Book

I am always a little suspicious of books claiming to show mere mortals how to emulate other, more successful people. There is a great tendency to think that if only someone would only do X, Y, and Z, they too could be a great success. The reality is, that many of us cannot replicate what others have done because we are not them and do not necessarily have their assets, traits or brain wiring. ..read more

La Plante excels again in british crime fiction with another great read. it is great, but slightly odd, to read a crime thriller book set in the UK - we are so used to reading american fiction that it disorientates you a bit to begin with! The characters are well rounded and the team could easily be part of a tv series (that would actually be very watchable).

"I was covered in blood when the police found me", not the traditional opener for a teen novel! but Devlin throws the reader straight into the thick of things in this novel: a fantastically consuming story that's a cross between the Twilight saga and TV show Teen Wolf.

The characters are compelling and instantly relatable and you feel complete empathy with the lead character Avery, a teenage girl whose parents have just been murdered, and life thrown upside-down as she has to leave her home in the woods to live with her grandmother whom she hardly knows.

Another great Tempe Brennan novel, this time set in Reichs' hometown of Charlotte, and based around the world of NASCAR racing. Brennan is called to the landfill behind the racing track when a body is discovered in a barrel. Before she knows whats' happening, the FBI are involved and the body suddenly disappears from the morgue and is 'accidently' cremated before it can be identified.

This is the last book in this most entertaining series about Edgar the raven and the mad cap family the Otherhands.

Otherhand castle is up for sale because Valevine has finally run out of money. Edgar is away on raven buisness, but in the meantime a little ravenlet called Rob appears!

Solstice and Cudweed decide to try and help their parents and save the castle with horrendous results.

I have to say I'm not a fan of travelling underground and 'Metro 2033' is an adventure in itself that hopefully we'd never have to cope with on the London tube if the apocalypse ever was to happen here.

I felt that Dmitri Glukhovsky's book was full of imagination and vision - he gives Artyom his main character full reign in this post apocalyptic fantasy of saving his Metro station where he lives. But can he save humanity itself from the dangers that he himself has to go through from the very unwordly creatures?

Brian King is a Cinical Social Worker who is himself on the autistic spectrum, as are his three children and wife. He is therefore ideally placed both professionally and personally to write a book about how to relate to people on the spectrum.

The book offers ten strategies which King has devised after years of struggling to find a way of coping with life. His suggestions are just as relevant to those on the spectrum as they are to neuro-typicals.

My copy of ‘Trueman Bradley' is very dog eared because it has been read by all my family and many of my friends and we all love it. Sadly my 4 month old puppy loves the book too which is why half of the cover is missing!

One very popular hobby in the UK, indeed large parts of the planet, is that of tropical fish keeping - and as with any hobby, there is a plethora of books on the subject aimed at aspects of the hobby, from the beginner, to the specialist, to the niche market, and so on.

As a long time tropical hobbyist myself, I also have a number of books, magazine articles, and other sources of information - after all, we are looking after living creatures here and it we are morally bound to give them our best attention, which sadly isn't always the case.

Jake D'Jones is a seemingly normal teenager with slightly eccentric parents and a lost older brother. The he gets kidnapped and find out that his parents are part of a secret time travelers society. His subsequent adventures, getting to know his fellow travelers, and trying to find his parents, make engrossing reading.

Clear to read, with historical facts and backgrounds as a bonus, this is a enjoyable, humorous escapist action novel, and the start of a series which has to be good news.