It's Chirstmas Eve Eve, you know, the day before Christmas Eve?
It's a very busy time for Pettson and Findus his talking cat.
But when Pettson has an accident and sprains his ankle, what will Findus and Pettson do now?
How would they be able to celebrate a traditional Christmas? Because without a tree, without any ham and without any meatballs and without any gingerbread, they could have no Christmas!
The normally resourceful pair are close to giving up the idea of any Christmas celebrations of any kind at all, when something truly remarkable begins to happen.
Because suddenly, there is a knock at the door. And with that simple knock at the door starts a really heart-warming story of how Christmas can really bring out the best in cats and people!
Sven Nordqvist is one of the most popular children's authors and illustrators in Sweden, with over 6 million copies of his books sold, having been translated into 44 languages.
Having read Findus at Christmas, it is easy to see why. It is a magical and enchanting book and at £10.99 it should grace the stockings of many young children this Christmas.
It is part of the Findus and Pettson Series of books and is published by the Hawthorn Press.
This book is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and perhaps a tear to your eyes, as it is such a beautiful story.
Book review blog site, with some entertainment material from time-to-time.
Sunday 27 November 2011
Anya - A Thriller Based In The Shady World Of Car Dealers
Anya by R J DeLittle
Paperback £9.99
Anya is a complex, multi-themed thriller based in the milieu of an historic car dealership.
Vintage cars, beautiful women and a thriving business - Rick Manners has them all. He owns a successful historic car dealership, which runs smoothly with the help of his loyal Girl Friday, Sam Warrenne, and his raunchy good looks ensure he's never without a girlfriend. But when Rick meets the stunning Anya, he can't help wondering if she could be the one - and as Sam falls in love with aristocratic Bugatti owner Bruno Thierry, it looks as if each of them has found the perfect match.
But the discovery of a neglected Mercedes in a French barn sparks a series of shocking events, as long-buried race hatred is kindled and Rick and Sam's idyll is shattered by a burglary, a stalker - and someone with the drive to commit murder.
R J de Little has worked as a professional investor and company director, while indulging his passion for vintage and veteran cars. He owns and runs eight historic cars, the oldest dating from 1898. He lives in a converted Victorian gas works in Bolney, Sussex with a 27-foot windmill in the garden. Windmills are another passion in his life, and he has published several books about them and their history
A wealth of technical detail will delight historic-car enthusiasts and racing fans. It is reported that the film rights have been optioned.
The book is published by The Book Guild. www.bookguild.co.uk
Paperback £9.99
Anya is a complex, multi-themed thriller based in the milieu of an historic car dealership.
Vintage cars, beautiful women and a thriving business - Rick Manners has them all. He owns a successful historic car dealership, which runs smoothly with the help of his loyal Girl Friday, Sam Warrenne, and his raunchy good looks ensure he's never without a girlfriend. But when Rick meets the stunning Anya, he can't help wondering if she could be the one - and as Sam falls in love with aristocratic Bugatti owner Bruno Thierry, it looks as if each of them has found the perfect match.
But the discovery of a neglected Mercedes in a French barn sparks a series of shocking events, as long-buried race hatred is kindled and Rick and Sam's idyll is shattered by a burglary, a stalker - and someone with the drive to commit murder.
R J de Little has worked as a professional investor and company director, while indulging his passion for vintage and veteran cars. He owns and runs eight historic cars, the oldest dating from 1898. He lives in a converted Victorian gas works in Bolney, Sussex with a 27-foot windmill in the garden. Windmills are another passion in his life, and he has published several books about them and their history
A wealth of technical detail will delight historic-car enthusiasts and racing fans. It is reported that the film rights have been optioned.
The book is published by The Book Guild. www.bookguild.co.uk
Saturday 26 November 2011
Fashions In Eyeglasses By Richard Corson
Fashions In Eyeglasses is the most comprehensive history of eyewear ever to be published in English, now reissued in an enlarged, updated edition.
