Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Return To Mount Athos by Father Spyridon Bailey
Paperback: Extending out from Northern Greece into the Aegean Sea are three peninsulas, one of which, Mount Athos, has been a monastic republic for over a thousand years.
A pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain is a journey to the heart of Orthodox monasticism, and Father Spyridon takes us with him to hear words of ancient wisdom that may lead us into a deeper sense of God's presence.
Father Ioakeim Oureilidis writes, "This book is primarily a spiritual invitation through this paper object, that our Holy Mary, our Panagia, making good use of Fr Spyridon's skills and talents, extends to us all to visit her earthly home, the Holy Mountain, in order to be rejuvenated through faith and communication with the praying fathers and her grace."
Return To Mount Athos is published in 2018 by FeedARead.com Publishing and financed by the Arts Council of Great Britain.
About the author: Father Spyridon is a Greek Orthodox priest serving in Herefordshire, England. He has previously published a number of books of poetry and novels under his name in the world, Darren Bailey.
As an ordained priest in the Greek Orthodox Church Father Spyridon has focused on spiritual themes: Journey To Mount Athos, his first of these books, details his trip to the Holy Mountain where he encountered monks and hermits and was allowed access to a way of life few of us have encountered
The Ancient Path is a series of reflections on various aspects of life using the Church Fathers as the starting point in which Father Spyridon identifies how far modern man has strayed from an authentic Christian view of the universe.
Trampling Down Death By Death explores various themes relating to death and resurrection. It is deeply hopeful book that brings the reader into a vivid sense of the full reality of God's purpose for us.
Fire On The Lips is his return to the novel. A young couple have a chance encounter with an Orthodox monk which develops into a life-long friendship. The book explores the reality of sainthood in the modern world and drawing on a number of real events takes the reader into the mystery of ancient spirituality. Sub-titled "Encounters With A Saint", it demonstrates that Christian holiness is as real today as it was in the deserts of Egypt sixteen hundred years ago.
Tuesday, 29 January 2019
The Corsican Caper (Sam Levitt Series) by Peter Mayle
Hardback: Here is Peter Mayle at his effervescent best - his master sleuth, Sam Levitt, eating, drinking, and romancing his way through the South of France even as he investigates a case of deadly intrigue among the Riviera's jet set.
When billionaire Francis Reboul finds himself on the wrong side of a Russian tycoon, he is fortunate to have vacationing friends Sam Levitt and Elena Morales on hand to help him out. Now it is up to Sam - who has saved Reboul’s neck before - to negotiate with an underworld of mercenaries, hit men, and Mafioso, to prevent his friend from becoming a victim of “Russian diplomacy.”
As usual, Sam and Elena still find time to enjoy the good life, but as Sam’s sleuthing draws him closer to the truth, he realizes Reboul might not be the only one in trouble.
Rich with clever twists, sparkling scenery, and mouthwatering gustatory interludes as only Peter Mayle can write them, The Corsican Caper is an adventure par excellence!
The Corsican Caper aka Murder In The Med (2014) is the third book in the entertaining and clever lawyer and wine connoisseur Sam Levitt series set in France.
About the author: Peter Mayle (born 14 June 1939, in Brighton) was a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France. He spent fifteen years in advertising before leaving the business in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. In 1989, A Year in Provence, was published and became an international bestseller. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and he was a contributing writer to magazines and newspapers.
Indeed, his seventh book, A Year in Provence, chronicles a year in the life of a British expatriate who settled in the village of Ménerbes. His book, A Good Year, was the basis for the eponymous 2006 film directed by Ridley Scott and starring actor Russell Crowe. Peter Mayle died in Provence, France on 18 January 2018.
Rating: 5/5
The Marseille Caper (Sam Levitt Series) by Peter Mayle
Hardback: Lovable rogue and sleuth extraordinaire Sam Levitt is back in another beguiling, as-only-Peter-Mayle-can-write-it romp through the South of France.
At the end of The Vintage Caper (2009), Sam had just carried off a staggering feat of derring-do in the heart of Bordeaux, infiltrating the ranks of the French elite to rescue a stolen, priceless wine collection. With the questionable legality of the adventure - and the threat of some very powerful enemies! - Sam thought it would be a while before he returned to France, especially with the charms of the beautiful Elena Morales to keep him in Los Angeles.
