Lovereading Latest: Books of the Month - February

Last Man in Tower - Aravind Adiga

Last Man in Tower
Aravind Adiga

Format: Paperback - Released: 01/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

February 2012 MEGA Book of the Month. The compelling, complex and multi-layered novel from Aravind Adiga is his first after White Tiger which won the Booker in 2008. A suspense-filled story of money and power, luxury and deprivation; a rich tapestry peopled by unforgettable characters, not least of which is Bombay itself.

1000 Places to See Before You Die - Patricia Schultz

1000 Places to See Before You Die
Patricia Schultz

Format: Paperback - Released: 01/01/2012
Lovereading Price: £11.24 - Saving £3.75 (25%)

February 2012 Travel Book of the Month. Presents the 1,000 most astonishing destinations in the world and brings them to life in lively, evocative prose that reveals why the place is so wonderful. This title offers a greater variety of hotel and restaurant choices, including more budget-conscious options. Click here to read a Q & A with Patricia Schultz about this book.

Planet Ponzi - Mitch Feierstein

Planet Ponzi
Mitch Feierstein

Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £15.00 - Saving £5.00 (25%)

February 2012 Non-Fiction Book of the Month. Even though this book has a US focus the blunt uncomfortable economic and political truths of the current global debt crisis and its inevitable painful conclusion are equally relevant for anyone living in the western world. Mitch Feierstein’s scathing appraisal of politicians and money men is backed up with unsettling statistic after statistic but the book is also a rallying cry for us all to become more aware and involved – and even has investing tips to reduce the impact of the impending financial super storm. Click here to visit the planetponzi website

The Great Escape - Fiona Gibson

The Great Escape
Fiona Gibson

Format: Paperback - Released: 16/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. This Laugh-out-loud funny tale, packed full real life cringe-worthy moments we all know so well, asks the question: Can any woman ever grab back a piece of her younger self? For one weekend only, Hannah, Sadie and Lou are determined to give it their best shot. Perfect for fans of Jane Costello, Kate Long and Tess Stimson.

Nine Uses for an Ex Boyfriend - Sarra Manning

Nine Uses for an Ex Boyfriend
Sarra Manning

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. Anyone who has been through a break up with a long term first love will totally relate to the characters in this sexy, funny, witty and well written romantic novel. The dilemma is simple. What do you do if you catch your boyfriend passionately kissing your best friend; try to save the relationship or move on?

Pantheon - Sam Bourne

Pantheon
Sam Bourne

Format: Hardback - Released: 16/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £9.74 - Saving £3.25 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. A truth unearthed by Jonathan Freedland, who writes under the pseudonym Sam Bourne, is the idea at the centre of this explosive WW2 thriller. While we thought we were fighting a morally repugnant enemy who believed in the ‘master race’ the idea behind it ‘eugenics’ was supported by some of the most influential British and American intellectual and political elite of the time. An unwitting Oxford don finds himself personally involved in this previously hidden aspect of WW2 when his wife and child are kidnapped.

Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith

Agent 6
Tom Rob Smith

Format: Paperback - Released: 19/01/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. Agent 6 is the third in Tom Rob Smith's trilogy about a former MGB agent, Leo Demidov. His stunning debut Child 44, set in Russia in 1953 won him the Galaxy New Writer of the Year 2009. The second The Secret Speech, again set in the 1950's, was equally gripping. In Agent 6 it is 1965 and Leo Demidov has a wife and teenage daughters - but can he stop his past life destroying his current one? Three decades. Two murders. One conspiracy. Who is Agent 6?

Rescue - Anita Shreve

Rescue
Anita Shreve

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. A tale of love, banishment and renewal, Rescue is a perfectly paced novel, written with Shreve's skilful lightness of touch and perceptive characterisation. Alternating between the life-and-death scenarios Peter regularly encounters and the fraught family tension between father and daughter, the read is gripepd by the drama and emotion that Shreve so expertly builds. Shreve is the bestelling author of Testimony, A Change in Altitude and the Orange prize shotlisted The Weight of Water.

Finders Keepers - Belinda Bauer

Finders Keepers
Belinda Bauer

Format: Hardback - Released: 05/01/2012
Lovereading Price: £11.24 - Saving £3.75 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. Psychological thrillers don’t get much better than this. Chillingly gripping, it’s the sort of plot line that surprises you at every turn and absolutely does not let you go. A real tour-de-force.

