This book was recommended to me by my mum who kept going on about how it was the best book she had ever read so I decided I'd give it a go after reading through the first chapter of The House At Riverton in a book shop and deciding I liked the authors style of writing.
I absolutely loved the way that the book interweaved the different characters throughout the novel and didn't find it too difficult to get to grips with different chapters being set in different time frames, if anything I found the variety nice and it kept the book moving along building the story beautifully to it's conclusion.
Throughout this book I kept trying to second guess what the authors intended plot was going to be, she continually surprised ... Read More:
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I bought this book because I thought it would be a good idea to have an antidote to all the scare stories we read in the media. I was not disappointed. The descriptions of how trials and research should be done were excellent and easy to read and understand. It really helps to counteract the headlines and shows you how to work out the facts behind the stories. The book is worth its price for the chapter on the placebo effect alone and if you wanted to know what happened to the MMR controversy you can find out in this book. Very interesting reading.
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Growing up with a Chinese mother who cooks the best chinese, I have developed a very good palate. I consider myself a foodie and relish in cooking, but always go back to the basics, which is Chinese.
This book is an excellent source of inspiration for people who can cook and also easy enough for beginners. A review here said the food was bland and I beg to differ. Growing up in Hong Kong, the Chinese I know relied on the freshest ingredients to deliver the best flavours. Spices were used minimally. Only when you travel inland to Szechuan do you truly encounter the fiery stuff.
Ching has given us classic recipes and more modern westernised ones. She allows you to use your common sense, you are able to add more or less of what ... Read More:
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Travelled almost 400 miles to see Sir Roger and get the book signed at Waterstones in Castle Street, Norwich, then queued for around 2 hours where we were given raffle tickets to get in. The first 200 were guaranteed, and only 300 would be done. After being handed a set of ''rules" namely no pictures, no dedications, no talking, virtually no nothing we were regimented through the store and got all of what, 15 seconds whilst Sir Roger quickly scribbled and then onto the next without so much as looking up at us and roughly treated by the staff at Waterstones, Norwich. Pretty disappointing really as I had seen George Lazenby and he spent time chatting with you. The book is a good read, easy to get through - I'd read through the chapters on the Saint and the Persuaders ... Read More:
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What an excellent Tudor mystery - Sansom really brings Tudor life 'back to life'! If you enjoy grizzly murder mysteries with twists and turns then this is for you. It is well up to the standard of the previous 3 Shardlake novels and we can only hope the fourth one will not be too long in arriving! Read and enjoy - one to immerse onself in on a cold winter night!
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We went to the East Midland Food show this year where Anjum was doing cookery demonstrations. She is passionate about her cooking and explains her methods and ingredients simply and effectively.
I've made a few of the dishes in here and found inspiration for some of my own based around the core recipes in this book. I'd recommend the yogurt based curry - very healthy with little fat or oil and very tasty. A winner with all the family.
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A lot of novels are "worthy" but you need to put a lot of effort into getting the most out of them; others are page-turners and pass the time easily and pleasurably, but don't do much else. The Kite Runner has that rare quality of being both worthy and a page-turner - and you learn a good slice about Afghan culture to boot. It's a very concisely written novel which tells a fascinating story and which contains sharply-observed characters that you come to really care about; the author's honesty shines through from start to finish.
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As a huge fan of Mock the Week, I was looking forward to seeing what this book had to offer, and to be fair it's not bad. There's a few funny lines, but it's a million miles away from the dry wit that features on the TV show.
It's obvious that the likes of Russell Howard, Dara O'brien, Hugh Dennis and the legendary Frankie Boyle were nowhere near the room where this was written.
All in all, its an OK read with a few funny bits, but it gets a bit repeatitive and it lacks the creativity and whit that you'd expect from MTW.
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As a big fan of India Knight and someone who is actively trying to cut back I was delighted when I saw she had written this book. Having read it though I have to say I am quite disappointed. It's written in her usual entertaining style but the content consists mainly of patronising rubbish backed up by endless lists of websites which anyone good at Googling could have put together. It's also clearly aimed at townies/Londoners which is highly annoying for the rest of us. The suggestions for saving money seem to be split into three categories - a) things lots of people already do because they don't have much choice like taking a packed lunch to work or holidaying in the UK, b) 'trendy' ideas that people have actually been doing for years like making jam or handing down clothes and c) 'investment ... Read More:
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