Lance Armstrong

With the Le Tour De France in full swing and Lance Armstrong poised to take a famous victory after coming out of retirement, now is the time to brush up on your history of the most famous and gruelling sporting event of them all.

Abe Books has a great collection of all books related to the Tour De France and other cycling achievements.

It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong

The inspiring journey of world-class hero lance Armstrong, from the night of advanced cancer through his dramatic victory in the 1999 Tour de France, and beyond.

Get a first edition/first printing in very good condition signed by Lance Armstrong for £144.

Lily has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four. She not only has her own memory of holding the gun, but her father’s account of the event. Now fourteen, she yeams for her mother, and for forgiveness. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her father, she has only one friend: Rosaleen, a black servant whose sharp exterior hides a tender heart. South Carolina in the sixties is a place where segregation is still considered a cause worth fighting for. When racial tension explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is compelled to act. Fugitives from justice and from Lily’s harsh and unyielding father, they follow a trail left by the woman who died ten years before. Finding sanctuary in the home of three beekeeping sisters, Lily starts a journey as much about her understanding of the world, as about the mystery surrounding her mother.

The book read something like a fantasy of the best possible outcome of running away from home – a seamless journey to a welcoming home with beds, companionship and work. If this is a little too much for some to swallow, it is countered by the fascinating insight into beekeeping – which pervades the latter part of the book with healing philosophies and a variety of novel uses for the products of a bee hive. Those who are interested in wildlife and gardening will love the in-depth affinity this book has with the art of bee management and honey production.

The Secret Life of Bees is as naive and hopeful as its narrator, but manages to offset the stifling heat of Carolina and the sickly sweet aroma of honey with the brooding shadow of local white male authority figures who represent danger, punishment without justice and prejudice in its most extreme forms. Buy it for only £5.99 with free standard UK delivery at Waterstones:

Ian Rankin

The books often involve lots of characters and must have been written, to my mind, with the TV series in mind. It can be hard to keep track of the different personalities but the stories give a really detailed, atmospheric description of Edinburgh. One gets a sense of the dank pubs and echoing tenement blocks which co-exist along the grand Royal Mile and festivities of Hogmanay and August.

As for the crime, there’s often a murder plus a wrangle with the establishment and vested interests of Scotland’s capital. It’s gruesome, but the descriptions of the crimes themselves are always vague enough not to be gratuitous. The focus is rather on Rebus’ face-to-face working style, his contacts and chats, backhanders and favours. He is always principled but treads a fine line between being lawful and using everything in his power to reach his version of justice.

Rankin is always careful to give the books a realistic historical setting – leading to mention of the G8 conference, the building of the Scottish parliament and other events. The result is a snapshot of Edinburgh over the last few years. You can now even buy a specially commissioned whisky called the Rebus 20, which celebrates 20 years of Rankin’s crime busting novels.

Call me obvious and shallow, but I like a happy ending, with victory for the hero. Rankin doesn’t always deliver, opting instead for more realistic outcomes such as no arrests, no charges or no justice at all. If you’re visiting Scotland, I highly recommend checking out these books on your travels.

• Rebus books at Blackwells – just click here.

  

• Borders books have a great range of Rebus books from Knots and Crosses to Exit Music. Rankin books start at £1.79.
• Foyles have Rebus and Rankin books from as little as £4.49

Literature

Check out the giants of French philosophy and literature. Rousseau argued for majority rule long before the concept was popular and helped to spark the French Revolution – the cause for today’s Bastille celebrations. Robespierre is also a hero of the Enlightenment period, even though he argued the justification for political violence that was to underpin the French Revolution.

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir are both renowned philosophers who changed the face of existentialism. Beauvoir is best known for her book “Second Sex“, which marked a radical shift in feminist thinking.

Language

The French are infamously proud of their rich and beautiful language. Those who go to France without knowing any French can expect to be abruptly ignored by the waiter, the taxi driver and the shop assistant. Get yourself up to speed with this before you step out of the avion.

Food

Cheese is a major part of French culture – alongside its world famous wines. Roquefort, brie and boursin are amongst some of the most famous. Some cheeses are so smelly that they have been banned from public transport in Paris. There are thousands of types of French cheese and true mastery of their variety requires a dedication similar to that of wine enthusiasts.

