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Books are not just a great form of entertainment - they can also help you improve your life.

So, if you feel like a bit of a makeover is in order, but know that quick fixes never work, then our New Year, New You category could be perfect.

Books are great to read - but there are times, driving, commuting on a very very crowded train etc. when reading isn't always as easy as it should be. So, more and more publishers are now producing audio CD versions of their books.

Do you want to know what other people are reading?

Anita Shreve is the author of fifteen best-selling novels which have spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller Lists. The Weight of Water was short listed for the Orange Prize and The Pilot’s Wife was selected by Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Book club’ series.  Shreve started her writing career as a journalist and her award-winning short stories and non-fiction have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Cosmopolitan and Esquire.  Shreve is married to a man she met when she was 13.  She has two children and three stepchildren and lives in Massachusetts.

What are the great books that have influenced other authors the most?

Action is the keyword here! Just the fillip you need when you spend your working day behind a desk. With our online book review and free opening extract you’ll have all the information you need to choose the next action adventure you want to escape into.

Joanna Trollope
our Guest Editor for February

Joanna Trollope is the author of numerous highly acclaimed, bestselling contemporary novels. She has also written a study of women in the British Empire, Britannia's Daughters, as well as a number of historical novels. She was born in Gloucestershire and now lives in London. She was appointed OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Click here to visit Joanna Trollope's website.

Author Photo © Barker Evans

At Lovereading we’re passionate about all the books we feature.

Whether you are a keen follower of biographies or someone who just feels like a change from Fiction, this section is packed with great titles about a wide variety of fascinating subjects.

There are monthly “featured books” to give you inspiration and many of the titles have free downloadable extracts so you can try before you buy. 

All of our featured books are hand-picked and reviewed by our in-house editorial experts. This is unique to Lovereading and means that you can be sure of considered guidance by industry professionals. That’s how much we want you to Lovereading!

The Book Awards category on Lovereading  will help you discover authors who are winners of, or have been in contention for, some of the most prestigious awards. By their very presence on this page, you can be sure that each of the books featured here is the 'crème-de-la-crème' of today's literature.

Can you spot the prize-winners or the best-sellers in waiting? Do you want to start at the beginning with a writer whose every subsequent book you’re going to anticipate impatiently? Do you enjoy being the first to read the next must-read novel? If so, you can rely on Lovereading to keep you up-to-date.

Welcome to a meeting of the greatest criminal minds in the world. The world of Fiction, that is, because this is where you will find all the information, reviews and the opening extracts for our featured novels in the Crime & ‘Whodunnit’ category. Whether you’re looking for more books by a favourite author or broadening your experience of this thrilling genre, you’ll find what you’re looking for here.

The 2011 CWA Dagger Awards Shortlist
 

The shortlists for the 2011 CWA Gold, Ian Fleming Steel and John Creasey (New Blood) Daggers were officially announced on Friday, 19 August.

 The shortlists are as follows:

CWA GOLD DAGGER 2011
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Snowdrops by A.D. Miller
The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER 2011
Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
Cold Rain by Craig Smith
The Good Son by Michael Gruber
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER 2011
Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson
Kiss Me Quick by Danny Miller
The Dead Woman of Juárez by Sam Hawken
The Dogs of Rome by Conor Fitzgerald

ITV3 PEOPLE’S BESTSELLER DAGGER 2011
David Baldacci - The Sixth Man
Lee Child -  Worth Dying For
Mark Billingham - Good As Dead
Peter James - Dead Man’s Grip
Peter Robinson - Before the Poison

Peter James, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, commented: "To arrive at the shortlist for any award is inevitably a hard and very subjective task.  But this year's Daggers shortlists really do represent a very broad cross-section of the highest talents in our beloved genre."

The winners will be revealed at The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards on Friday 7th October at the Grosvenor House, and televised the following Tuesday 11th October on ITV3, along with the Film and TV Daggers.

eBooks have at last come of age and although you have been able to see if an eBook is available on a title by title basis on Lovereading for a while now, we also wanted to create a special section which features all of our eBook recommended reads.

Keep up to date by signing up for our free regular emails.

