crafted, contemporary American drama: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | Is Jane Smiley’s novel a feminist version of King Lear. Read what Caroline Cakebread has to say: |
MORE INFO | |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0006544827/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | A Widow for One Year |
AUTHOR | John Irving |
COMMENTS | "Ruth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character - a 'difficult' woman. By no means is she conventionally 'nice', but she will never be forgotten. Her story is told in three parts, each focussing on a critical time in her life. When we first meet her - on Long Island in the summer of 1958 - Ruth is only four.
The second time we meet Ruth it is 1990, when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. She distrusts her judgement in men, for good reason. The book closes in 1995 when Ruth is forty-one years old, a widow and a mother. She's about to fall in love for the first time.
Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing, A Widow for One Year is a multi-layered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief. " |
RATING | At times the work is heart-stopping in its grippping intensity - a real treat for Irving fans: 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "John Winslow Irving was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. He is the author of nine novels, among them The Hotel New Hampshire, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and A Son of the Circus. Mr. Irving is married and has three sons. He lives in Toronto and in southern Vermont." |
MORE INFO | http://www.randomhouse.com/randomhouse/authors/results.pperl?authorid=14109 |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/055299796X/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | The Christmas Mystery |
AUTHOR | Jostein Gaarder |
COMMENTS | Written by one-time Norwegian professor of philosophy Jostein Gaarder, The Christmas Mystery (published in 1992) serves up a metaphysical advent calendar which has us running, quite literally, back through time and space, in part to solve the mysterious disappearance of a girl from a department store in Oslo some half a century ago, but also to whisk us back to the very moment when Christianity took its first breath with the birth of Jesus.
The book is enchanting and delightful for young and old alike, and whilst it is intrinsically a deliberation on God and Christian doctrines, it at no point tries to preach to or convert its readers. It can be read on one level as being akin to a fairy tale as innocuous as Snow White, or read on another level which asks you to question your philosophical relationship to the festive season.
Our young hero, Joachim, leads us through each day/chapter of the metaphysical advent calendar as we join in his search to solve the mystery of the girl who ran after a sheep in the middle of a department store and who simply disappeared. To save her and to solve the mystery, he must unravel all the clues by Christmas Eve and the time when the last advent door is finally opened. |
RATING | If you’ve ever read and enjoyed Paul Coelho’s 'The Alchemist', then Gaarder’s Christmas Mystery should be on your list to start reading on the first of December: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Jostein Gaarder is the author of SOPHIE'S WORLD, a huge bestseller in over 40 countries. He was born in Oslo in 1952 and lives there now with his wife and two sons." |
MORE INFO | http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/author-details.aspx?HcatID=1&ID=4963 |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0753808668/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | A Christmas Carol |
AUTHOR | Charles Dickens |
COMMENTS | Written by Charles Dickens in 1843, A Christmas Carol is the greatest English Christmas story. It tells the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old and doomed miser who is saved from damnation by the intervention of his long dead partner's spirit and by three ghosts which represent Scrooge's past, present and future. Seeing the folly of his ways, Scrooge is changed man - embracing Christmas with an open and willing heart.
Dickens' Preface:
"I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.
Their faithful Friend and Servant, C.D.
December, 1843" |
RATING | The novel defines Christmas: 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is considered to be one of the greatest English novelists of the Victorian period. Dickens's works are characterized by attacks on social evils, injustice, and hypocrisy." |
MORE INFO | |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140620990/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Brideshead Revisited |
AUTHOR | Evelyn Waugh |
COMMENTS | Written by Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited tells the story of Charles Ryder and his moving relationships with members of the Marchmain family between the First and Second World Wars. It is a superbly crafted novel, set predominantly in Oxford and London - suitable for lovers of quality literature. |
RATING | Probably the finest novel of its generation: 5/5 |
ADDITIONAL | EVELYN WAUGH (1903-1966)
"You have no idea how much nastier I would be if I was not a Catholic. Without supernatural aid I would hardly be a human being." |
MORE INFO | http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,5917,-137,00.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1857151720/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | English Grammar in Use |
AUTHOR | Raymond Murphy |
COMMENTS | Stalwart grammar book - popular for years with students and teachers alike.