Garlic is the best-known staple of French cooking alongside onions and freshly baked bread. Most people find that the best thing about their holiday in France is freshly baked croissants from the boulangerie and freshly ground black coffee to boot. Children especially appreciate the way that hot chocolate is served in a bowl at breakfast.

Wine

Our resident Wine Bloke has recommended the following pair of French wines for sampling:

Joseph Drouhin Pinot Noir L’Abeille Rouge 2003, “This is a easy drinking but very nice wine. Well priced.”

Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve, “A reasonably price champagne.”

France is the seat of old world wine production. A vast array of wines are produced every year from ancient vineyards full of family history and national fervour.

French winemakers went to extraordinary lengths to protect their tipple during the Nazi occupation of WWII. They hid champagne in limestone caves and walled it up. Many covered their cellars over with rugs and changed the labels on wine so that the Nazis got the worst wine with the best bottles.

France also has a rigourous labelling authority which ensures that consumers get what they pay for. Champagne is only grown in a particular region of France and the other regions have similar protections against would be pretenders through the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine (INAO). This authority monitors labelling so that the good name of these ancient wine regions is maintained. The Chateux are also ordered into strict hierarchies which grant them particular titles. This helps international markets to distinguish the very best French wines.

For more on wine, visit The Wine Blokes at www.thewineblokes.com

Fashion

Parisian fashion is more chic than anywhere else in the world. London may be quirky and New York may be glam, but the French know how to do style. It’s not all blue and white striped tops and berets. Jean Paul Gautier, Christian Dior, Paco Rabanne, Chanel, Yves Saint-Laurent and other major names in the fashion world have made their mark from France and its satellites. Check out the designers on Yoox.

Weather

Every year, thousands flock to St Tropez and other locations in the South of France for its unrivalled beaches and temperate climate.

If you think your family is dysfunctional, wait until you meet this bunch!

The writing style is really innovative and keeps the book flowing seamlessly as we jump to see the story according to Dad; then Mum; then Son; and then daughter, in short paragraphs packed with idiosyncrasies that anyone can relate to. With fast pace and a lot of laughs, the book builds to a dramatic climax.

Find a copy of A Spot of Bother here.

This book is a tremendous follow up to “The Curious Incident” for Haddon and clearly marks him as an author to follow.

Before I get on with the first book review in this very shopping blog, I thought I’d welcome you to the site! So, welcome.

Finding the Latest Book Reviews

Book reviews shall be a regular feature – just look under the “Book Reviews” category (there’s load of ways to discover it around the site – at the bottom and top of this post being one of them!).

There’s also a book reviews tab on the homepage (just below the flashing features box) which will show you the latest book reviews.

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However, the easiest way to read the latest Book Reviews we publish as soon as they go online is to subscribe to our RSS feeds. You can either find the RSS feed for the whole website by clicking the link at the top-right hand side of EVERY page (the one with the RSS orange image) and using your favourite feed reader to collect everything we publish, or, visit the book reviews category and (in Firefox browsers) you will find the RSS logo for that category. Otherwise, you can enter the following address into your feed readers and you should be all ready to receive – http://shop-online-4.com/uk/category/book-reviews/feed/ .

Where to Purchase Books that we Review

Every single book we review is available for purchase somewhere on our site, and we’ll make the links easy to find, and try to get you the latest price details too (and that includes online auction sites) so you can find the cheapest and quickest ways to purchase your favourite books.

Share Your Thoughts

Of course, we welcome your thoughts and opinions too – every person, not to mention every book, is different!

That’s all from us. Prepare to see some book reviews!

Tom Ford Marissa Sunglasses

Patterned Dresses

Patterned Valentino Roma £430

Antonio Marras Dress £650

Casadei Sandals £225

Casadei Sandals £224

Read all about life in the fast lane of fashion with the book based on Anna Wintour “The Devil Wear Prada“.

The Devil Wears Prada

The Devil Wears Prada is one of a series of books by Lauren Weisberger about young professional women and the trials they face at work and at home. The next in the series is “Chasing Harry Winston”. The Devil Wears Prada is better, though.