Danielle Steele is one of those people who has had such a busy life one can’t figure out where all the time came from to cram it all in. Another I often think of in this light is Melvyn Bragg. Steele (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steele) is now 65 years old and the world’s best selling author, having sold […]
Jan Webster had a deep and instinctive feel for the Scots people of whom she wrote.This is an affecting saga of Scots life. ISBN 978-0446825825
The Dale and Owen Industrial Community Since 1785 Are you ever embarrassed about not knowing more about your local area when visitors arrive? Bone up on this book and have it to hand. It traces New Lanark’s history from its conception as a centre of mass production in 1785 to its present day standing as
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A really entertaining whilst informative work about how London has disposed of its dead throughout history. This can be dipped into and enjoyed especially by those of a ghoulish disposition. Ironically, Arnold’s writing brings London richly ‘to life’. ISBN 978-1416502487
Dutch born Catholic priest and writer Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen wrote some of the most profound yet accessible works about the spiritual life in the twentieth century. This is one such, about the spiritual life in three movements. Our best chance at salvation is found in reaching out to others. ISBN 978-0006280866
If you have never tried a novel by Thomas Hardy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy) start with The Return of the Native (1878). Its themes of sexual politics, thwarted desire, and the conflicting demands of nature and society mark it out with a modern character. Still underlying is the trademark sense of foreboding and classical tragedy. Hardy’s landscape descriptions of
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Barnes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Barnes and http://www.julianbarnes.com/) may have equals on the English language literary scene but none, I think, better. Here he dissects the sense of his own mortality in a crafted prose that is breathtaking in its poise and elegance. He asks if the fear of death is ‘the most rational thing in the world’, how does one contend
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The Natural History of Human Co-operation If you have ever been worried by the argument that all human behaviour is ‘genetically determined’, this could be the antidote. Without ever departing from the theory of evolution Pagel (Head of Bioinfomatics at Reading University) argues that art, music, religion and morality have truly constituted what it is
If you enjoy your crime fiction hard boiled and street tough try this one for size. The synopsis is as follows. Maureen Coughlin is in a rut. At twenty-nine, the strong Staten Island native fears she may become a ‘lifer’ at the Narrows, the faux-swank bar where she waits tables five nights a week. Nursing
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