"English Grammar in Use Third Edition is a fully updated version of the classic grammar title. It retains the key features of clarity and accessibility which have made the book so popular. This third edition: - has 10 completely new units, including 9 new units on phrasal verbs to more thoroughly cover this important area for intermediate students. - has even more Additional Exercises, to offer more contrastive practice. - is in full colour and has a slightly larger format to look clearer and more inviting for students. The with answers version of the book is packaged with the CD ROM. This exciting and substantial new CD ROM: - has a diagnostic test to help students identify areas to practise. - has extra exercises for all the units in the book. - allows users to make their own tests from a bank of contrastive exercises. - has recordings of all the main exercises so users can practise their pronunciation. - includes a link to Cambridge Dictionaries Online so students can look up any words they need." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521537622/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Practical English Usage |
AUTHOR | Michael Swan |
COMMENTS | A definitive reference book for English grammar. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/019431197X/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary |
AUTHOR | A.S. Hornby |
COMMENTS | This is without any doubt the best dictionary for ELT students and teachers. Buy it. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0194315851/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary |
AUTHOR | Dilys Parkinson |
COMMENTS | "A clear, accessible dictionary to help students with this essential aspect of English." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0194315436/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Oxford Guide to UK and US Culture |
AUTHOR | Jonathan Crowther |
COMMENTS | The Oxford Guide to British and American Culture
This is an excellent reference book that picks over the entrails of English life and culture on either side of the Herring Pond. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0194313328/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Materials and Methods in ELT |
AUTHOR | Jo McDonough, Christopher Shaw |
COMMENTS | "This popular textbook offers a comprehensive and practical introduction to central themes in the principles and practice of Teaching English as a Foreign/Second Language. It is written both for teachers and for those taking professional courses in English Language Teaching." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0631227377/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Grammar Games |
AUTHOR | Mario Rinvolucri |
COMMENTS | From "Super Mario" a simply superb book for teachers who like to get their students to talk! |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521277736/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | More Grammar Games |
AUTHOR | Paul Davis, Mario Rinvolucri |
COMMENTS | A follow up to the hugely popular "Grammar Games" by Mario Rinvolucri. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/052146630X/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Discussion Starters |
AUTHOR | Keith S. Folse |
COMMENTS | Speaking Fluency Activities for Advanced ESL/EFL Students |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0472083341/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Discussions That Work |
AUTHOR | Pennny Ur |
COMMENTS | Task-centred fluency practice for ELT students. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521281695/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Grammar Practice Activities |
AUTHOR | Penny Ur |
COMMENTS | "For the teacher who wishes to combine grammar teaching with a broadly communicative methodology, this book is an invaluable resource." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521338476/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Keep Talking |
AUTHOR | Friederike Klippel |
COMMENTS | "This is a practical guide to communication activities in the language classroom, suitable for use with students from elementary to advanced level." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521278716/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Games for Language Learning |
AUTHOR | Andrew Wright, David Betteridge, Michael Buckby |
COMMENTS | "Games provide meaningful and enjoyable language practice at all levels and for all age groups. They can be used to practise any of the skills - speaking, listening, reading and writing - at any stage of the learning process, from controlled repetition through guided practice to free expression." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/052127737X/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Language Teaching Games and Contests |
AUTHOR | W.R. Lee |
COMMENTS | "Designed to make language learning enjoyable and effective, this book includes games for all age groups and language levels. Each chapter begins with a short introduction, and each game is then explained clearly and practically. The book is especially suitable for use with large classes." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0194327167/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | The Practice of English Language Teaching |
AUTHOR | J Harmer |
COMMENTS | "Offers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of theories of language and language teaching, the guide includes a wide range of practical teaching ideas, example lessons and samples from current teaching materials. It also focuses on the sociological and psychological perspectives of language and language learning." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0582403855/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | A Practical English Grammar |
AUTHOR | A.J. Thomson, A.V. Martinet |
COMMENTS | A biblical reference tome for English students and their teachers. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0194313425/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | New Headway English Course |
