The Man Who Planted Trees is a thoroughly enchanting book by Jean Giono. The book is charmingly illustrated by Vanessa Capela.
Who was Jean Giono? He was born in 1895 to an ordinary family of somewhat modest means in Manosque, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in France.
He started working in a bank when he became 16, but he continued with his deep and abiding passion for reading the great classical works of literature.
At the outbreak of the Great War he left the bank as he was called up for military duty.
The dreadful suffering he witnessed during his time during that terrible war turned him into a life-long pacifist.
A year after the end of the war, 1919, he returned to his duties at the bank. Within a year he had married a childhood sweetheart and together they had two children.
Success as a novelist came to him when, in 1929, he published his first novel, Colline. A year later he left the bank, this time for good, concentrating on writing full-time.
He went on to write 30 novels, numerous stories and essays.
The book for which he is probably best known for outside his native France is this book, The Man Who Planted Trees.
It's a charming, optimistic and hopeful story which relates how a man brings a deserted valley back to life by simply planting trees in it.
It reflects the lifelong love that he had of the natural world and his concerns pre-date the fashionable green movement by many decades.
This book is a masterpiece of storytelling. It is another book I shall recommend as a Christmas present.
You simply must read this book. As for me? I think I shall plant a tree, or three... In fact, if your buy this book, a tree has already been planted for you.
It is published by Far Away books www.farfarawaybooks.com
Book review blog site, with some entertainment material from time-to-time.
Saturday, 26 November 2011
The Three Little Pigs, retold
The Three Little Pigs is here retold and illustrated by Little Red Riding Hood.
See The Three Little Pigs as you have probably never quite envisioned them, as they meet the challenges from the Big Bad Wolf who wants to eat the three little pigs all up!
It's all here, the foolish pig, who builds a house of straw, the not particularly smart little pig who builds a house of sticks and the rather clever little pig who builds a far more substantial house of bricks.
It is published (piglished?) in hardback by Far Far Away Books the ISBN is 978-989-8441-00-3.
The book is part of the Plant for the Planet series a Billion Tree Campaign aided by the UN Environment Programme. So when you buy this book, you are planting a tree.
www.farfarawaybooks.com
The cost quoted on the website is $15.00 + $3.00 postage.
See The Three Little Pigs as you have probably never quite envisioned them, as they meet the challenges from the Big Bad Wolf who wants to eat the three little pigs all up!
It's all here, the foolish pig, who builds a house of straw, the not particularly smart little pig who builds a house of sticks and the rather clever little pig who builds a far more substantial house of bricks.
It is published (piglished?) in hardback by Far Far Away Books the ISBN is 978-989-8441-00-3.
The book is part of the Plant for the Planet series a Billion Tree Campaign aided by the UN Environment Programme. So when you buy this book, you are planting a tree.
www.farfarawaybooks.com
The cost quoted on the website is $15.00 + $3.00 postage.
Deep Water. A Cate Carlisle Files novel
Cate Carlisle receives a worried and, to be honest, rather frantic phone call from her boyfriend Michael in Australia.
Michael is working at a special marine sanctuary that, for no known reason, has become over-run with sharks. But these are no ordinary sharks. They are hyper-aggressive, and pose a very real and very lethal danger to not only the animal denizens of the marine sanctuary, but to the human population, too.
For some reason the authorities seem reluctant or unwilling to provide any assistance at all.
So Cate decides to step in to see exactly what she can do to help put things right. She soon discovers that she needs all of her natural quick wits and the expert help of her computer genius brother and her glamorous friends to avert an ecological catastrophe of immense proportions!
But all is not what it seems. Who can Cate trust? Is everyone quite who or what they appear to be? Someone, a boy, has vanished in mysterious circumstances. What is the meaning of the strange, shadowy figures and the mysterious lights that seem to be haunting the ocean?
Deep Water is an ideal teen read and will make a super Christmas present. It is published by Piccadilly Press in paperback at £6.99. www.piccadillypress.co.uk ISBN 978-1-84812-155-3.
