Lovereading.co.uk

Christmas is sneaking up, so if you’d like your family to spend it with great books instead of vegetating through EastEnders, try Lovereading’s perfect gift suggestions below. But it’s not time to start hoovering pine needles just yet…there’s a host of interesting literary goings-on this month, including the ‘Off the Shelf’ Festival in Sheffield where Robert Goddard and Sarah Waters will be appearing among others. Also at the bottom of this email you will find all the best books in your favourite genres.

Other highlights this month:

Do you have or know teenagers who like reading but don’t know where to find great books?Then point them to New Generation – ‘new gen‘ – on Lovereading.co.uk. They will be able to find, for themselves, some amazing Young Adult fiction, both new and already published. There has been a recent explosion of wonderful writing for teenagers and ‘new gen‘ aims to fill that gap by providing a single place to view this exciting genre. They will discover authors like Melvin Burgess and Kevin Brooks, whose riveting stories are told through teenage eyes, and woven around real issues. And to make it even easier they can use the Wishlist feature on the site to send you, or a generous relative, an email of their choices – that should make life easier for everyone! Or why not add ‘new gen‘ to your own ‘chosen genres‘?Next, enter our competition to win a copy of Stardust by master story-teller, Neil Gaiman. Young Tristan falls for the beautiful Victoria Forester and vows to retrieve a fallen star for her. It’s an oath that sends him over the ancient wall and into a dangerous world, strange beyond imagining… The new, star-studded movie is just out, but we think this is one of those (frequent) occasions when the book is a much richer experience.

And now for something completely different on our Kids site we thought you might like to know about. Classical Comics wanted to bring classic literature to today’s children and are publishing comic-book versions of books such as Henry V and Macbeth with many more to come during 2008. The stories are brought vividly to life in images as exciting as Spiderman, with three versions of each to suit different abilities and tastes: original text, plain text (simple, modern language) and quick text (far fewer words, brilliant for less confident readers). Henry V is the launch title so do take a look at this exciting development – we think they could all be perfect presents.

And looking to Christmas again, here are some perfect gift suggestions, split into three categories…

There’s no better present to give (or receive) than a beautiful hardback. We’ve made a selection of the crème de la crème this year. You can download a free Opening Extract, an ideal way to ensure the only turkey you give this Christmas is on the dinner table and, what’s more, you can buy with a 25% discount on the RRP.

Christmas is also a unique time for publishing, not least because of the huge proliferation of obscurely named titles often referred to as ‘loo books‘. They make perfect stocking fillers, so once you’ve finished Ho-ho-ho-ing over our Opening Extracts, choose some to stuff in your friends’ and family’s socks. One of our personal favourites is How to Fossilise Your Hamster.

Finally, our Books of the Year. There was so much good fiction in 2007 that even the most dedicated reader quite likely missed a few. So we thought it would be a perfect time to pull together some of Sarah Broadhurst’s favourites. So please browse away and make sure you haven’t missed any ‘must reads’ from 2007.

Buy a Christmas gift here and there with our 25% discount, and when the festive season really is upon us, you’ll be able to relax at home, and read a good book yourself.

This Month’s Featured ‘Crime / Whodunit’ Books

The Art of DrowningFrances FyfieldA well-paced and tense novel with intriguing characters. A friendship between two women, poles apart in personality, is the basis for the story and inevitably their differences lead to events taking a sinister turn. £5.99 Save 25%

Dexter in the DarkJeff LindsayThoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended this is the 3rd in this darkly comic serial killer series. Dexter has being abandoned by the dark passenger that has made him who he is. Things get worse when its clear it has been… £7.49 Save 25%

Christine FallsBenjamin BlackVery often when an author changes genre and picks a pseudonym so not to confuse his existing fans, he makes a secret of it and the publishers sell it into the trade as a first novel and only sometimes acknowledges… £5.99 Save 25%

Nature GirlCarl HiaasenThis is slapstick satire where one chaotic situation bounces on to another. Full of wacky characters and improbable scenarios and set in the dangerous world of Florida’s ‘gator-strewn Everglades, it’s just the most ludicrous fun you’ll have for a long… £5.24 Save 25%