But when the immensely wealthy Francis Reboul - the victim of Sam's last heist but someone who knows talent when he sees it - asks our hero to take a job in Marseille, it is impossible for Sam and Elena to resist the possibility of further excitement, to say nothing of the pleasures of the region.
Soon the two are enjoying the coastal sunshine and the delectable food and wine for which Marseille is known. Yet as a competition over Marseille's valuable waterfront grows more hotly disputed, Sam, representing Reboul, finds himself in the middle of an increasingly intrigue-ridden and dangerous real-estate grab, with thuggish gangsters on one side and sharklike developers on the other.
Will Sam survive this caper unscathed?
Will he live to enjoy another bowl of bouillabaisse?
All will be revealed - with luck, savvy, and a lot of help from Sam's friends - in the novel's wonderfully satisfying climax.
The Marseille Caper (2012) is the second instalment in this clever and pleasurable lawyer and wine connoisseur Sam Levitt series set in France.
About the author: Peter Mayle (born 14 June 1939, in Brighton) was a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France. He spent fifteen years in advertising before leaving the business in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. In 1989, A Year in Provence was published and became an international bestseller. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and he was a contributing writer to magazines and newspapers.
Indeed, his seventh book, A Year in Provence, chronicles a year in the life of a British expatriate who settled in the village of Ménerbes. His book, A Good Year, was the basis for the eponymous 2006 film directed by Ridley Scott and starring actor Russell Crowe. Peter Mayle died in Provence, France on 18 January 2018.
Rating: 5/5
Lullaby by Leïla Slimani
Paperback: She has the keys to their apartment.
She knows everything.
She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her.
When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their son and daughter. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family’s chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau.
Building tension with every page, Lullaby (2018) is a compulsive, riveting, bravely observed exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, motherhood, and madness - and the American debut of an immensely talented writer.
Lullaby - The Perfect Nanny (USA) - is the #1 international bestseller and winner of France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Goncourt, in 2016.
Lullaby is translated from the French by Sam Taylor.
Slimani's second novel, Adèle (about a young mother addicted to sex), will be out on 27 February 2019.
About the author: Leïla Slimani is a French writer and journalist of Moroccan ancestry. In 2016 she was awarded the Prix Goncourt for her novel Chanson douce.
Slimani was born in Rabat, Morocco and studied later political science and media studies in Paris. After that she temporarily considered a career as an actress and began to work as a journalist for the magazine Jeune Afrique. In 2014, she published her first novel Dans le jardin de l’ogre, which two years later was followed by the psychological thriller Chanson douce. The latter quickly turned into a bestseller with over 600 000 copies printed within a year even before the book was awarded the Prix Goncourt.
Rating: 5/5
Saturday, 26 January 2019
Force of Nature (Aaron Falk Series) by Jane Harper
Paperback: Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along a muddy track.
Only four come out on the other side.
The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and encourage teamwork and resilience. At least, that is what the corporate retreat website advertises.
Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker, Alice Russell. Because Alice knew secrets, about the company she worked for and the people she worked with.
The four returning women tell Falk a tale of fear, violence and fractured trust during their days in the remote Australian bushland. And as Falk delves into the disappearance of Alice, he begins to suspect some dangers ran far deeper than anyone knew.
Force of Nature (2017) is the second instalment in the excellent Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk series set in Melbourne, Australia. It clearly demonstrates her background of more than a decade in journalism and is an Observer Book of the Year 2018.
About the author: Jane Harper is the author of The Dry, winner of various awards including the 2015 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, the 2017 Indie Award Book of the Year and the 2017 Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year Award. Rights have been sold in 27 territories worldwide, and film rights optioned to Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea.
Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK. In 2014, she submitted a short story which was one of 12 chosen for the Big Issue's annual Fiction Edition. That inspired her to pursue creative writing more seriously, and that year she applied for an online 12-week novel writing course. She was accepted with a submission for the book that would become The Dry. Jane lives in St Kilda with her husband and daughter.
Rating: 5/5
The Serpent Papers (Serpent Papers Trilogy) by Jessica Cornwell
Paperback: Barcelona, Summer 2003.
Three women are sacrificed to an unknown purpose, skin carved with a cryptic alphabet, tongues cut from their mouths. Sent beautiful, sinister letters - clues, or confessions? - Inspector Fabregat cannot decipher the warnings within.