We hope you’ll find our Food and Drink category full of titles that can be enjoyed either sitting in the armchair or used in a more practical way in the kitchen.  Some of them provide a mixture of both. 

The list is by no means comprehensive; indeed the titles featured are ones that may well not hit the top of the bestsellers lists – a la Jamie Oliver - so you may struggle to hear about them hence our reason for bringing them together to the Lovereading audience.

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'At a time when niche cookbooks are under pressure, it is fantastic to have a site that steers away from the mainstream and supports proper writers of the genre.' Rose Prince - Author of The Good Produce Guide

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Each one is a personal favourite of one of our non-fiction editorial experts. The titles may well be quite quirky but each one has made it here because we think you’ll enjoy each and every one of them, whether it’s for reading entertainment or for more practical purposes.  We’ll be adding and refreshing the list so do check it out on a regular basis.

One of the real treats of working in the book world is being one of the few who get to read books before they are officially published.

Uncorrected proofs, as they are termed, are the editions of the books produced in small numbers and sent to book reviewers and the book buyers of large book chains.

Gardening is a year round activity for the keen and possibly more of a seasonal activity for the less hardy.  Here at Lovereading our gardening book expert has spent the winter months, when she’s not on her allotment, deep in lots of gardening books, some of which are more at home with the armchair reader that’s in us all whilst others offer a more practical aspect on gardening.

None the less the ideal time to introduce a new selection of gardening titles is in the spring.  The weather is improving, the ground is drying and things are beginning to grow – the start of a new season at last.

There’s nothing like a really involving family drama and romance to take you away from your own life. And Lovereading covers the whole range, as you would expect.

Men take note – reading is now officially ‘sexy’. But taking a leaf from Dr Grey Martians don’t read the same as Venusians so sign up here to keep abreast of what you need to read. From anarchic humour (Terry Pratchett and Dave Gorman) to novels that explore what it means to be a man (Tony Parsons and Mark Barrowcliffe). With our regular emails you won’t miss new works from favourite authors or new authors who’ll become favourites.

If You Like...You'll Love...

We’ve all got friends who read more than we do and sometimes these friends are useful in helping us work out what to read next.  But do bear us in mind as well! At Lovereading, we hope you’ll consider our guidance as a ‘friend’ too! Let us help you discover new authors and titles through our hand-picked perfect matches that are not selected by a computer as they are on other online bookshops but in the traditional way by human hand and thought!

Download a FREE iBook today.

It's an animated, interactive, enhanced eBook of Yellow Submarine, the Beatles film. It pushes the envelope in terms of the ePub spec. You can touch pages for animation and sound. Even more amazingly, this book is available for free.

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Just watch out for the graphic image below, it means that the book you are looking at is available for instant download on to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch - once you have installed the free iBooks App.

The staff here at Lovereading aren’t just passionate about good books; they are also passionate about doing their bit to help ‘save the planet’ in any way they can. So we thought you might appreciate a bit of guidance on what books are out there that might enthuse you into thinking, and being a bit greener.

If you feel like a bit of a makeover is in order, but know that quick fixes never work, then our new Health & Lifestyle category could be perfect for you.

History is a fascinating topic whether it be the history of a country, the history of warfare or the history of an individual. Although we have promoted historical books over the years in our real world and biography genres we felt it was time these titles got their own special spot on the site and so we bring you a dedicated History genre.

Historical fiction is such a great way to experience the past. It’s fascinating, thrilling and you learn from it. Wonderful! The best way to make sure you’re ahead of history is through our emails, which will guide you to the latest and best so you can...

For those of you who like ‘to boldly go’, or enjoy the terror of dark horror, or to contemplate future existence in this and other worlds, this is the Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy section.

This is where you’ll find the very best in modern literary writing and discover the new heroes of fiction as well as the established masters. This section features novels not only from home-grown favourites (from Martin Amis and Salmon Rushdie, to David Nicholls and Zadie Smith) but also from international writers too, like Isabel Allende, David Guterson and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (and, obviously, many more)

Best Science Fiction 2012

selected by

Maxim Jakubowski

The joy of reading science fiction and fantasy lies in the genre's eternal qualities of reinvention, and the way it refreshes the reader's sense of wonder with every new author making a splash on the block. This is a domain where imagination reigns unlimited and even the most far-fetched stories somehow effortlessly trap you into their web of new worlds and concepts at the drop of a line. Similarly, it is also a field where new writers appear to emerge from out of nowhere fully-formed and ready to challenge the certainties of the world we live in with a gusto for action and challenging concepts.