This Month’s Featured ‘Literary / Contemporary’ Books

The Almost MoonAlice SeboldOctober 2007 Book of the Month.Alice Sebold’s second novel is as moving and beautifully written as her first, The Lovely Bones. She takes some very sad and disturbing subject matter and writes about it in a way that… £12.74 Save 25%

Cloth GirlMarilyn Heward MillsOctober 2007 Debut of the Month.Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel award, this is a delight. Set on Africa’s Gold Coast in the 1940s during the ten years leading up to Independence, it centres on two very different women,… £5.99 Save 25%

The Good FatherMarion HusbandA thought provoking and moving story exploring the relationships between fathers and their children. Marion Husband creates accessible characters and captivates the reader with her writing style. She keeps getting better with each successive novel. £5.99 Save 25%

What I LovedSiri HustvedtA book you will either love or hate, find long and tedious or be captivated and charmed. It is the story of two families involved in New York’s artistic life and reflected upon by a half-blind, elderly Jewish professor who… £5.99 Save 25%

This Month’s Featured ‘Mystery / Thriller’ Books

The WoodsHarlan CobenA great stand alone thriller from Harlan Coben with two plot lines to follow. One is the case that lawyer, Paul Copeland, is prosecuting now and the other the murder investigation he was involved in as a teenager. Thoroughly gripping,… £5.24 Save 25%

The Shakespeare SecretJ L CarrellOkay, this is straight down The Da Vinci Code territory but sans religion. Instead it takes murders echoing Shakespeare’s plots as its contemporary adventure, and revelations from his life as its intriguing historical background. It is well-written, compulsive page-turning stuff… £5.24 Save 25%

MeltdownMartin BakerJanuary 2008 Debut of the Month.A slick fast paced financial thriller from a journalist turned novelist. Samuel Spendlove is a brilliant but bored academic lured into the world of high finance by a controlling media mogul in the mood… £7.5 Save 25%

The ReincarnationistM J RoseA complete change from the last novel from this author,The Venus Fix. This book is almost like a gothic horror with it’s themes of murder, greed, religion and love. The idea of reincarnation is dealt with in a very… £5.24 Save 25%

A Quiet Belief in AngelsR J ElloryJanuary 2008 Book of the Month. Due to be reviewed on Richard & Judy on Wednesday 30 January 2008.I am championing this author. I think he is very special. His publisher claims he writes crime novels, and there certainly… £5.24 Save 25%

The Patience of the SpiderAndrea CamilleriAndre Camilleri’s series about Inspector Montalbano has been adapted for television in Italy, how brilliant it would be if they could do that for British TV, allowing us to see the beautiful Sicilian scenery for ourselves, the gorgeous food that… £9.74 Save 25%

This Month’s Featured ‘Historical Fiction’ Books

Measuring the WorldDaniel KehlmannThe fascinating true story of two German scientists – Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Grauss – and their quest to discover facts about the world that we take for granted today. The two eccentrics are completely different characters from… £5.99 Save 25%

The PrincipessaChristie DickasonA sweeping, glorious evocation of Jacobean London and Renaissance Italy incorporating real historical figures alongside fictional creations in a dramatic tale of high politics, rivalry and conspiracy, all that a good historical novel should be.Comparison: Philippa Gregory, Jude… £5.24 Save 25%

The LonerJosephine CoxInterestingly, from this queen of the gritty saga, a genre that normally takes a young girl as its central character, comes a meaty story with a man in the leading role! Comparison: Lesley Pearse, Lyn Andrews, Katie Flynn. £5.24 Save 25%

This Month’s Featured ‘Horror / Fantasy / SciFi’ Books

Friday Night in Beast HouseRichard LaymonThe final nightmare in the Beast House Chronicles – a nightmare in which your worst fears and darkest desires collide … sadly the author died in 2001 but apparently he had completed this himself before doing so.Comparison: Stephen King,… £5.99 Save 25%

Into a Dark Realm : Darkwar Book 2Raymond E FeistDarkwar Book 2, his new series of The History of Mid Kemian – a must for his fans.Comparison: David Gemmell, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan. £5.24 Save 25%

Keeping It RealJustina RobsonA half robot female agent with balls, attitude and an arsenal of weapons in a wonderful, sexy adventure.Similar this month: none.Comparison: Laurell K Hamilton, Richard Morgan, Andy Secombe. £5.24 Save 25%