As Barcelona explodes in revelry on the Festival of St Joan, Natalia Hernandez, flower of the National Theatre and Catalan idol, lies broken on the steps of the Cathedral. The city bays for blood, Fabregat chases a shadow-like suspect and signs that whisper of secrets beyond his grasp.
Barcelona, Winter 2014.
Anna Verco - academic, book thief, savant - unearths letters hidden for centuries from a lightning-struck chapel in Mallorca. What they reveal compels her and Fabregat to reignite the Hernandez investigation. Every page she turns conceals a coded message; every street she treads leads her deeper into the labyrinth.
As Fabregat baits her with suspects, and threats darken her steps, Anna hunts her own prey - the book that began it all, a medieval revelation written in the language of witches and alchemists: The Serpent Papers.
Anna believes this book will unlock the mystery. She does not yet know she is the key.
The Serpent Papers (2015) combines the intrigue of The Da Vinci Code with the mysticism of a Carlos Ruiz Zafón novel. The narrative shifts between the 12th century and the present day, using storytelling devices including letters, ancient scribes, complex web of codes, medieval references and mystified former detectives. It is the first book in the gripping Serpent Papers Trilogy series set in Barcelona, Spain.
About the author: Jessica - granddaughter of John le Carré - majored in English at Stanford University. While there, she won a prestigious Angel Art Grant and participated in research projects in Andalusia, New Delhi and Oxford. After graduating, she completed her masters in drama at the Institute of Theatre and the Autonomous University of Barcelona before training with the Catalan theatre company La Fura dels Baus.
Since moving to London, Jessica Cornwell has worked as a runner at Working Title Films, a freelance researcher and a program director for the Santozeum, a start-up museum and art hub based between London and Santorini. She is an Observer Debut Author of the Year for 2015, and has written for The Independent and The Sunday Times.
Jessica was raised with her seven siblings in Ojai, California. The Serpent Papers is her first novel.
Rating: 4/5
Thursday, 24 January 2019
Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Saint Clare of Assisi by Sister Chiara Augusta Lainati
Paperback: The brief sketch of the life of St Clare is for those who desire a first meeting with her, and it is not narrated in scholarly language.
It is an account of pure historical truth, taken from unimpeachable documents which portray St Clare as she is, living and real for the twentieth century, a model for people today and not merely a personality relegated to a backdrop of medieval scenery.
For it is precisely the prerogative of the saints, as it is of artists of immortal masterpieces, to be alive in every age and always to speak the language of the present.
This fourth edition is printed in June 2011 by Edizioni Porziuncola and is translated from the Italian by Sister Jane Frances, PCC.
Thursday, 17 January 2019
Dear Mr Murray: Letters To A Gentleman Publisher selected and introduced by David McClay
Hardback: To celebrate the 250th anniversary of John Murray, a sparkling anthology of letters from John Murray authors to their publisher resulted in the perfect literary treat for book lovers everywhere.
The publishing house of John Murray was founded in Fleet Street in 1768 and remained a family firm over seven generations. Published to coincide with this 'remarkable achievement' and in the anniversary year, Dear Mr Murray (2018) is a collection of some of the best letters from the hundreds of thousands held in the John Murray Archive. They reveal not only the story of some of the most interesting and influential books in history, but also the remarkable friendships - as well as occasional animosities - between author and publisher, as well as readers, editors, printers and illustrators.
Despite the incredible number of letters that were retained by the Murray family, some failed to arrive, others were delayed and some barely survived, but longevity added to the reputation and fame of John Murray and a correspondent in Canada who addressed his letter merely to 'John Murray, The World-wide famous Book & Publishing House, London, England' as early as 1932 could be confident that his letter would arrive.
Intended to entertain and inspire, and spanning more than two hundred years, Dear Mr Murray is full of literary history and curiosities: from Charles Darwin's response to the negative reviews of On the Origin of Species to Adrian Conan Doyle challenging Harold Nicolson to a duel for insulting his father in the press; from David Livingstone's displeasure at the proposed drawing of a lion to represent his near-death encounter in Missionary Travels to William Makepeace Thackeray apologising for his drunken behaviour; from Byron berating John Murray for being fooled by his girlfriend's forgery of his signature to the poet James Hogg so desperate for money that he claims he won't be able to afford a Christmas goose; and from Jane Austen expressing concern about printing delays to Patrick Leigh Fermor beseeching Jock Murray not to visit him until he had completed A Time of Gifts.