Recent years have seen a veritable flowering of new talent amongst those distant galaxies, alien worlds and lands of fantasy. And even if you're understandably tired of vampire tales by now (and feel they should be left to teenagers or romance readers), there is at least one more you should look out for, as this suggested map of the new territories of SF & fantasy demonstrates.

Below is Maxim Jakubowski's list of Best Science Fiction 2012 authors. Click the author name to read his comment.

Simon Morden

Ian Whates

Hannu Ranajiemi

Charles Yu

Lauren Beukes

Paolo Bacigalupi

David Wingrove

Rod Rees

Jon Courtenay Grimwood

Ben Aaronovitch

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Summer SF Reading

Summer is traditionally the favoured time for reading, whether it be on beaches, in the countryside, the garden or wherever the tides of leisure transport you and science fiction, fantasy and horror as ever proves a perfect recipe for escape and entertainment.

Who wants to be confronted with or reminded of everyday reality when you are attempting to relax? Abandon yourself to the siren call of the wilder shores of the imagination to other planets or fascinating alien environments, to the thrills and dread of terror or the wide screened sense of wonder that imaginary worlds can conjure up.

Imaginative writing is thriving and our summer selection will leave you gasping with awe, amused and scared on the same page as we select some of the more outstanding new books of the year.

And, as a bonus, anyone of these fascinating novels can also be read at home, as their tentacular delights will whisk you away from the armchair into brand new worlds. Who needs holidays when your mind is transported light years away?

Below is Maxim Jakubowski's list of Summer SF authors. Click the author name to read his comment.

Justin Cronin

Joe Hill

Paul Hoffman

Stephen Hunt

China Mieville

Adam Nevill

Sarah Pinborough

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Maxim Jakubowski on Modern Classics of Science Fiction...

So you’ve read H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, John Wyndham, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert’s DUNE, Philip K. Dick, THE LORD OF THE RINGS and other established classics of science fiction & fantasy, enjoyed the verve of STAR WARS and AVATAR on the big screen and follow LOST, HEROES and BEING HUMAN on television and you still want more. But where to begin? More elves and vampires won’t satisfy your thirst for challenging ideas, action, believable characters, good writing and a sense of wonder.

Here is a selection of modern classics that you might not have come across yet, and which are guaranteed to keep you under their spell until the very last page. All masterpieces of the imagination in their own right and proof that entertainment and intelligent speculation can make good bedfellows. Science fiction & fantasy is not only about dragons, spaceships and things that bite in the night. Read most of these astounding books and you will be hooked. Worse things could happen!

Below is Maxim Jakubowski's list of Modern Classic science fiction writers. Click the author name to read his comment.

Neil Stephenson

Gene Wolfe

Brian W. Aldiss

Richard Morgan

Jack Vance

M. John Harrison

Orson Scott Card

William Gibson

Iain M. Banks

China Mieville

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Maxim Jakubowski on the Best of British Science Fiction...

There was a time when American science fiction and fantasy dazzled us: the golden years of Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov and so many writers whose pens effortlessly painted awesome galactic vistas with technicolor abandon. But the times they are a changin’ and for the past decade or so British authors have taken over the universe and are now the main providers of thrills, alien exotica and hypnotic if impossible parallel worlds.

Science fiction has never been about predicting the future but more about titillating the intelligence, questioning the whys and wherefores of the known (and unknown) universe, opening up new horizons, confronting how society changes both on a micro-scale or on a global palette. But most importantly it is about conveying a sense of wonder, whether depicting future worlds or taking us on on a trip beyond the frontiers of rationality or investigating human nature.

Let us not forget that, alongside Jules Verne, H.G. Wells was one of the pioneers of the genre in opening up the limits of the imagination. His contemporary children are rewriting the genre with vigorous abandon and we urge you to investigate all these new British writers, all of whom trip the light fantastic like no others before and explore what lies on the other side of reality. Tighten your seat belts for the rides of a thousand centuries.