The WakingT M JenkinsRarely does a sci fi novel with a totally plausible presage of Earth within our children’s lifetimes disturb and engage quite in the way that The Waking managed. At the brink of a fuel crisis with the threat of global… £5.24 Save 25%

Happy Lovereading !

butchik :: Oct.20.2007 :: Newsletters :: No Comments »

October is Man Booker Prize month. With the shortlist announced, there are six great novels to discover. As always, Lovereading has its finger on the literary pulse – by offering you the chance to read Opening Extracts of them. So even if you don’t go on to read all six in there entirety, you’ll be able to state an impressive case for your favourite at intellectual dinner parties. And you can enter our poll to let us know which your favourite is.But it’s not just the Booker shortlist that’s excited us this month… Are you a member of the 50,000+ reading groups around the UK? If so did you know we have a special genre showing the books we especially like this month? And don’t forget you can use any of our 3,000 free Opening Extracts and our exclusive Author Like for Like feature to help you choose your next book. Finally, if you buy 5 or more of the same title we will give you an additional 5% discount.As one of our new readers recently said:“How has it taken me so long to find this treasure of a site? As an avid reader and member of a book group you will be invaluable in selecting future reads. Thanks again for a wonderful site.” Angela

Author of the MonthLisa Gardner

If you like Faye Kellerman or Tami Hoag then do try our Author of the Month Lisa Gardner, who says her dark, twisted plotlines are a reaction against the absolute normalcy of her childhood. We’re featuring new novel, Hide. And a selection of her older novels. In Hide a mass grave is discovered in Massachusetts resembling the work of a known killer, but could it be a copy cat? Why not download a free Opening Extract and get yourself on tenterhooks…?

Book of the Month is The Almost Moon by the extraordinary Alice Sebold. Following the disturbing subject matter of The Lovely Bones, her new book sees a middle-aged woman kill her dementia-ridden mother. In beautiful prose, the novel follows her reflections on the events of her life that lead to this strange decision. Harrowing but utterly captivating.Debut of the Month is Cloth Girl, by Marilyn Heward Mills, which was nominated for the First Novel category of the 2007 Costa Book Awards (formally Whitbread). Young Matilda is playing a game with her sisters when her parents call her inside. “Good news,” they say, “you’re getting married”.The 21st birthday celebrations for Sceptre continue with three brilliant new literary titles:

Heavier than Heaven is a biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles R Cross, and the finest rock literature you are likely to come across. What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt is a complex novel about two friends in New York from the 1970s to the 1990s. An increasingly menacing plot of family, depravity, and tragedy makes this a powerful and gripping story. And White Lightning by Justin Cartwright is an extraordinarily moving, multi-layered story narrated by a failed film director, who moves to South Africa and develops a relationship with a baboon, and contemplates his Englishness. Tender, funny, and incredibly original.

Finally, while you can be sure Lovereading hasn’t even touched a bauble since January, Christmas is already looming on the horizon! We will have lots of perfect gift books in the lead up to the gift-giving season but we couldn’t resist telling you about this beautiful new edition of Peter Pan, with a foreword by Geraldine McCaughrean (author of recent sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet). And we have a free to enter draw where you could win one of five valuable signed first editions of Peter Pan in Scarlet – click here for more information.So please go to Lovereading for a feel of some (potentially) Booker Prize winning fiction. And if something grabs you straight away, remember you can buy from us with a 25% discount on the RRP.

This Month’s Featured ‘Crime / Whodunit’ BooksCrime Beat : Stories of Cops and KillersMichael ConnellyA great insight in to where Connolly gets his ideas from. Having worked as a police reporter for the LA Times Connolly covered many cases and here he brings together a fascinating collection of true crime stories. This is a must for all Michael Connolly fans… £5.99 Save 25%Dirty Little LiesJohn MackenAn interesting story exploring the potential use of technology in criminal cases (but it is not for the squeamish!). “Predictive Phenotyping” will allow the police to know who they are looking for rather than just giving them something to match… £5.24 Save 25%Divine EvilNora RobertsPrepare yourself for a much more disturbing Nora Roberts novel in this story of a woman haunted by her past and the terrible nightmares she is unable to escape. This one may not appeal to all Nora Roberts fans but her writing is still as good as ever, just slightly more un-nerving… £5.24 Save 25%The Death of DalzielReginald HillDalziel and Pascoe are watching what is supposedly a siege situation in a building flagged by the anti-terrorism unit. A suspect with a gun has been seen by a well-known incompetent PC. Dalziel decides to investigate closer and the building… £5.24 Save 25%