About the compiler: David McClay is former senior curator of the John Murray Archive at the National Library of Scotland (2006-16) and now works at the University of Edinburgh. He is a trustee of Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, and has been involved in numerous national and international exhibitions on Byron and other Romantic-era themes, on which subjects he also speaks and lecturers. A great letter enthusiast, David himself does not write as many letters as he should.
The Writings Of St Francis Of Assisi by St Francis Of Assisi
Paperback: This short anthology of the writings of St Francis of Assisi includes a wide sampling of his writings. Of general interest here is the transcendent Canticle of the Sun, a prayer which lucidly describes a universe alive with joy, and praises 'Brother Sun...Sister Moon...Mother Earth'.
To say that the writings of St Francis reflect his personality and his spirit is but another way of saying that they are at once formidably mystic and exquisitely human; that they combine great elevation of thought with much picturesqueness of expression.
This twofold element, which found its development later on in the prose of mystics like St Bonaventure and in the verse of poets like Jacopone da Todi, and which has ever been a marked characteristic of Franciscan ascetic literature, leads back to the writings of the Founder as to the humble upper waters of a mighty stream.
St Francis had the soul of an ascetic and the heart of a poet. His unbounded faith had an almost lyric sweetness about it; his deep sense of the spiritual is often clothed with the character of romance. This intimate union of the supernatural and the natural is nowhere more strikingly manifested than in the writings of St Francis.
This is a collection of the famous saint's most important writings, a must for any Christian.
The Writings Of St Francis Of Assisi is translated from the Italian or in the dialect of Umbria by Father Pascal Robinson in 1905.
About St Francis of Assisi: St Francis of Assisi abandoned a life of luxury for a life devoted to Christianity after reportedly hearing the voice of God, who commanded him to rebuild the Christian church and live in poverty. He is the patron saint of animals and the environment.
Born in Italy circa 1181/2, St Francis of Assisi was renowned for drinking and partying in his youth. After fighting in a battle between Assisi and Perugia, Francis was captured and imprisoned for ransom. He spent nearly a year in prison awaiting his father's payment and, according to legend, began receiving visions from God. After his release from prison, Francis heard the voice of Christ, who told him to repair the Christian Church and live a life of poverty. Consequently, he abandoned his life of luxury and became a devotee of the faith, his reputation spreading all over the Christian world.
Later in life, Francis reportedly received a vision that left him with the stigmata of Christ - marks resembling the wounds Jesus Christ suffered when he was crucified - making Francis the first person to receive such holy wounds. He was canonized as a saint on 16 July 1228, two years after his demise. His life and words have had a lasting resonance with millions of followers across the globe. Each October, many animals the world over are blessed on his feast day.
The Dialogue Of Saint Catherine Of Siena: Seraphic Virgin And Doctor Of Unity by Saint Catherine Of Siena
Paperback: The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena (1907) was dictated by herself, while in a state of ecstasy, to her secretaries, and completed in the year of our Lord 1370, together with an account of her death by an eye-witness.
The book is translated from the original Italian by Algar Thorold in 1907.
The contents of the book comprises
A Treatise of Divine Providence
A Treatise of Discretion
A Treatise of Prayer
A Treatise of Obedience
The Dialogue takes the form of a conversation between God and Saint Catherine of Siena covering four subjects. The treatise on divine providence explains the connection between love and suffering, emphasizing that God wants only our love and the service we give to our neighbours. The treatise on discretion introduces the metaphor of the Bridge from earth to heaven. The treatise on prayer gives instructions for the progress from vocal to mental prayer, and describes the higher degrees of prayer. The treatise on obedience covers the necessity and rewards of obedience.
Catherine of Siena was a third order Dominican in fourteenth-century Tuscany. As a young adult, she devoted herself to prayer, fasting, and mortifications. After this period of solitude, with its accompanying ecstatic visions, she went out into the world to care for the sick and the poor.
Catherine also worked to bring peace and unity among Christians. She was canonized by Pope Pius II and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.
"The soul cannot live without love," God tells Saint Catherine, "but always wants to love something, because she is made of love, and by love I created her."
About Saint Catherine of Siena: St Catherine of Siena, original name Caterina Benincasa, (born 25 March 1347, Siena, Tuscany and died 29 April 1380, Rome; canonized 1461; feast day April 29), was a Dominican tertiary, mystic, and one of the patron saints of Italy. She was declared a doctor of the church in 1970 and a patron saint of Europe in 1999.