The only thing that isn’t a mystery in this section is how you can access some great crime fiction. Register for our emails and we’ll be thrilled (get it?) to give you reading suggestions, as well as access to online, expert reviews and loads of free opening extracts; so, we’ve done all the detective work for you! (see what we’ve done there?). After all, there’s no crime (see what we di … oh never mind) in getting a little help choosing your next mysterious adventure and no more puns. Promise.

'new gen' is a treasure trove of books and authors that aims to bridge the reading gap for the teen / young adult audience. From laugh-out-loud beach reads, steamy paranormal romances, mesmerising thrillers and compelling dystopian tales there is something for every young adult taste.

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Here you'll find authors who specifically write for the teen market along with authors whose books are incredibly relevant to teenagers, The Catcher in the Rye would be the classic example.

Every title we choose aims to be not only a great read but offer insights and help as the challenges of adulthood begin.

'Paranormal Fiction' is big in the States and, undoubtedly, will be here too if the success of the film Twilight is anything to go by. The genre is growing and growing and although we have been promoting many of these titles they have perhaps been lost in our Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror genre so we decided it was time they got a genre all of their own.

As Carol Ann Duffy says in her introduction to The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems : ‘The best of poetry is memorable, as prayers are, and in this wonderful selection of classic poems both young and older readers will find something that will stay with them, or has stayed with them, all of their lives’.

From Maeve Binchy’s The Copper Beech to Téa Obreht’s Orange Prize-winning debut The Tiger’s Wife you'll find award winning, ground breaking, genre defining, blockbusting fiction and non-ficiton - in fact there’s something here for everyone.

Do you feel like asking your brain cells to work a little harder whilst at the same time learn something new and all from the comfort of the armchair?

Books that are great in bed.

French swingers, Italian teenagers, American pensioners and upper-class Brits. Seems like everyone is at it. And now they're writing about it too...

If you want to read a free Opening Extract of them all then Lovereading is the place to come. Just click on the book you are interested in.

Did you know that the first recorded reading groups were among women working in factories in the nineteenth century?

No two relationships are the same, so is it any wonder that there is no shortage of great material in this section? We are big fans of relationship tales at Lovereading and we like to share the love. So, this section is where you’ll find all your favourite authors and, if you’ll let us be your relationship council, some brand new ones too.

Handsome aristocrats in becoming breeches, rags to riches heroines, close-knit communities and dark family secrets. There's nothing like a really compelling romance or saga, is there? If you want to read one, sign up now so you can read online reviews and download free book extracts and know about the very best of favourite authors and rising stars.

Mariella Frostrup hosts the UK’s longest running dedicated TV book show, featuring an array of A-list authors and other big-name guests in the studio, discussing their favourite reads and their own works.

To see books reviewed in the last series, click here.

Lovereading recommends you take a leaf out of the book of Latin lovers. The Catalans in Barcelona celebrate their Valentine's Day by exchanging gifts with their sweethearts. The men give their 'novias' a rose and the women give their 'novios' a book.

Whichever sport you follow, it is only through books about the games, the players, the events and the participants that you will gain a real insight into the motivating factors behind people with unimaginable (and sometimes inexplicable) talent. Fixtures and results bombard you from every conceivable media channel – TV, radio, the internet, mobile phones. But the real insights into the characters of the people, and the inside stories of the dressing rooms - from the muddy fields of winter to the steely mechanics and oily rags in the pit-lane - only really come from reading about them in books (sometimes long after the event is over or the personality has died).

Byron said ‘Truth is stranger than fiction’ a quote which is, perhaps, even more relevant in the 21st Century than the 19th.

There’s a bit of the traveller in all of us, isn’t there? Even if our biggest adventure is the annual 2 week holiday to Europe! Well, we’ll make sure that all your reading journeys have happy endings with our regular emails. With on-line reviews and free book extracts our regular emails will keep you up to date with the latest and best travel writing.

After the inaugural World Book Night on Saturday 5 March 2011 it's back for a second year, this time on 23 April 2012.

That evening one million books will be given away by libraries and by an army of 20,000 passionate book lovers (among them will be our very own Sarah Broadhurst) to members of the public across the UK and Ireland.