AUTHOR | John Soars, Liz Soars |
COMMENTS | Lots of levels and various editions, Headway is still a force in any classroom. Choose the right book for your level. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0194702251/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Grammar for English Language Teachers |
AUTHOR | Martin Parrott |
COMMENTS | "Grammar for English Language Teachers helps teachers to develop their overall knowledge and understanding of English grammar, and provides a quick source of reference in planning lessons and clarifying learners' problems." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521477972/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Advanced Gold Coursebook |
AUTHOR | R Acklam, Sally Burgess |
COMMENTS | Course book for advanced ELT students |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0582338042/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Cambridge IELTS 3 Self-study Pack |
AUTHOR | Niki Browne |
COMMENTS | "Cambridge IELTS 3 provides students with an excellent opportunity to familiarise themselves with IELTS and to practise examination techniques using authentic test material." |
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TITLE | Insight into IELTS Extra |
AUTHOR | Vanessa Jakeman, Clare McDowell |
COMMENTS | "Insight into IELTS offers comprehensive preparation for the International English Language Testing System, known as IELTS." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521009499/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Focus on IELTS |
AUTHOR | Sue O'Connell |
COMMENTS | "This IELTS preparation course provides exam skills development and graded practice." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0582447739/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Check Your Vocabulary IELTS |
AUTHOR | Rawdon Wyatt |
COMMENTS | Check Your Vocabulary for English for the IELTS Exam
"It includes a range of activities to help students build and improve their English vocabulary. It is suitable for both self-study and the classroom." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747569827/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | 101 Helpful Hints for IELTS |
AUTHOR | Garry Adams |
COMMENTS | A fantastic starting point for anyone sitting IELTS. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0958760462/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | TOEIC Official Test Preparation Guide |
AUTHOR | Bo Arbogast |
COMMENTS | "Whether you are preparing for the TOEIC test or teaching TOEIC test preparation classes, this thoroughly updated guide gives you the practice you need for test success." |
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TITLE | Cracking the TOEIC |
AUTHOR | Elizabeth Rollins |
COMMENTS | A cracking book for IELTS students. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375763279/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | 600 Essential Words for the TOEIC |
AUTHOR | Lin Lougheed |
COMMENTS | Very popular with students and teachers the world over. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764175386/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Common Mistakes at First Certificate |
AUTHOR | Susanne Tayfoor |
COMMENTS | "This neat little book focuses on the real mistakes learners make at FCE and shows how to avoid them. It is based on the Cambridge Learner Corpus, a unique resource containing over 10,000 marked exam scripts from Cambridge ESOL." |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521520622/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Focus on First Certificate |
AUTHOR | Sue O'Connell |
COMMENTS | Considered as an excellent course book by both teachers and students. |
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BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0175569975/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Eats, Shoots and Leaves |
AUTHOR | Lynne Truss |
COMMENTS | "This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset about it. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to Sir Roger Casement "hanged on a comma"; from George Orwell shunning the semicolon to Peter Cook saying Nevile Shute's three dots made him feel all funny", this book makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with." |
RATING | Very popular: 2/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Lynne Truss is a writer and journalist who started out as a literary editor with a blue pencil and then got sidetracked. The author of three novels and numerous radio comedy dramas, she spent six years as the television critic of The Times of London, followed by four (rather peculiar) years as a sports columnist for the same newspaper. She won Columnist of the Year for her work for Women’s Journal. Lynne Truss also hosted Cutting a Dash, a popular BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation. She now reviews books for the Sunday Times of London and is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4. She lives in Brighton, England." |
MORE INFO | http://www.eatsshootsandleaves.com |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861976127/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | The Fish Who Could Wish |
AUTHOR | John Bush, Korky Paul |
COMMENTS | Simple book for the very young who will love to read this one over and over again. |
RATING | A fun read for kids aged three and above: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "In the deep blue sea, In the deep of the blue, Swam a fish who could wish, And each wish would come true" |
MORE INFO | http://www.korkypaul.com/bigfish.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0192722409/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | The Wind in the Willows |
AUTHOR | Kenneth Grahame |
COMMENTS | "This children's classic tells the story of Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toad, their adventures by the river and their resourceful fight against the weasels and stoats who capture Toad Hall."