Michael is working at a special marine sanctuary that, for no known reason, has become over-run with sharks. But these are no ordinary sharks. They are hyper-aggressive, and pose a very real and very lethal danger to not only the animal denizens of the marine sanctuary, but to the human population, too.
For some reason the authorities seem reluctant or unwilling to provide any assistance at all.
So Cate decides to step in to see exactly what she can do to help put things right. She soon discovers that she needs all of her natural quick wits and the expert help of her computer genius brother and her glamorous friends to avert an ecological catastrophe of immense proportions!
But all is not what it seems. Who can Cate trust? Is everyone quite who or what they appear to be? Someone, a boy, has vanished in mysterious circumstances. What is the meaning of the strange, shadowy figures and the mysterious lights that seem to be haunting the ocean?
Deep Water is an ideal teen read and will make a super Christmas present. It is published by Piccadilly Press in paperback at £6.99. www.piccadillypress.co.uk ISBN 978-1-84812-155-3.
Matilda's Secret
Matilda's Secret is a novel by Sandra Goldbacher and it is a part of the "A Girl for all Time Book" series.
Matilda Marchmont is thirteen, she comes from Norfolk. Her life is pleasant, but it must be admitted, a little dull, at times. She rides her horse, is allowed to mix medicines for her family (she likes to pretend to herself that she is a witch!) and writing in her secret diary. In fact she wrote "Nothing exciting will ever happen to me."
She longed for something exciting to happen. She felt somewhat envious of the life of glamour and excitement enjoyed by her cousin Katherine Howard. Because Katherine lived at court, Katherine was really, really fashionable! Oh, how she longed to be more like her lucky, fortunate cousin!
Then, one fateful night, something exciting, something quite unthinkable happens to Matilda! She is despatched to live at the Royal Court, too. She is to become a lady-in-waiting, but she will be more than a 'mere' lady-in-waiting. For she is to become a spy in a potentially dangerous mission to help further the chances of her cousin becoming the wife of King Henry VIII!
Matilda does become drawn into the kind of glittering, glamorous lifestyle that she had longed and craved for. But at what cost to herself? For as well as the glamour and the friendships, she finds herself facing great dangers that she could never have imagined deep in the rural Norfolk of 1540!
Her journey takes her from Hampton Court Palace to what was probably the most dangerous place in the whole of the British Isles at that time, the Bloody Tower itself!
The book is very well written and captures what it must have been like to live in the turbulent times of King Henry VIII.
Matilda is the first in the A Girl For All Time series of dolls, novels and keepsake books, and will make fantastic Christmas gifts for little girls all over the world!
The next book is about Amelia Elliot, a young Victorian girl. And at age thirteen, Amelia is about to inherit something very interesting. Matilda's trunk, that is filled with treasures that will change young Amelia's life!
The book costs £6.99 ISBN 978-0-9567200-0-9
Matilda Marchmont is thirteen, she comes from Norfolk. Her life is pleasant, but it must be admitted, a little dull, at times. She rides her horse, is allowed to mix medicines for her family (she likes to pretend to herself that she is a witch!) and writing in her secret diary. In fact she wrote "Nothing exciting will ever happen to me."
She longed for something exciting to happen. She felt somewhat envious of the life of glamour and excitement enjoyed by her cousin Katherine Howard. Because Katherine lived at court, Katherine was really, really fashionable! Oh, how she longed to be more like her lucky, fortunate cousin!
Then, one fateful night, something exciting, something quite unthinkable happens to Matilda! She is despatched to live at the Royal Court, too. She is to become a lady-in-waiting, but she will be more than a 'mere' lady-in-waiting. For she is to become a spy in a potentially dangerous mission to help further the chances of her cousin becoming the wife of King Henry VIII!
Matilda does become drawn into the kind of glittering, glamorous lifestyle that she had longed and craved for. But at what cost to herself? For as well as the glamour and the friendships, she finds herself facing great dangers that she could never have imagined deep in the rural Norfolk of 1540!
Her journey takes her from Hampton Court Palace to what was probably the most dangerous place in the whole of the British Isles at that time, the Bloody Tower itself!
The book is very well written and captures what it must have been like to live in the turbulent times of King Henry VIII.