Catherine became a tertiary (a member of a monastic third order who takes simple vows and may remain outside a convent or monastery) of the Dominican order (1363), joining the Sisters of Penitence of St Dominic in Siena. She rapidly gained a wide reputation for her holiness and her severe asceticism. When the rebellious city of Florence was placed under an interdict by Pope Gregory XI (1376), Catherine determined to take public action for peace within the church and Italy and to encourage a Crusade against the Muslims. She went as an unofficial mediator to Avignon with her confessor and biographer Raymond of Capua. Her mission failed, and she was virtually ignored by the pope, but while at Avignon she promoted her plans for a Crusade.
It became clear to her that the return of Pope Gregory XI to Rome from Avignon - an idea that she did not initiate and had not strongly encouraged - was the only way to bring peace to Italy. Catherine left for Tuscany the day after Gregory set out for Rome (1376). At his request she went to Florence (1378) and was there during the Ciompi Revolt in June. After a short final stay in Siena, during which she completed The Dialogue (begun the previous year), she went to Rome in November, probably at the invitation of Pope Urban VI, whom she helped in reorganizing the church. From Rome she sent out letters and exhortations to gain support for Urban; as one of her last efforts, she tried to win back Queen Joan I of Naples to obedience to Urban, who had excommunicated the queen for supporting the antipope Clement VII.
Catherine’s writings, all of which were dictated, include about 380 letters, 26 prayers, and the 4 treatises of Il libro della divina dottrina, better known as the The Dialogue, (c1475). The record of her ecstatic experiences in The Dialogue illustrates her doctrine of the “inner cell” of the knowledge of God and of self into which she withdrew. A complete edition of Catherine’s works, together with her biography by Raymond, was published in Siena (1707–21).
Wednesday, 16 January 2019
Tuesday, 15 January 2019
Monday, 14 January 2019
Sunday, 13 January 2019
The Prophets Of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine
Paperback: Idealistic, misguided Morten Falck is a newly ordained priest sailing to Greenland in 1787 to convert the Inuit to the Danish church.
A rugged outpost battered by unremittingly harsh winters, Sukkertoppen is simmering with the threat of dissent; natives from neighbouring villages have unified to reject Danish rule and establish their own settlement atop Eternal Fjord.
As Falck becomes involved with those in his care - his ambitious catechist, a lonely trader s wife, and a fatalistic widow he comes to love - his faith and reputation are compromised.
The internationally acclaimed novelist Kim Leine charts the tragic events that connect these seemingly disparate lives, while illuminating the brutal and tender impulses of those seeking redemption and the shifting line between religion and mysticism.
In the tradition of We, the Drowned, international bestseller The Prophets of Eternal Fjord (2012) is rich in earthy detail and Dickensian pathos, a visceral panorama of a fragile colony caught in the throes of history. It is the winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2013 and the Danish booksellers' Golden Laurel award. In 2017, it is shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award.
The Prophets of Eternal Fjord is translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken, who is an acclaimed Danish-language translator.
About the author: Kim Leine was born in Norway in 1961, but later moved to Denmark, where he was educated as a nurse. He later moved to Greenland, but returned to Denmark after a number of years. His debut, the eye-wateringly frank memoir Kalak (2007), charted his Norwegian childhood among Jehovah’s Witnesses, his teenage life in Denmark with a sexually abusive father, and his subsequent years of turmoil and drug addiction in Greenland. In November 2018, Kim Leine received the Crown Prince Couple's Culture Prize of DKK500,000 in Aalborg, Denmark.
Kim Leine's latest novel Red Man/Black Man from 2018 is Volume 2 in Leine's Greenland Trilogy and is an independent successor to The Prophets in the Eternity Fjord. Red Man/Black Man takes place in Greenland about 65 years earlier and revolves around the first meeting between the Danes and the Greenlanders. Thus, even more violent confrontations have been made between the two cultures than we experienced in the first volume. The World English rights to his latest novel Red Man/Black Man have recently been sold to publisher Ravi Mirchandani, Picador/Pan Macmillan for publication so do look out for it!
