Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
Monday 17 April 8st 13, alcohol units 6 (drowning sorrows), cigarettes 19 (fumigating sorrows), calories 3983 (suffocating sorrows with fat-duvet), positive thoughts 1 (vg)
A dazzling urban satire of modern human relations An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family? Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something?
| US | UK |
For all you music freaks, check out the Best Book of UK Hit Singles Ever edited by Dave McAleer. All the UK charts from 1954 up to and including 1997. Cool.
A Mother's Ordeal, The story of Chi An by Steven W. Mosher
Published By Warner Books, 1995. ISBN 0-7515-0807-1
"A Mother's Ordeal" is the true sory of Chi An, a young Chinese woman from Manchuria
who experienced the full horror of China's infamous "one couple, one child" policy.
It is both moving and harrowing as you learn that Chi An had been trained as an abortionist,
yet had been forced to have an abortion herself. She had been both victimiser and victim.
Phew - mindblowing reading.
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Mr Wroe's Virgins by Jane Rogers
Published By Faber & Faber, 1992. ISBN 0-571-16528-1
"Mr Wroe's Virgins" is a semi-factual book about the prophet John Rowe who was born in
Bradford in 1782. He took leadership of the Bradford Southcottian Church in 1814,
coined the name 'Christian Israelites' and travelled all around Europe trying to reconcile the Jewish and Christian faiths.
He settled in Ashton in 1822 where he was accepted as a prophet by the Ashton congregation.
He asked for seven virgins, who were duly provided by the church members.
The author uses the framework of the real character and writes this novel around the seven virgins,
of whom there is no historical record. Each girl tells their story of the nine months of their lives together,
until accusations of indecency and the trial that follows, bring Wroe's household to a dramatic end.
This book made a great impression on me, especially as I grew up only miles from where the story takes place, and even more so because of the evident
fanaticism of John Wroe.
[More Info] Reviews of the Hardback Version available through amazon.com
| US (Hardback version) |
St Agnes' Stand by Thomas Eidson
Published By Penguin, 1994. ISBN 0-14-023894-8
A terrific author with a knack for compelling storytelling.
Nat Swanson, an injured outlaw is battling through the desert, heading for freedom in California and stumbles
across the trapped survivors of an Apache ambush: three nuns and seven orphaned children.
Sister St Agnes is convinced that Nat Swanson has been sent by God to rescue them. Swanson is convinced that the best
they can hope for is for not to be taken alive.
I didn't want to put this book down!
| UK |
The Last Ride by Thomas Eidson
Published By Penguin, 1996. ISBN 0-14-024784-X
After reading St Agnes' Stand, I just had to read more from Thomas Eidson.
This book has a similar setting in the ravines of New Mexico. Samuel Jones has lived as an Apache for thirty years
with no ties with his family. Now his daughter needs him again and he begins a journey that can only end in death.
I wasn't disappointed and will be looking out for more of his writing.
| UK |
All God's Children by Thomas Eidson
Published By Penguin, 1997. ISBN 0140256180
Guess what - I found yet another one from Thomas Eidson!
Here, he tells the story of Pearl Eddy, a Quaker woman living on a small farm on the Kansas prairie, who shelters a black boxer on the run from a mob, and risks all she has by defending him.
A story of extraordinary courage and belief in humanity.
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Published By Bloomsbury, 1997. ISBN 0747532745
The books that everyone is raving about!
Yes, I know it's a children's book but nevertheless it provides a good few hours of escapism
for us adults too! (The publishers have realised this and even brought out a paperback version
with a grown-up cover!)
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" is the first book in the series
and tells the story of a boy brought up in his boring Aunt and Uncle's house with his horrible cousin.
Harry thinks he is an ordinary boy - until he is rescued by an owl, taken to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The Reason: Harry Potter is A Wizard.
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets by J.K. Rowling
Published By Bloomsbury, 1999. ISBN 0747538484
The second in the series of books that everyone is raving about!
In this sequel to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry keeps hearing strange voices, sinister and dark messages appear on the wall, and then his friend Ron's sister disappears.
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Published By Bloomsbury, 1999. ISBN 0747542155
The third in the series of books that everyone is raving about!
Forced to do his homework in the dead of night and forbidden to refer to his magic skills or his life at Hogwarts School, Harry Potter is forced to endure the summer holidays with the dreaded Dursleys.
The arrival of Aunt Marge is the final straw and, in a fit of anger, Harry breaks all the rules and casts a spell on her, causing her to blow up like a balloon. Running away from his dreaded relatives,
Harry expects to be expelled from Hogwarts for his blatant flaunting of the rule not to use magic outside term time. However, the arrival of the mysterious Knight Bus and a meeting with Cornelius Fudge,
the Minister of Magic, result in Harry enjoying the rest of the holidays in the wonderful surroundings of the Leaky Cauldron.
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Published By Bloomsbury, 2000. ISBN 074754624X
The summer holidays are dragging on and Harry Potter can’t wait for the start of the school year.
It is his fourth year at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and there are spells to be learnt, potions to be brewed and Divination lessons (sigh) to be attended.
Harry is expecting these: however, other quite unexpected events are already on the march…
It is the summer holidays, and one night Harry Potter wakes up with his scar burning.
He has a strange dream, one that he can’t help worrying about…until a timely invitation from Ron Weasley arrives: to nothing less than the Quidditch World Cup!
Soon Harry is reunited with Ron and Hermione and gasping at the thrills of an international Quidditch match. But then something horrible happens which casts a shadow over everybody, and Harry in particular.
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