Where would children's literature be without this story? |
RATING | This is a book you'll either love or hate: 2/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) was an English author, most remembered for his children's classic The Wind in the Willows(1908)." |
MORE INFO | http://www.online-literature.com/grahame/ |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1405208422/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Winnie the Pooh |
AUTHOR | A A Milne |
COMMENTS | There's no escaping Winnie The Pooh - he turns up in references through English culture and literature. |
RATING | For a bear with no brain at all, he's been popular for a long, long time: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Scots by birth, Alan Milne spent his childhood in London, where his father was a preparatory schoolmaster. His early education owed much to the skills of a young teacher and mentor -- H.G. Wells -- years later, Milne described Wells as "a great writer and a great friend." He continued his education at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He bequethed his original handwritten manuscripts of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner to the College Library." |
MORE INFO | http://www.pooh-corner.com/biomilne.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0416199615/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Harry Potter (5) Order of the Phoenix |
AUTHOR | J.K. Rowling |
COMMENTS | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry's fifth adventure and the heaviest to date. Superb story telling by JK who grips you on the first page and just doesn't let you go! |
RATING | Another great JK read: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I'm sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." |
MORE INFO | http://www.jkrowling.com/ |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747561079/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Harry Potter (4) Goblet of Fire |
AUTHOR | J.K. Rowling |
COMMENTS | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry's fourth adventure and the famous episode of the Tri-Wizard Cup and the resurrection of He Who MustNotBeNamed. Superb, as ever, story telling by JK who grips you on the first page and just doesn't let you go! |
RATING | Suberb Harry adventure: 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I'm sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." |
MORE INFO | http://www.jkrowling.com/ |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747550999/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Harry Potter (3) Prisoner of Azkaban |
AUTHOR | J.K. Rowling |
COMMENTS | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry's third adventure and probably the best to date. Brilliant twists and turns as JK plays with time and our minds as we whiz through her magical world. |
RATING | The best of the HP novels? 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I'm sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." |
MORE INFO | http://www.jkrowling.com/ |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1855496720/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Harry Potter (1) Philosopher's Stone |
AUTHOR | J.K. Rowling |
COMMENTS | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry's first adventure - the book that launched a billion imaginations. |
RATING | Where it all began: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I'm sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." |
MORE INFO | http://www.jkrowling.com/ |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747532745/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Harry Potter (2) Chamber of Secrets |
AUTHOR | J.K. Rowling |
COMMENTS | Harry Potter (2) and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry's second adventure - Ginny starts at Hogwarts and brings a whole lot of problems with her. |
RATING | Not HP's finest, but well worth a read: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I'm sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." |
MORE INFO | http://www.jkrowling.com/ |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747562180/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Angels and Demons |
AUTHOR | Dan Brown |
COMMENTS | It is hard to write a review of Angels and Demons (by Dan Brown) without giving away too much of the plot. I think it is overly simple to call a book like Angels and Demons a “thriller” when it is so very much more than, and so very different to, all that such a label describes. The joy in reading this book, is not that it gives you a thrill as such, but that it offers you a glimpse into other social worlds and other academic topics that you might not otherwise find yourself immersed in.