Richard Corson worked extensively in the theatre and his Fashions books have long been regarded as definitive works, Fashions In Hair and Fashions In Make-Up also being published by Peter Owen.
This fully revised and updated work, available for the first time since the eighties, is an indispensable sourcebook for anyone who works in fashion or theatre, as well as being a fascinating journey through time for the historian and general reader alike.
Beginning with the Italian cardinal who riveted two magnifying lenses together, the story progresses to include spyglasses, opera glasses, monocles, Morrissey's N.H.S. specs, Sven's Armanis, and much more. . .
Fully illustrated with over 100 illustrations and plates, Fashions In Eyeglasses is sure to attain the status of Corson's other invaluable and indispensable book.
www.peterowen.com
Publication date: 15th December 2011
Coming March 2012, 'Food You Can't Say No To' By Tamasin Day-Lewis
This irresistible book is packed with recipes for food you just can't say 'no' to. When we are presented with such indulgent food, we inevitably succumb and ask for a second helping.
Here is a book filled with good things, some of which you will find familiar but with an original twist, others are entirely new and exciting. Some are special purely because of their unabashed simplicity, using a few of the very best ingredients and are disarmingly easy to perfect. Tamasin's philosophy is all about making the most of foods, especially ingredients in season, rather than spending extravagantly.
If you're in need of inspiring new supper ideas, try the Roquefort, celery, potato, red onion and walnut pie; or a comforting Salmon and scallop chowder, smokey with bacon and flecked with tarragon; or uplifting Potato gnocchi with spring asparagus, tomatoes, green olives and mascarpone. Resist, if you can, a light whisked Sponge topped with vanilla and lemon scented mascarpone and yogurt. This is food you will enjoy cooking: effortless but special, indulgent yet practical, totally, utterly irresistible.
FACTFILE:
Tamasin Day-Lewis is an inspirational food writer with a wonderfully refreshing style. In her own words, she writes 'for people who appreciate good food, for people of all skills'. Tamasin contributes regularly for English and American Vogue, Saveur, Stella (The Telegraph Magazine), Sainsbury's Magazine, Waitrose Food Illustrated and Reader's Digest.
She has also written a host of successful cookbooks, including Supper for a Song (Quadrille, 2009). She has also produced and directed many television documentaries and appeared in two television series entitles Tamasin's Weekends and Great British Dishes.
The book will be published by Quadrille.
Here is a book filled with good things, some of which you will find familiar but with an original twist, others are entirely new and exciting. Some are special purely because of their unabashed simplicity, using a few of the very best ingredients and are disarmingly easy to perfect. Tamasin's philosophy is all about making the most of foods, especially ingredients in season, rather than spending extravagantly.
If you're in need of inspiring new supper ideas, try the Roquefort, celery, potato, red onion and walnut pie; or a comforting Salmon and scallop chowder, smokey with bacon and flecked with tarragon; or uplifting Potato gnocchi with spring asparagus, tomatoes, green olives and mascarpone. Resist, if you can, a light whisked Sponge topped with vanilla and lemon scented mascarpone and yogurt. This is food you will enjoy cooking: effortless but special, indulgent yet practical, totally, utterly irresistible.
FACTFILE:
Tamasin Day-Lewis is an inspirational food writer with a wonderfully refreshing style. In her own words, she writes 'for people who appreciate good food, for people of all skills'. Tamasin contributes regularly for English and American Vogue, Saveur, Stella (The Telegraph Magazine), Sainsbury's Magazine, Waitrose Food Illustrated and Reader's Digest.
She has also written a host of successful cookbooks, including Supper for a Song (Quadrille, 2009). She has also produced and directed many television documentaries and appeared in two television series entitles Tamasin's Weekends and Great British Dishes.
The book will be published by Quadrille.
