Oscar Wilde's obsession with books

Advantages: Full of fascinating information about Wilde's life and love of books
Disadvantages: None really, except maybe best enjoyed by those with some prior knowledge of Wilde

...The controversial Victorian playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, so the introduction to this book tells us, ?devoured and luxuriated in books?. He had a lifelong thirst for reading, so it?s not surprising to find that his house in Chelsea was packed with them. Not only was he an avid collector, but he was also an accomplished speed reader with a remarkable ? and to some extent photographic ? memory which helped him to absorb and recall instantly vast amounts of prose and verse. As a reviewer for the Pall Mall Gazette, he could master a book's content, plot or argument in minutes. (If only ciao had been around in those days as well). Maybe it is only fair to get the one major chink in his armour out of the way quickly. Once, when he was preparing a lecture on the poet Chatterton, most of his notes were made up of entire pages and paragraphs...

JOHNV 24.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Oscar's Books - Thomas Wright

A Book Lover

Advantages: Well-drawn characters. Creative use of words.
Disadvantages: A little difficult to adjust to the changing style of writing

...War, it is difficult to imagine that a new novel could be unusual ? yet ?The Book Thief? manages to be just that. It is unusual and unique. The narrator of the story is death. Other books have used death as a narrator before ? Terry Pratchett springs to mind for one however I can think of none for the subject of World War. Zusak said recently at the Hay Festival that War and Death are like best friends so to find death hanging around during World War II would not be unusual. Death is omnipresent and throughout the novel Zusak gives us odd glimpses of the universal tragedies of the War. On the whole though, Zusak remains focused on Liesel and her fellow occupants of Himmel Street. Zusak states that he has approached the book from a personal angle. He recalls two main stories told by his mother: one about the bombing of Munich and how...

MAFARRIMOND 03.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Tweenies Book

Advantages: children will enjoy it
Disadvantages: none unless your child wants you to read it about 10 times a day

..., Doodles be red and yellow'. Dotman (Jake) comes to the rescue. You then pull the picture of doodles out and his colours have returned. Turn over the page and Jakes teddy has losts its colours too. Dotman to the rescue 'Lovely colours where are you? Teddy be brown and blue' and of course when you pull the teddy from the page it turns brown and blue. The book goes on in a similar way Bella's dragon has no colours so Dotman comes to the rescue and then he rescues Fizz's butterfly. He thinks he has rescued all the colours until they look out of the window and the garden has no colours - so one last rescue. The pull outs are quite cleverly done there is an outline of each picture on clear plastic, underneath that is the coloured picture and the clear plastic slots over plain white card but when you pull it out the plain card stays behind...

rojm 26.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Tweenies: Come Back Colours - BBC Books

Look Out, He's Behind You! - not a pantomine

Advantages: Offers interaction with a familiar story
Disadvantages: None

...Look out he?s behind you! is a book I took out of the library a few weeks ago for my grandchildren to read while visiting me for the day. They thoroughly enjoyed it inspite of there agea of 2 and 3 years which has led ne to write this review. RRP - £5.99 Publisher - Frances Lincoln Books ISBN - 978-1-84507-734-1 Format - 20page paperback Ages - 4 -8 years The front cover of the book features a young girl in a bright red coat and hat holding a basket with a wolf watching from behind a tree. On the back cover the wolf is more prominent and appears to be saying ?sssssh!? as the young girl disappears into the distance. The story is obviously the tale of Red Riding Hood who is on her way to visit her sick grandmother with a basket full of goodies. The story starts by introducing the different characters in the book , Little Red Riding...

colliedog2 19.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Look Out, He's Behind You! - Tony Bradman

The Book With No Plot

Advantages: It's different...
Disadvantages: Not terribly cohesive, too many characters and sub-plots.

...never told exactly where Santa Mondega is but I assumed it was set in America. "The Eye of the Moon" is so central because everyone wants to get hold of it - hitmen, bounty hunters, gangsters and the monks sent to retrieve it. Everyone wants the stone before a total eclipse occurs as the stone is rumoured to have power over the moon. Santa Mondega could be left in permanent darkness - something that would suit certain factions of the town perfectly. One of the central characters is the Bourbon Kid - the book opens with the Kid's first appearance in Santa Mondega. The Bourbon Kid is a pitiless killer, so named after his habit of killing everyone after he drinks Bourbon. The Kid is also looking for the stone but we don't know why. The young Hubal monks sent to retrieve the stone, Kyle and Peto, are clueless and have never left the safety...

mogdred1 10.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Book With No Name - Anonymous

He's Just Not That Into You - Or Is He?