Brown takes you from the USA, to CERN - the scientific research centre in Switzerland - and on to the Vatican City in a couple of astonishing and very fast (read the book to understand this reference) bounds. The plot is founded on the struggles between science and religion to rest as happy bed fellows: science on the one hand debunking simple faith with its hard and caustic truths; religion on the other having an historic antagonism towards scientists which, in Brown’s premise, continues to this day in the grit and gall of a secret society called the Illuminati.
With the Illuminati apparently threatening to strike at the very heart of the Catholic Church during a papal election, Brown has our hero – Robert Landon (he of the Indiana Jones-style heroics in the Da Vinci Code) - leading us through an ancient maze in an effort to crack the Illuminati code and save the day.
As the pages turn, the book has moments that are euphoric and almost evangelical. Come the last chapters, you’re either going to accept the twists and turns as they come or there will be some part of you that is disappointed that all is not as it so gloriously seems.
The book ends on an optimistic high and should leave its readers clamouring for more. Well done, Dan, another cracker. |
RATING | Great novel: 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | See Dan Brown’s website: |
MORE INFO | http://www.danbrown.com/secrets/bizarre_facts/angels_demons.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0552150738/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Lovely Bones |
AUTHOR | Alice Sebold |
COMMENTS | The narrator of Lovely Bones is a dead 14 year old girl called Susie Salmon, and we meet her just after her near neighbour, Mr Harvey, has raped, murdered and then dismembered her.
But this is not a gory horror story desperately penned with self-serving violence and blood stained knives: the straight facts are given with a cool and honest simplicity, adroitly missing out gruesome details but still leaving the reader shocked and heartbroken at Susie’s callous and calculated murder.
No, the Lovely Bones, is a Lovely Story: about love and hope; families and friendships; heaven and earth; life and death; growing up and growing old; about coming to terms with the "inbetween" and our need to both move on and yet to stay exactly where we are.
With drama, but without melodrama, we follow Susie as she watches from her own “wide wide heaven” as her family and friends fracture and then rebuild their lives - jointly and severally - as they try to come to terms with their individual and shared feelings of loss.
Lovely Bones is gently observed and softly written. Like neighbours and friends of Susie’s family who find themselves fearful of imposing on the family’s grief, the reader feels almost as if they are prying into the family’s life at a time when they really should not be there. We sit with Susie and watch from her slice of heaven and feel her grief – a gift given to us by the skill of Alice Sebold‘s writing.
This is a deep novel and deserves to be read with an open mind and an open heart. There can be little doubt that the murder of a child will shock and upset any sane human being but, in the end, Sebold brings us to a point at which we can understand Susie’s place in heaven and actually feel elevated by the heartfelt human insights she gives us. |
RATING | Superbly moving and movingly superb. 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Author of the run-away bestseller The Lovely Bones (over 2 million copies in print), Alice Sebold is deeply interested in issues of violence and family and how we find hope in the modern world. She is a fanatic about Henry James and loves to talk about the process of writing itself, the differences between memoir and fiction, and the idea of working among the arts in order to make art of any kind. Her fantasy audience would include an auditorium of dogs and cats accompanied by their humans, as she considers animals to be one of the true comforts available to us on a daily basis. She wants us all to go to more museums and read more modern poetry and to enjoy them as opposed to feeling them as educational “shoulds.”" |
MORE INFO | http://www.barclayagency.com/sebold.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330485385/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Hunting Unicorns |
AUTHOR | Bella Pollen |
COMMENTS | This is a “Notting Hill” of a book. You can just see it being made into a film with Hugh Grant as the bumbling upper crust Rory, falling for Julia Roberts as the slightly edgy and ill-defined US documentary-maker Maggie Monroe.
Maggie comes to the UK with a plan to make a documentary about the fading British aristocracy, Tony Blair having just proved his penchant for absolute power by sweeping away the hereditary peers in the House of Lords.
