We are always pleased if customers provide us with reviews of recent reads so that we can share the information with others browsing the shelves and the website. Here are some recent reviews.
Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa LahiriI don’t like short story collections; well at least I didn’t until a friend thrust this into my hand. Each story is so jam-packed with the lives of the people in it that you think you are reading two hundred and fifty pages, not twenty five. Lahiri addresses so many issues; love, marriage, living in a foreign country, longing for home, prejudice, in the most delightful and mesmerising way and you will finish the book feeling enlightened, personal friends of her characters and really glad you read it. Ann B.
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This Charming Man – Marian Keyes Keyes has delivered yet again, but this time the novelist addresses the more uncomfortable issue of physical abuse. Politician Paddy de Courcy seems to have it all and to top things he has just announced he is getting married. This news comes as a surprise to his girlfriend Lola as she isn’t the one. Grace, a journalist wants to interview Lola who she feels holds the key, whilst Grace’s sister Marnie has never got over Paddy as her first love…. And what about the bride-to-be? Ann B.
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Spies – Michael Frayn Keith and Stephen live in a quiet cul-de-sac during the second world war and are barely affected by the conflict. But they are suddenly plunged into a world of suspicion and danger when Keith discovers his family have been infiltrated by the Germans the boys are plunged into a far more dangerous world than even they could have dreamt up in their fantasy world. This book gives a brilliant view of how the imagination can have a terrifying impact on the lives of the people who surround them. One that teenagers will love as well as the adults. Ann B.
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The Bridges of MadisonCounty by Robert James Waller
This book is about two people from different worlds who meet by chance and fall passionately in love - and right from the very beginning you know there can be no happy ending. This beautifully crafted tale brings to mind Noel Coward's play Brief Encounter but Robert Waller's story wins hands down. As it says on the back of the book - "if there is one book you read this year, make it this one". Mike M