Advantages: Quirky comedy romance that is also thought-provoking.
Disadvantages: None

...him to leave, which Neil does, but he's still into Beth, and she's still into him, but marriage isn't on the horizon so they'll remain into each other separately! As for Alex, he makes a point of never being into anyone because he just can't handle it, and Mary... well... Mary would love to be into someone who doesn't think that voicemail and texting are equivalent to actual talking. Confused? Don't be... Gigi, Beth and Janine are close friends who work for the same company. Gigi, who is extremely sweet and naïve, would love to find Mr. Right, but she might settle for Mr. So-So if he actually returns her calls. Beth, on the other hand, has already found Mr. Right, however, her long-time beau, Neil, doesn't believe in marriage. As for Janine, she managed to hogtie her college sweetheart by giving him an ultimatum; marriage or bust...

GoFigure 30.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of He's Just Not That Into You (DVD)

Book Heaven

Advantages: Price, amazing offers, points
Disadvantages: Only one, see below

...If you love books and enjoy a good bargain, then look no further! The Book People are exactly what you need. Now, this isnt your 'usual' type of book club, like World Books for example, you will not be expected to buy a certain amount of books per year and you will not be sent books every month which you have to send back or pay for. When you join, all you will be sent is a thin brochure which shows a selection of the books they offer at fantastic prices. That is it. Read on for more amazement! The key features are: The books are cheap (examples below) The books are good quality You earn 1 point per pound spent and these can be saved up and redeemed for books. This can be done when ordering from both the catalogue and online. 75 points = £2.99, 100 points = £3.99, 125 points = £4.99 Usually free postage and packaging...

watkins11 29.09.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Book People (Shop)

Books for free!

Advantages: see review
Disadvantages: see review

...Like most people I love a bargain! I also love buying books, both for myself as presents. So when I discovered The book people a few months ago I was very happy indeed! The book people. ************** The Book people are a company selling discounted books. They are not a club so there is no minimum number of books to purchase or any other catches. They simply sell books at hugely discounted prices. There is no shop to browse but you can either order from their web site at www.thebookpeople.co.uk or you can request a catalogue and use the enclosed order form or alternatively you can phone your order by calling 0845-602-4040. I have always ordered on line although once you have ordered you will receive regular catalogues through the post. The web site. *********** The first thing to say is that the web site is nothing fancy...

anwar 24.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Book People (Shop)

Book of the boring.

Advantages: Latest Scarpetta - only an advantage for die hard fans
Disadvantages: Continuing downward trend, depressing.

...Overview Book of the Dead is the fifteenth novel in the Scarpetta series, written by Patricia Cornwell. For those who are not familiar with the stories, Kay Scarpetta is a trusted Forensic Pathologist who is extremely unfortunate enough to keep running accross numerous phsycopathic murderers. Luckily, with the help from her fiery but brilliant, millionaire neice, ex-detective and chauventistic side-kick Marino and ex-FBI profiler & long term partner Benton, she usually manages to come good and save the day. Even if there are a few life changing hiccups along the way. My Synopsis From the very first line we are catapulted into the mind of the killer. It is obvious he is above average intelligence and extremely dangerous. He calmy and coldly describes the torture of his victim and her inevitable end, he is...

watkins11 19.02.2008 (18.02.2008) · Read review
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Review of Book of the Dead - Patricia Cornwell

A cook book for students

Advantages: easy to read
Disadvantages: not appealing

...I was bought this when I went to university. My auntie bought it me thinking that it would suddenly turn me into the next Deliah Smith or something but it didn't really have this effect on me at all! I didn't really use it and it was a good job it was quite a cheap buy so I didn't feel guilty for the fact it sat on my book shelf, hidden by all the huge text books I had to buy! Who is it for? This book is really very obviously aimed at students as you can tell by the title; "The New Students' Cook Book". When I first saw it I presumed that a cook book for students would contain very quick and simple recipes. When I was a student I didnt have much time for cooking and if I did want to cook something instead of order the usual pizza I didn't want to spend hours reading a recipe or fiddling around in the kitchen. This, isn...

lorriellah 26.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of The New Students' Cook Book - Carolyn Humphries