Matilda is the first in the A Girl For All Time series of dolls, novels and keepsake books, and will make fantastic Christmas gifts for little girls all over the world!
The next book is about Amelia Elliot, a young Victorian girl. And at age thirteen, Amelia is about to inherit something very interesting. Matilda's trunk, that is filled with treasures that will change young Amelia's life!
The book costs £6.99 ISBN 978-0-9567200-0-9
Poppy Day a new novel
Poppy Day is a new novel by Amanda Prowse.
It is described as an original story of love and war, and this is certainly what it is.
It asks an important question, exactly how far would you go to bring home the person who you love the most in the world?
From very early on in their lives, from their early school days, in fact, when they were both a tender six years old, Martin and Poppy find each other. They discover within themselves a capacity for a love that genuinely transcends all other loves.
The love that they feel for each other is unshakable.
Martin is Poppy's best friend, her guardian, her protector against the cruel world. In short, he is her soul mate, her one true love.
But Martin takes the decision to join the army. And he is sent to fight the war in Afghanistan. It is during his first tour of duty there that Poppy receives the news that all service wives fear and dread. The news that her Martin has fallen into enemy hands.
What can Poppy Day do? She can try to get her man back. But at what cost?
The story is a breathtaking, captivating read that takes the reader from the East of London to the other East, the East that contains the searingly hot plains of Afghanistan.
Can their love survive the terrible trials and tribulations that they find themselves facing?
The book is available in paperback at £8.99 and is published by TIP. ISBN 978-1-906382-06-3.
The book is published in association with the Royal British Legion Poppy Day appeal. www.poppyshop.org.uk /
This book will make an ideal Chirstmas present.
It is described as an original story of love and war, and this is certainly what it is.
It asks an important question, exactly how far would you go to bring home the person who you love the most in the world?
From very early on in their lives, from their early school days, in fact, when they were both a tender six years old, Martin and Poppy find each other. They discover within themselves a capacity for a love that genuinely transcends all other loves.
The love that they feel for each other is unshakable.
Martin is Poppy's best friend, her guardian, her protector against the cruel world. In short, he is her soul mate, her one true love.
But Martin takes the decision to join the army. And he is sent to fight the war in Afghanistan. It is during his first tour of duty there that Poppy receives the news that all service wives fear and dread. The news that her Martin has fallen into enemy hands.
What can Poppy Day do? She can try to get her man back. But at what cost?
The story is a breathtaking, captivating read that takes the reader from the East of London to the other East, the East that contains the searingly hot plains of Afghanistan.
Can their love survive the terrible trials and tribulations that they find themselves facing?
The book is available in paperback at £8.99 and is published by TIP. ISBN 978-1-906382-06-3.
The book is published in association with the Royal British Legion Poppy Day appeal. www.poppyshop.org.uk /
This book will make an ideal Chirstmas present.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre
Agent Zigzag by Ben Maciintyre is the incredible but true story of the most notorious double agents not only of World War 2 but perhaps of all time.
Eddie Chapman was a somewhat problematic mixture of a variety of disparate and conflicting strands. He was a soldier (cashiered due to not bothering to go back after a period of leave) an expert jelly man (using gelignite to crack safes) a thief, a rogue, one of the most charming and personable and likeable men you would ever possibly meet, a villain, a man of great courage, a lover, a man conscience.
Trapped in a prison on Jersey, Chapman was on the island when it was overrun by the Nazis. He hit on a cunning plan. What if he told the Germans that he would be willing to spy on Great Britain?
Eventually, after a series of mishaps, blunders and errors (not of Chapman's making) he was parachuted into a field in Cambridgeshire.
Soon he was working for British Intelligence as Agent Zigzag, the most successful double agent every used by MI5 to trick the Germans.
Macintyre was allowed absolutely unprecedented access to the Top Secret archives of MI5 which contained a wealth of information about the extraordinary life and career of Eddie Chapman.
An official report by MI5 said: "The story of Eddie Chapman is different. In fiction it would be rejected as improbable."
The book is extremely well researched and superbly written and well illustrated with copious photographs many from the official archives of MI5 and the German Abwehr.
