Phoenix

This is one of the most fascinating Biographies that I have ever read. The author brilliantly brings to life the
intelligent and complex man who is Arthur Conan Doyle.

Orginally Conan Doyle trained as a Doctor while starting his writing career, which helped to supplement his income. The Sherlock Holmes books were just a small part of his large output of published material. There was something about the character of Sherlock Holmes that captured the public's imagination and we are still fascinated by him today.

Marie Helvin, half Japanese, half American supermodel, best known to most of us for her enduring, exotic beauty and her association with the iconic photographer, David Bailey. Here she tells her own story.

From an idyllic, free, childhood in Hawaii to international celebrity, she frankly and disarmingly documents the highs and lows of her life and the people who were important to her.

Fifteen year old schoolboy Michael Berg is recovering from illness and while convalescing goes for a walk which changes his life. He meets Hanna, much older than himself and starts a clandestine affair. He is infatuated with her and his life revolves around her. However, she suddenly disappears and they meet again some years later, he as a law student and she as one of a group of defendants in a war crimes trial. He follows the trial and it transpires that as a camp guard she and her colleagues could have saved the lives of prisoners in a burning church but did not act. ..read more

This book by Julie Walters, is written in a different way to most, although it is becoming a way that one or two authors are adopting, that of using a chapter to talk about one character's part in the story. With this book to begin with I was confused and could not understand how the characters linked together, then suddenly a third of the way through I grabbed the significance of each players part.

A cross between ‘Yes minister' and Mrs Dale's diary this delightful contemporary ‘science fiction' deals light heartedly with the political posturing that affects current British public service.

It also (as my Iraqi friend testifies) draws on middle eastern politics and culture to provide a romping good read.I learnt a lot about salmon fishing too!