Rating: 5/5
Saturday, 12 January 2019
Fatal Sunset (A Chief Inspector Max Cámara Series) by Jason Webster
Paperback: He knew the detective's world is not the sunlit world of the eighteenth-century philosophers, but a nighttime world where hunch and chance are more important than ratiocinative acuity. - Josiah Thompson, Gumshoe
In the hills above Valencia is a notorious nightclub called Sunset. When its larger-than-life owner, José Luis, dies suddenly, everyone assumes it was a heart attack. Perfectly understandable for a man of his age, size and lifestyle.
Meanwhile, all is not well for Max Cámara at HQ. His new boss, Rita Hernández, has it in for him and his idiosyncratic methods. He must abandon a complex investigation into home-grown extremism to check out what looks like a routine death at Sunset.
But an anonymous phone call suggests otherwise.
Back in the city, Max’s journalist girlfriend, Alicia, is working on a lead that could turn out to be the story of her career. How her own investigation connects with Max’s at Sunset, and an unholy network of drug dealers, priests and shady officials protecting a dark government secret, will place both their lives in jeopardy and push everything to the very edge.
Fatal Sunset (2017) is the sixth and latest book in the excellent Chief Inspector Max Cámara series set in Valencia, Spain.
About the author: Jason Webster is a highly acclaimed Anglo-American author and authority on Spain whose work ranges from biography to travel, crime fiction and history. His books have sold in over a dozen countries, including the US, the UK and China, and have been nominated both for the Guardian First Book Award and the Crime Writers’ Association New Blood Dagger Award. He has been favourably compared with writers such as Bruce Chatwin, Gerald Brenan and Ernest Hemingway.
Webster was born near San Francisco and brought up in the UK, Germany and Italy. After finishing a degree in Arabic and Islamic History at the University of Oxford, he worked as an editor at the BBC World Service for several years before becoming a full-time writer and moving to Spain. He is married to the flamenco dancer Salud and they have two sons. They currently divide their time between Valencia and the UK.
Rating: 5/5
Friday, 11 January 2019
Francis Of Assisi: A New Biography by Augustine Thompson, OP
Hardback: Among the most beloved saints in the Catholic tradition, Francis of Assisi (c 1181-1226) is popularly remembered for his dedication to poverty, his love of animals and nature, and his desire to follow perfectly the teachings and example of Christ. During his lifetime and after his death, followers collected, for their own purposes, numerous stories, anecdotes, and reports about Francis. As a result, the man himself and his own concerns became lost in legend.
In this authoritative and engaging new biography, Augustine Thompson, OP, sifts through the surviving evidence for the life of Francis using modern historical methods.
The result is a complex yet sympathetic portrait of the man and the saint. Francis emerges from this account as very much a typical thirteenth-century Italian layman, but one who, when faced with unexpected crises in his personal life, made decisions so radical that they challenge his own society and ours.
Unlike the saint of legend, this Francis never had a unique divine inspiration to provide him with rules for following the teachings of Jesus. Rather, he spent his life reacting to unexpected challenges, before which he often found himself unprepared and uncertain. The Francis who emerges here is both more complex and more conflicted than that of older biographies. His famed devotion to poverty is found to be more nuanced than expected, perhaps not even his principal spiritual concern.
Thompson revisits events small and large in Francis's life, including his troubled relations with his father, his contacts with Clare of Assisi, his encounter with the Muslim sultan, and his receiving the Stigmata, to uncover the man behind the legends and popular images.
A tour de force of historical research and biographical writing, Francis of Assisi: A New Biography (2012) is divided into two complementary parts - a stand alone biographical narrative and a close, annotated examination of the historical sources about Francis. Taken together, the narrative and the survey of the sources provide a much-needed fresh perspective on this iconic figure.
"As I have worked on this biography," Thompson writes, "my respect for Francis and his vision has increased, and I hope that this book will speak to modern people, believers and unbelievers alike, and that the Francis I have come to know will have something to say to them today."
About the author: Augustine Thompson, OP, is Professor of History at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. He holds the distinguished position of Master of Theology, awarded by the Order of Preachers. His research interests include medieval Church history, especially of Italy; medieval philosophy, theology, and lay piety; and, history of canon law, preaching and the mendicant orders. His personal hobbies and interests include detective novels, model railroading, hiking and walking and, last but not least, the music of Gilbert & Sullivan. His most recent book is Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125-1325, which is the Winner of the ACHA Howard R Marraro Prize for best book published in Italian history, 2006.