The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht

The Tiger's Wife
Tea Obreht

Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. Shortlisted for the Galaxy International Author of the Year Award 2011. THE ORANGE PRIZE WINNING DEBUT FROM A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY TALENT. A Special Edition of The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht to celebrate Orion's 20th anniversary. A tiger escapes from a zoo during a Nazi bombing raid on a village in the balkans in 1941. His nocturnal visits hold the inhabitants of a local village in a terrified thrall. But for one boy, the tiger is a thing of magic. This is the beginning of a story about that boy's granddaughter, now a Doctor. She receives word of her beloved grandfather's death in circumstances shrouded in mystery. She realises he may have died searching for 'the deathless man', a vagabond who was said to be immortal. Struggling to understand why a man of science would undertake such a quest, she stumbles upon a clue that will lead her to the extraordinary story of the tiger's wife.

Tom-All-Alone's - Lynn Shepherd

Tom-All-Alone's
Lynn Shepherd

Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £9.74 - Saving £3.25 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. Described by the author as a homage to Charles Dickens but also an incredibly well researched and re-imagined, gripping Victorian murder mystery based on his classic Bleak House. Where Dicken’s just hinted at Lyn Sheperd immerses you in a grim London underworld in which girls as young as ten work the night as prostitutes, unwanted babies are ruthlessly disposed of, and those who threaten the rank and reputations of great men are eliminated at once, and without remorse.

Never Apologise, Never Explain - James Craig

Never Apologise, Never Explain
James Craig

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. We were big fans of London Calling the first in this series of books featuring dogged, determined (coffee connoisseur ) Inspector John Carlyle. This latest Inspector Carlyle crime novel is superbly executed for at first glance it seems a straightforward case but, with Carlyle nothing is as it seems and if he's to resolve his latest caseload he must bring his skills of diplomacy and politics to the fore. Click here to see the first book in the series, London Calling.

The Favored Daughter : One Woman's Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future - Fawzia Koofi, Nadene Gourhi

The Favored Daughter : One Woman's Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future
Fawzia Koofi, Nadene Gourhi

Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £12.74 - Saving £4.25 (25%)

February 2012 Non-Fiction Book of the Month. This is an extraordinarily moving autobiography of the first lady of Afghani politics. Left to die in the sun as a the unwanted 19th daughter of an influential village leader Fawzia Koofi, through an enormous amount of perseverance good luck and capitalising on her family’s political background, rose to become an advocate for women’s rights and stand against the corruption and infighting that bedevils Afghanistan.Like for Like ReadingDear Zari: Hidden Stories from the Women of Afghanistan, Zharghuna KargarThe Sewing Circles of Herat: My Afghan Years, Christina Lamb

The Calling of the Grave - Simon Beckett

The Calling of the Grave
Simon Beckett

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. A Maxim Jakubowski Great Male Crime Sleuth. Forensics expert Dr David Hunter has featured in a handful of investigations so far and is becoming a worthy British counterpart to Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta. Ironically, he has become a major bestseller in Germany where he outsells all other crime writers. The meticulous emphasis on bones, blood, insects and the paraphernalia of crime scene investigations makes his cases emphatically realistic and Hunter proves a sympathetic if obstinate sleuth who seldom deviates from the right course of action. Addictive stuff.

Mice - Gordon Reece

Mice
Gordon Reece

Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

February 2012 Book of the Month. A Piece of Passion from the Publisher of Mice, Maria Rejt:"Mice is not a thriller that conforms particularly to what a bestselling thriller purports to be these days – there are no serial killers, no high-octane car chases, no baroque methods of torture. It begins as a simple tale of domesticity which, within a matter of pages, has evolved into an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that literally will not let you go. "The set up is simple. A middle-aged woman and her teenage daughter escape to a rural idyll. They are retreating from the miseries of failed relationships and vicious school bullying. Together and alone in the country they are safe. Until a stranger intrudes and a split second decision sends their world into tailspin."Gordon Reece is an author who has such empathy with his characters and such control over his plotting that the reader is held in a vice-grip. Once started, there is no escaping his story which hurtles to a truly chilling and haunting climax. I loved its simplicity and power but it is the ending which stays with you long after the last page has been turned." The Lovereading view... Sixteen year old Shelley and her mother move to a cottage in the middle of the countryside, hoping to put behind them years of suffering at the hands of others. And for a while, in their cottage-haven, the women flourish. But one night, their fragile peace is shattered when Shelley wakes to hear a creak on the stairs. Someone has broken into the house ... A gripping, unique suspense thriller with a chilling twist . . .