Chapman, however, never received the recognition that he deserved. Macintyre was able to establish that this was due to the double dealing and perfidy of an MI5 official who was not only a disgraced drunk but who only got the job because of a family connection, but who took against Chapman for some, to be frank, bizarre reasons.
Thebook is published by www.bloomsbury.com in paperback at £7.99. though if you follow this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/mn/search/?tag=bookworms05-21&link_code=wsw&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=zigzag&Submit.x=8&Submit.y=6&rd=1 you can buy the book at a special discounted Amazon price of £4.55.
Eddie Chapman was a somewhat problematic mixture of a variety of disparate and conflicting strands. He was a soldier (cashiered due to not bothering to go back after a period of leave) an expert jelly man (using gelignite to crack safes) a thief, a rogue, one of the most charming and personable and likeable men you would ever possibly meet, a villain, a man of great courage, a lover, a man conscience.
Trapped in a prison on Jersey, Chapman was on the island when it was overrun by the Nazis. He hit on a cunning plan. What if he told the Germans that he would be willing to spy on Great Britain?
Eventually, after a series of mishaps, blunders and errors (not of Chapman's making) he was parachuted into a field in Cambridgeshire.
Soon he was working for British Intelligence as Agent Zigzag, the most successful double agent every used by MI5 to trick the Germans.
Macintyre was allowed absolutely unprecedented access to the Top Secret archives of MI5 which contained a wealth of information about the extraordinary life and career of Eddie Chapman.
An official report by MI5 said: "The story of Eddie Chapman is different. In fiction it would be rejected as improbable."
The book is extremely well researched and superbly written and well illustrated with copious photographs many from the official archives of MI5 and the German Abwehr.
Chapman, however, never received the recognition that he deserved. Macintyre was able to establish that this was due to the double dealing and perfidy of an MI5 official who was not only a disgraced drunk but who only got the job because of a family connection, but who took against Chapman for some, to be frank, bizarre reasons.
Thebook is published by www.bloomsbury.com in paperback at £7.99. though if you follow this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/mn/search/?tag=bookworms05-21&link_code=wsw&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=zigzag&Submit.x=8&Submit.y=6&rd=1 you can buy the book at a special discounted Amazon price of £4.55.
Monday, 7 November 2011
Weight Loss, the Essential Guide
This is another of the highly approachable and easy to use Need 2 Know books. It is written by Sara Kirkham who is not a guru of a weird fads celeb diet. Sara is a genuine nutritionist who lectures and writes on nutrition, so her book is a breath of very fresh air.
No fads, no fantasies, no fallacies, this book is the real deal if you really do want to lose weight in a sensible, structured and safe way.
She provides commonsense ways to reduce your calorific intake, tells you why control of portion size is so vital, tells you how to get past or beyond the weight loss plateau and how to measure your progress.
The book contains some enticing recipes that will help you reduce your weight as part of a calorie controlled diet, which is, of course, exactly where this book comes in!
Sara also provides tips on how to create shopping lists that will help you in your battle of the bulge, how to keep a food diary and why this can be so important.
The book also has a wealth of hints, tips and information and also some references to some other books that might be of help for the aspiring dieter and some information on some groups that could be useful. There's also a wealth of websites for you to browse at your leisure.
The book is in paperback and costs £9.99, the ISBN is 978-1-86144-090-7
No fads, no fantasies, no fallacies, this book is the real deal if you really do want to lose weight in a sensible, structured and safe way.
She provides commonsense ways to reduce your calorific intake, tells you why control of portion size is so vital, tells you how to get past or beyond the weight loss plateau and how to measure your progress.
The book contains some enticing recipes that will help you reduce your weight as part of a calorie controlled diet, which is, of course, exactly where this book comes in!
Sara also provides tips on how to create shopping lists that will help you in your battle of the bulge, how to keep a food diary and why this can be so important.
The book also has a wealth of hints, tips and information and also some references to some other books that might be of help for the aspiring dieter and some information on some groups that could be useful. There's also a wealth of websites for you to browse at your leisure.
The book is in paperback and costs £9.99, the ISBN is 978-1-86144-090-7
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