Thursday, 10 January 2019
Wednesday, 9 January 2019
Tuesday, 8 January 2019
The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike Series) by Robert Galbraith
Paperback: The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J K Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
A brilliant mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that.
The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.
About the author: Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series is classic contemporary crime fiction from a master story-teller, rich in plot, characterisation and detail. Galbraith’s debut into crime fiction garnered acclaim amongst critics and crime fans alike.
The first three novels The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014) and Career of Evil (2015) all topped the national and international bestseller lists and have been adapted for television, produced by Brontë Film and Television. The fourth in the series, Lethal White (2018), is out now.
Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of J K Rowling, bestselling author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults. After Harry Potter, the author chose crime fiction for her next books, a genre she has always loved as a reader. She wanted to write a contemporary whodunit, with a credible back story.
J K Rowling’s original intention for writing as Robert Galbraith was for the books to be judged on their own merit, and to establish Galbraith as a well-regarded name in crime in its own right.
Now Robert Galbraith’s true identity is widely known, J K Rowling continues to write the crime series under the Galbraith pseudonym to keep the distinction from her other writing and so people will know what to expect from a Cormoran Strike novel.
Monday, 7 January 2019
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa
Paperback: Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste.
But everything is about to change.
Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape and Tokue's dark secret is revealed, with devastating consequences.
Sweet Bean Paste (2017) is a moving novel about the burden of the past and the redemptive power of friendship. It is also a charming tale of friendship, love, the genius of simplicity and loneliness in contemporary Japan.
Sweet Bean Paste is the winner of Le Prix des Lecteurs du Livre de Poche 2017. Translated from the Japanese for the first time by Alison Watts, Durian Sukegawa's beautiful prose "teaches us that no existence is devoid of meaning, and that even the humblest of beings has a valuable contribution to make to the world in which we live."
About the author: Durian Sukegawa studied oriental philosophy at Waseda University, before going on to work as a reporter in Berlin and Cambodia in the early 1990s. He has written a number of books and essays, TV programmes and films. He lives in Tokyo.
About the translator: Alison Watts is a freelance translator, translating literature from Japanese into English. She lives in Ibaraki, Japan.
Rating: 5/5
Saturday, 5 January 2019
The Vintage Caper (Sam Levitt Series) by Peter Mayle
Paperback: Set in Hollywood, Paris, Bordeaux, and Marseille, Peter Mayle’s newest and most delightful debut novel in the Sam Levitt series is filled with culinary delights, sumptuous wines, and colourful characters. It is also a lot of fun.
The story begins high above Los Angeles, at the extravagant home and equally impressive wine cellar of entertainment lawyer Danny Roth. Unfortunately, after inviting the Los Angeles Times to write an extensive profile extolling the liquid treasures of his collection, Roth finds himself the victim of a world-class wine heist.
Enter Sam Levitt, former corporate lawyer, cultivated crime expert, and wine connoisseur. Called in by Roth’s insurance company, which is now saddled with a multimillion-dollar claim, Sam follows his leads to Bordeaux and its magnificent vineyards, and to Provence to meet an eccentric billionaire collector who might possibly have an interest in the stolen wines.
Along the way, bien sûr, he is joined by a beautiful and erudite French colleague, and together they navigate many a château, pausing frequently to enjoy the countryside’s abundant pleasures.
The unraveling of the ingenious crime is threaded through with Mayle’s seductive rendering of France’s sensory delights - from a fine Lynch-Bages and Léoville Barton to the bouillabaisse of Marseille and the young lamb of Bordeaux. Even the most sophisticated of oenophiles will learn a thing or two from this vintage work by a beloved author.
The Vintage Caper (2009) is the first book in the evocative, feel-good, and witty, lawyer and wine connoisseur Sam Levitt, series.
About the author: Peter Mayle (born 14 June 1939, in Brighton) was a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France. He spent fifteen years in advertising before leaving the business in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. In 1989, A Year in Provence, was published and became an international bestseller. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and he was a contributing writer to magazines and newspapers.
Indeed, his seventh book, A Year in Provence, chronicles a year in the life of a British expatriate who settled in the village of Ménerbes. His book, A Good Year, was the basis for the eponymous 2006 film directed by Ridley Scott and starring actor Russell Crowe. Peter Mayle died in Provence, France on 18 January 2018.