This Month’s Featured ‘Literary / Contemporary’ BooksThe Almost MoonAlice SeboldShe takes some very sad and disturbing subject matter and writes about it in a way that completely captivates the reader. This is a story of mental illness and how difficult relationships can be under these circumstances, torn between love and hate, devotion and resentment…. £12.74 Save 25%The Good FatherMarion HusbandA thought provoking and moving story exploring the relationships between fathers and their children. Marion Husband creates accessible characters and captivates the reader with her writing style. She keeps getting better with each successive novel…. £5.99 Save 25%What I LovedSiri HustvedtA book you will either love or hate, find long and tedious or be captivated and charmed. It is the story of two families involved in New York’s artistic life and reflected upon by a half-blind, elderly Jewish professor .. £5.99 Save 25%White LightningJustin CartwrightA tragic, deeply moving tale narrated by a failed film director who develops a relationship with a baboon. Beautifully written and multi-layered, you’ve just got to read this and all his books. He is a wonderful author… £5.99 Save 25%

This Month’s Featured ‘Relationship Tales’ BooksCloth GirlMarilyn Heward MillsDebut of the Month and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel award, this is a delight. Set on Africa’s Gold Coast in the 1940s during the ten years leading up to Independence, it centres on two very different women,… £5.99 Save 25%Midnight CactusBella PollenI like her style, her wit and her pace. The ending was a bit of a cop-out (see what you think) but it was certainly worth getting there. Arizona, illegal immigrants, an English family in the middle of nowhere, lots… £5.24 Save 25%Love PotionsChristina JonesThis is a great read. I’m a city girl, so sometimes when I’m wedged under an armpit in the tube, the idea of packing up and moving to the country is terribly appealing. Christina Jones’ fantastic book is just what… £5.24 Save 25%Fashion VictimSam BakerNew York, London and Milan are the backdrops for this fast paced slickly written high heeled murder mystery. Journalist Annie Anderson’s undercover investigations into the darker side of the fashion industry … £5.24 Save 25%

This Month’s Featured ‘Mystery / Thriller’ BooksThe Art of DrowningFrances FyfieldA well-paced and tense novel with intriguing characters. A friendship between two women, poles apart in personality, is the basis for the story and inevitably their differences lead to events taking a sinister turn… £5.99 Save 25%HideLisa GardnerI have been reading this American thriller writer for some years, watching her books get better and better and knowing that a truly excellent one would come … well, here it is, her best yet.. £5.24 Save 25%Dexter in the DarkJeff LindsayThoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended this is the 3rd in this darkly comic serial killer series. Dexter has being abandoned by the dark passenger that has made him who he is…. £7.49 Save 25%Christine FallsBenjamin BlackBenjamin Black is John Banville, winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2005 – but can a literary prize winner write crime? Oh yes … this is first-rate startlingly disturbing, gripping stuff …. £5.99 Save 25%

This Month’s Featured ‘Historical Fiction’ BooksMeasuring the WorldDaniel KehlmannThe fascinating true story of two German scientists – Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Grauss – and their quest to discover facts about the world that we take for granted today. The two eccentrics are completely different characters from… £5.99 Save 25%Knights of the Black and White: Book 1Jack WhyteEpic historical fiction on a grand scale, the beginning of a trilogy about the most important events in the history of the Order of the Knights Templar, beginning with why they formed after the First Crusade. £5.24 Save 25%The PrincipessaChristie DickasonA sweeping, glorious evocation of Jacobean London and Renaissance Italy incorporating real historical figures alongside fictional creations in a dramatic tale of high politics, rivalry and conspiracy, all that a good historical novel should be….. £5.24 Save 25%The LonerJosephine CoxInterestingly, from this queen of the gritty saga, a genre that normally takes a young girl as its central character, comes a meaty story with a man in the leading role! If you like Lesley Pearse, Lyn Andrews, Katie Flynn do give it a try. £5.24 Save 25%Happy Lovereading !

butchik :: Oct.09.2007 :: Newsletters :: No Comments »