Of course, Rory and Maggie get on like a house with an abundance of fire alarms and the only smoke in their passionate relationship comes from the snarling comments they throw at each other. But hey, this is “Notting Hill II” and you don’t need me to tell you that in the end the ice melts and good old Maggie turns out to have something more than just a passing loathing for Rory. Cue the big kiss and the “they all live happily ever after” ending.
Some people will love this book. Others will find it a mild read for a quiet night. It certainly won’t ever be regarded as a classic.
It deals with stereotypes and, in particular, how the Brits and the Yanks always misunderstand and underestimate each other, but some parts [unintentionally?] of it actually seemed coarse to me and made me flinch: we are after all supposed to live in a racially tolerant and enlightened society … not in one that feels like its ideas are wedged, at least in part, in the 1950s. |
RATING | A so-so read at best, but go in with low and simple expectations to avoid disappointment. 2/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Re-visit Brideshead in the twenty-first century ... that was the brief ...
Adrift in a rapidly changing world, the Bevans cling to tradition while wrestling with taxes, tree blight and the need to keep the family skeleton firmly in the cupboard.
The Earl and Countess Bevan - charming, mad and emotionally abbreviated.
Daniel, their eldest son - funny, clever, but a hopeless alcoholic.
Rory, his younger brother - sometimes moody, often cross, but mostly furious.
Enter Maggie, am opinionated and occasionally ferocious American journalist for CBS's hard-hitting current affairs show Newsline. Far happier sending back dispatches from the trenches of war-torn anywhere, Maggie is none too pleased at being forced to research a documentary on the decline and fall of England's upper classes.
When these two worlds collide no one is prepared for the fallout.
The story of two brothers with inextricable attachments and one girl with none, Hunting Unicorns is an unlikely romantic comedy that explores the themes of loyalty and loss and, ultimately, having the courage to risk everything in the pursuit of what really counts." |
MORE INFO | http://www.panmacmillan.com/huntingunicorns/default.html |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330411578/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | Harry Potter (6) Half Blood Prince |
AUTHOR | J.K. Rowling |
COMMENTS | Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry's sixth adventure …. More to follow on publication! |
RATING | Another great JK read: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I'm sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." |
MORE INFO | http://www.jkrowling.com/ |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747581088/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | The Travel Book |
AUTHOR | Roz Hopkins |
COMMENTS | "A pictorial guide to travel around the world features vivid, full-color photographs and informative descriptions of more than two hundred countries around the world, all organized alphabetically for easy access, along with key facts, maps, cultural insights, and travel tips for each nation." |
RATING | Full of facts: 3/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "The definitive pictorial dedicated to travel and the world, The Travel Book captures every country on the planet in photographs and atmospheric text. Inspirational, inviting and beautiful, it combines stunning images with entertaining, informative text that captures the essence of being there. User-friendly A-to-Z coverage of every country in the world with double-page spreads of every country. Includes cultural insights, key facts and maps. Breathtaking photographs that capture the soul of each destination from Lonely Planet’s comprehensive image library, Lonely Planet Images." |
MORE INFO | http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/product_detail.cfm?productID=2589 |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1741044510/gouktheezinefo07 |
TITLE | The Shadow of the Wind / La Sombra del Viento |
AUTHOR | Carlos Ruiz Zafon |
COMMENTS | THE BLURB: “Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'Cemetery of Forgotten Books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son, Daniel, one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book and from the dusty shelves pulls ‘The Shadow of the Wind' by Julian Carax. But as Daniel grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. “
'La Sombra del Viento' (The Shadow of the Wind) is a novel that comes heavily weighted with other people’s laudatory comments. As the blurb says, it tells the tale of a boy, Daniel, who discovers a book (also called The Shadow of the Wind) that has been all but forgotten in the handful of years since it was written. Through his possession of the book (and the book's possession of him) he meets a number of characters including a book dealer and his blind niece, Clara, who is a dead-ringer for Pip’s femme fatale, Estella, in Dickens’ novel, ‘Great Expectations’. At first it feels like the book is going to be nothing more than a reworking of Dickens, especially when a mysterious character starts to follow Daniel in the same vein as Magwitch follows Pip in the early chapters of Great Expectations. Like the book dealer, the mysterious character – his face burnt and leathery – wants Daniel to give up the book. The big question is why?