Rating: 5/5
Friday, 4 January 2019
Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
Paperback: Britt-Marie cannot stand mess. A disorganized cutlery drawer ranks high on her list of unforgivable sins.
She is not one to judge others - no matter how ill-mannered, unkempt, or morally suspect they might be. It’s just that sometimes people interpret her helpful suggestions as criticisms, which is certainly not her intention. But hidden inside the socially awkward, fussy busybody is a woman who has more imagination, bigger dreams, and a warmer heart that anyone around her realizes.
When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg - of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it, she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center.
The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens, an odd assortment of miscreants, drunkards, layabouts. Most alarming of all, she is given the impossible task of leading the supremely untalented children’s soccer team to victory. In this small town of misfits, can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs?
Britt-Marie Was Here (2016) is "a brilliant mix of belly-laughs, profound insight and captivating events delivered with Backman's pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature."
The book is translated from the Swedish by Henning Koch.
About the author: Fredrik Backman is the No 1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, as well as two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.
www.fredrikbackman.com
@Backmanland
Rating: 5/5
Thursday, 3 January 2019
Wednesday, 2 January 2019
The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream by Barack Obama
Hardback: In this bestselling book, Obama discusses the importance of empathy in politics, his hopes for a different America with different policies, and how the ideals of its democracy can be renewed.
With intimacy and self-deprecating humour, Obama describes his experiences as a politician, about balancing his family life and his public vocation. His search for consensus and his respect for the democratic process inform every sentence of The Audacity of Hope (2006).
Before he became the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama has written a book of transforming power that will inspire people the world over.
About the author: Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States of America. He was the first African-American to be elected President of the United States and was the first to be nominated for President by a major US political party. He was the junior US Senator from Illinois from 2005 until he resigned on 16 November 16 2008, following his election to the Presidency.
Barack Obama is the son of Barack Obama Sr and Ann Dunham. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983, then moved to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighbourhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. In 1991, Obama graduated from Harvard Law School where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. In addition to his work as a community organizer, Obama practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.
During his eight years in the Illinois State Senate, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. Obama also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama enlisted the support of law enforcement officials to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.
As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned US military personnel.
President Obama is especially proud of being a husband and father of two daughters, Malia and Sasha. President Obama and his wife, Michelle, married in 1992 and live in Washington DC.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Paperback: Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her.
For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers’ style of dress and speech patterns so that she can play the part of a normal person.
However, eighteen years later, at age 36, she is still in the same job, has never had a boyfriend, and has only few friends. She feels comfortable in her life, but is aware that she is not living up to society’s expectations and causing her family to worry about her. When a similarly alienated but cynical and bitter young man comes to work in the store, he will upset Keiko’s contented stasis - but will it be for the better?
Sayaka Murata brilliantly captures the atmosphere of the familiar convenience store that is so much part of life in Japan. With some laugh-out-loud moments prompted by the disconnect between Keiko’s thoughts and those of the people around her, she provides a sharp look at Japanese society and the pressure to conform, as well as penetrating insights into the female mind.
Convenience Store Woman is a fresh, charming portrait of an unforgettable heroine that recalls Banana Yoshimoto, Han Kang, and Amélie. A best-seller in Japan, and the winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize and Foyles Fiction Book Of The Year 2018, Convenience Store Woman (2018) marks the English-language debut of a writer who has been hailed as the most exciting voice of her generation.
The book is translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori. Ginny has translated Ryu Murakami, Miyuki Miyabe and Kyotaro Nishimura, among others.
About the author: Sayaka Murata (in Japanese, 村田 沙耶香) is one of the most exciting up-and-coming writers in Japan today. She herself still works part time in a convenience store, which gave her the inspiration to write Convenience Store Woman (Conbini Ningen). She debuted in 2003 with Junyu (Breastfeeding), which won the Gunzo Prize for new writers. In 2009 she won the Noma Prize for New Writers with Gin iro no uta (Silver Song), and in 2013 the Mishima Yukio Prize for Shiro-oro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City). Convenience Store Woman won the 2016 Akutagawa Award. Murata has two short stories published in English (both translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori): Lover on the Breeze (2011) and A Clean Marriage (2014). In 2016, Vogue Japan named her one of their Women Of the Year.
Rating: 5/5
Tuesday, 1 January 2019
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)