Black Swan

A Short History of Nearly Everything

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

A real eye opener, 2010-07-07
I have only read the first two chapters and already have plans to get my hands on a telescope and do some serious star gazing. I am sure if I had been told some of this stuff in school I would have taken more interest in physics and maths.

Twenties Girl

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

Fun read, 2010-07-15
I saw this in the bookshop and was torn. I loved Undomestic Goddess but I didn't like the Shopaholic series. The ghost plot also isn't exactly original. But I'm really happy I decided to go for it, it is such a FUN read. I loved the fact that I laughed out loud at certain scenes in the book. Couldn't put it down until the last page!

An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain: or Sixty Years of Making the Same Stupid Mistakes as Always

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

A readable and entertaining account of modern British history, 2010-05-29
This is the most readable and entertaining account of modern British history. I massively enjoyed the author's account of the last 2000 years and this book follows on in the same irreverent tone. The book does not take itself seriously at all and is a joy to read.

Icons of England

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

England Rocks! (just not at football or tennis), 2010-07-02
This book proves I am not alone in enjoying the great country that is England and that there are others who enjoy the minutiae of life that makes England 'England'. I too enjoy walking in the countryside and enjoying the site of our natural wildlife; having cream teas at village teashops, enjoying the quiet of a church and relishing the history that surrounds it; and walking along piers because that's what one has to do when at the seaside. Reading the contributions that made it into the book one wonders on the tales and reminisces that didn't make it inside. It certainly has made me want to visit Norfolk, Rutland, Yorkshire and a myriad of other places to see these places before either big business or Mother Nature takes them away from us forever. Our villages and hamlets are already vanishing from the deluge of city dwellers with money who want a weekend home and then complain about the noise of the church bells and the smells from the local farms. What do they expect??? Telephone boxes, post offices, post boxes, butchers, bakers etc are already disappearing at an appalling rate. These are things that make England 'England' and we must save them!

Meltdown

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

Brilliant, 2010-07-21
I'm a huge fan of Ben Elton, I'm close to owning all of his books. His offerings of the last decade have been fantastic. Dead Famous is an unputdownable, hilarious novel. The First Casualty is gripping from start to finish without the humour, and with powerful messages. And Blind Faith is (in my opinion) his best.

So I just finished Meltdown, and first off, there aren't THAT many laughs. If you're expecting a comedy you may be disappointed. His best comedy can be found in Dead Famous and This Other Eden (again, IN MY OPINION). However, there's a great deal of satire which is entertaining.

The characters are familiar and likeable, and in some cases, extremely unlikable. Either way, you should have strong feelings towards all of them. That's good writing in my eyes! You can feel the friendship they share and empathize when tragedy strikes, and it strikes a lot.

As usual, it's written concisely, which really creates pace (it follows the same chapter style as Stark and Chart Throb), to the point where if real life weren't such a disturbance, you would read all day long.

Overall I'd reccommend it strongly, just not as a starting point.

The Book Thief

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

Strange, simply told and deeply touching, 2010-07-11
I read The Book Thief a busy couple of months ago, and I suddenly thought of it again today because I have been reading a thoroughly pedestrian English novel of manners that was boring. And the contrast between that and The Book Thief brought back to me how much that book had impressed itself on me. On reflection, I am sure that The Book Thief is one of the most significant novels of recent years.

It is written in a fascinating way, and it only becomes clear at the end why the story is told by Death. It's a clever device, because Death was busy everywhere about the place, especially in the early years of the Second World War, gathering up the souls of people as they died. The story is set in a small town near Munich in southern Germany, and it begins in the years immediately before the war. For me, as someone who was born at that time and who recalls being a small child in England during the war, The Book Thief gives a startling and unexpected view of like in small-town Germany, among ordinary poor, working people. Things were bad, even before the war began, and they got worse, much worse, as the war went on. People in Britain were on short rations, maybe, but things were never so bad as what is described here - and that is without the role of the Nazi party and its officials.

It is also a clever device to make the central character a naive, poorly educated little girl, Liesl, who has lost her father and can never understand why her mother gave her up for fostering and disappeared. The slow emergence of her foster-parents as quite different from how they first appear when Liesl finds herself the only child in their poor house is beautifully managed. The story is heart-rending, and the foreboding that things will not go well for Liesl is unspoken but implied by the fact that Death is the story-teller, and he is constantly watching her. How much of an impact the novel has had is clear to me because I can recall most of the characters, and many of the events and incidents in the story. But what is even more impressive is that, as I remember reading the book, its atmosphere comes back to me and it is as if I had put the book down two minutes ago. It is hard, but it is extraordinarily rewarding.

Notes from a Small Island

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

britain in the eyes of bill bryson, 2010-07-04
another of bill brysons easy relaxing reads full of good old fashioned humour. it also contains many strange and weird unknown british facts. it takes you on a journey of the great british past and places which as bill clearly confirms changes rapidly.

Thanks For Nothing

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

Pleasantly surprised, 2010-02-25
I was given a copy of this book, and despite the raving recommendation that accompanied it, was rather skeptical. I expected a moaning monologue, but instead was pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing aloud, garnering some strange looks on the tube. An honest and thoroughly entertaining read!

The God Delusion

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

Much needed, 2010-07-08
To make a brief and simple point - if I had the resources I would buy a copy of this 'bible' for every adult in this country. I honestly believe it would make that much of a difference to our broken society and prevent the muddled poison of religion being peddled any further.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

Excellent, 2010-07-17
This is an excellent book and makes for fascinating reading. Great value and arrived in pristine condition.