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Birdsong

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Sebastian Faulks

July 18, 1994
Amazing book. I simply could not put it down. It made me cry in places and now my husband is reading it and finding the book equally moving. Stick at it, as its a slightly slow starter, but its worth the wait!

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Dark Fire (Matthew Shardlake 2)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: C.J. Sansom

May 18, 2007
I have just finished this book and, after Dissolution, I am well and truly addicted to this series. I really like the lead character of Matthew Shardlake and the other characters in this and the previous book. Will be starting on Sovereign asap and can't wait to read Revelation from what I've read on Amazon about that story. There seems to be a plethora of murder-thriller type books set in the 15th-16th century around at the moment but this is without doubt the best of them all.

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The Resurrectionist

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: James Bradley

June 19, 2008
I've tried and tried to like it. I've thought over and over that it will get better. I've persevered and got so far through that I don't want to give up but...

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1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: George Orwell

January 29, 2004
The first thing to remember about '1984' is that Orwell wasn't trying to predict what life would be like in 1984, or even in 2008. If the book is any good, it's not because it's an accurate picture of life as we know it. It is, however, a pretty faithful depiction of life in a totalitarian society; little happens in the book that didn't really happen in Germany between 1933 and 1945, or in many of the Eastern bloc countries between 1917 and 1989.

The second thing to remember is that Orwell was not against socialism. He described himself as a believer in "democratic socialism", and he was one, which is something that socialists who don't believe in democracy but in party discipline have never forgiven him for to this day. The ... Read More:

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A Darker Domain

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Val McDermid

September 01, 2008
The first thing to remember about '1984' is that Orwell wasn't trying to predict what life would be like in 1984, or even in 2008. If the book is any good, it's not because it's an accurate picture of life as we know it. It is, however, a pretty faithful depiction of life in a totalitarian society; little happens in the book that didn't really happen in Germany between 1933 and 1945, or in many of the Eastern bloc countries between 1917 and 1989.

The second thing to remember is that Orwell was not against socialism. He described himself as a believer in "democratic socialism", and he was one, which is something that socialists who don't believe in democracy but in party discipline have never forgiven him for to this day. The ... Read More:

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The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Paulo Coelho

September 06, 1999
I doubt I would have been so offended by this book had it not been for the pretentious fawings of so many people who claimed it had changed their life. I was intrigued. I was then very disappointed. What a load of new age drivel. Change my life my foot. This book is pretentious and seems to have been lifted from an array of other superior novels and fables. I felt cheated by the rave reviews and am still somewhat dumbfounded by it.

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Mark Haddon

March 31, 2004
This book is bloody awful. The entire central premise is patronising gibberish. If this book was written by an aspergic person about his life it would excuse the bad writing. If it was an intelligent, well written explanation of an aspergic child's life then it would be alright but it's not. This book is poorly written gibberish with the pretense of being written by an Aspie to cover up its bad writing. This is so patronising it's unbelievable. If this was done of any other social group there would be howls of protest and quite right to. It's no more subtle than a white person putting on blackface for a good 'ole minstrel show.

The worst thing is that this isn't even a particularly accurate portrayal of an aspergic person. It's a ridiculous caricature ... Read More:

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Random Acts of Heroic Love

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Danny Scheinmann

January 01, 2008
I normally like the Richard and Judy choices, and I thought the title was beautiful and it sounded amazing from the blurb on the back. Normally I would check the inside and read a few pages to check I can get into the authors style. In this case I didn't andI regret it. It is an awfully written book with no cliche left unturned. I gave it 50 pages and then stopped. Maybe I will go back one day and give it another go, but I would avoid it to be honest there are many better books out there.

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Sovereign (Matthew Shardlake 3)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: C.J. Sansom

March 16, 2007
Having read the previous Matthew Shardlake novels I was eager to read this one. I wasn't disappointed - it is easily the best one yet.

What I liked most was the brilliant evocation of the cruelty of Tudor England. The religious fanaticism has been done before, as has the treachery and power politics along with the corruption, but the way these were all melded together and the thorny subject of judicial torture thrown in it made the story basically become a lot darker.

The idea of the events taking place within the enclosed world of the Royal Progress was a nice way of taking a murder mystery staple plot device and making it relevant to the period, a kind of Tudor "Murder on the Orient Express" if you like.

CL Sansom is a very good writer, he keeps ... Read More:

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The Constant Princess

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Philippa Gregory

May 02, 2006
This is my second of Gregory's books I have read, the first book I read was 'The other Boleyn girl' which is much better, it's much more structured and had more depth. 'The constant princess' is interesting enough to finish but it isn't a book I would recommend to people.