Launched into this mystery and over many years, Daniel sets out to find out about the book’s author and soon discovers a trail of childish romance, misplaced friendship, deceit, hatred, delusion and to the apparent murder of Julian Carax some years earlier on the orders of a psychotic Spanish policeman. You don’t have to have the mind of Sherlock Holmes to work out pretty quickly that Julian Carax is alive and burnt and wandering around Barcelona hassling our hero, Daniel, into giving up his copy of The Shadow of the Wind so that he can destroy it and obliterate all traces of his literary works. An author who wants to destroy his own work? Yes, for ill-found, lost and thwarted love, of course.
Okay, so the story line isn’t that great – the book certainly isn’t a mystery and it isn’t a thriller – and it certainly isn’t particularly that different to anything you haven’t read countless times before or seen in endless soap operas. So, is it the narrative of the book that has earned it such widespread praise? No. The book is written in two distinct styles: one in which Zafon as the author of our book tells us about Daniel’s story; and the other in which Daniel’s story is put on hold whilst we get long sections of “once-upon-a-time” storytelling where characters Daniel meets in his travels espouse long monologues relating some or other anecdote about Julian Carax and his childhood romance. For pages, Daniel is as good as dead and buried whilst the new character’s story takes over – a format that anyone who has read Dickens’ (yes, Dickens again) Pickwick Papers will surely recognise and either love or loathe. For me, this chopping from Daniel to character narration is a bit tedious, making the book feel like it has been cobbled together from different blocks of text that Zafon has written at different points in his life.
So if the book isn’t mysterious, isn’t thrilling, and isn’t strong on its underlying narrative, what is it that makes it a novel worth reading?
The answer to that has to be the quality of the writing itself (not the translation which is too evident, too often) in that whilst Zafon in The Shadow of the Wind might not be a great storyteller, he is – line by line – a great writer. How many people could have this thought but be able to articulate it this well:
“This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”
And it is words and thoughts and ideas like these that leap out of the page at you with such force of beauty that you simply find yourself wanting to read on and on in the hope of finding another literary pearl. In this way, Zafon is strikingly similar to Evelyn Waugh, who was never a great storyteller and certainly never very imaginative, but who could write with a sense of beauty that was breathtaking. One of the first books I remember reading as a kid was Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited in which he opined that “To know and love one other human being is the root of all wisdom.” A simple statement, beautifully written and typical of the kind of gems that Zafon litters generously in The Shadow of the Wind.
You might find the core story of teenage infatuation carried into adulthood slightly nauseous. You might find Julian Carax’s obsessively self-indulgent attitude to be slightly nauseous. You might even find the rendering of Julian as a Harry Potter/Tony Blair style hero to his friends more than slightly nauseous. But none of this will detract from the fact that the novel as a whole is held together by Zafon’s skill a writer. |
RATING | It is not a great book, but it is a great and worthwhile read. 4/5 |
ADDITIONAL | "Carlos Ruiz Zafón was born in Barcelona and grew up under the shadow of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral, just a block away from the family home. For a few years he lived in Los Angeles, working as a screenwriter, and has published four novels for young-adults before escaping everything to write THE SHADOW OF THE WIND, a novel that has become an international literary phenomenon in over 20 countries. His work has been translated into 17 languages." |
MORE INFO | http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/11007-1/Author-Carlos-Ruiz-Zafon.htm |
BUY THE BOOK | http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0753819317/gouktheezinefo07 |