Love Music, Love Food - The Rock Star Cookbook
There are two things that could make the world a better place - food and music - and this exclusive project combines them with a unique collection of portraits of musicians with their favourite food or drink.The original, dramatic portraits command attention and the complex creativity of each is absorbing. Marrying musical talent with passion for food, each portrait is accompanied by an interview with the artist, and for each major artist a personalised recipe has been created.
Over 60 musicians are featured, each driven by their support for Teenage Cancer Trust and their wish to collaborate on this fascinating book. From rock legends to emerging artists, an incredible spectrum of musicians reveal their passionate engagement with a favourite - and often unexpected - food. Who would have predicted Sophie Ellis Bextor's obsession with fish and chips? Or Siouxsie Sioux' with beans on toast? For Brandon Flowers it is Pastor Tacos and Elotes, while Alex Kapranos has a passion for beetroot and Noel Gallagher for Yorkshire tea!
As Heston Blumenthal says in his Foreword, other people's food memories are fascinating, not least the food nostalgia expressed here by icons of the contemporary music world. Glamorous, insightful and addictive, this book makes connections between the worlds of music, food and photography and provides a true feast for the eye.
The Photographer
Patrice de Villiers has developed a unique style and approach to food photography which is now in demand world wide. Her first commission as a photographer, having trodden the assisting boards full time for two years, was for The Sunday Times food page shooting a year long series of food. Concentrating on editorial & advertising projects for a diverse range of clients from Selfridges to images for state of the art hotels in Las Vegas to illustrating racing driver's breakfast's for Formula One Magazine, her iconic imagery is also available to buy through Saatchi Gallery Online. Awards include the prestigious Glenfiddich trophy for the weekly series illustrating the recipes of Heston Blumenthal in The Sunday Times World's Best Food Photographer and medals from the Association of Photographers for various editorial pieces.
Love Music, Love Food - The Rock Star Cookbook. Available now at £30.00.
Photography and Concept - Patrice de Villiers
Interviews by Andrew Harrison
Recipes by Sarah Muir
For more details of Love Music, Love Food go to: www.lovemusiclovefood.org
For more details of Teenage Cancer Trust, please go to:
www.teenagecancertrust.org.
Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory And The Ice Cream Castle By Sarahjane Funnell
Published by Gibson Publishing
Price: £6.99
Available: Monday 26th March 2012 from Waterstones and other leading book stores
Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory is a beautifully illustrated children's picture book targeted towards the 3-6-age range and is the debut picture book by published Children's Author Sarahjane Funnell.
Phillipa loves ice cream. She loves ice cream almost as much as she loves her pet cat Little Miss Whiskers. Little Miss Whiskers is her fluffy white cat with a purple collar and bell. She doesn't like ice cream at all but loves nothing more than to curl up into a ball and fall fast asleep on the end of Phillipa's bed.
One day Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory and Little Miss Whiskers embark on a deliciously exciting journey. Through a secret tunnel, they enter a magical dreamland where they find the Ice Cream Castle and discover every flavour of ice cream imaginable. The Ice Cream Castle seems like a dream come true but will it be just how Phillipa imagined? With all that ice cream, will she and Little Miss Whiskers ever want to go home?
Find out just what happens in this deliciously delightful adventure...
Price: £6.99
Available: Monday 26th March 2012 from Waterstones and other leading book stores
Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory is a beautifully illustrated children's picture book targeted towards the 3-6-age range and is the debut picture book by published Children's Author Sarahjane Funnell.
Phillipa loves ice cream. She loves ice cream almost as much as she loves her pet cat Little Miss Whiskers. Little Miss Whiskers is her fluffy white cat with a purple collar and bell. She doesn't like ice cream at all but loves nothing more than to curl up into a ball and fall fast asleep on the end of Phillipa's bed.
One day Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory and Little Miss Whiskers embark on a deliciously exciting journey. Through a secret tunnel, they enter a magical dreamland where they find the Ice Cream Castle and discover every flavour of ice cream imaginable. The Ice Cream Castle seems like a dream come true but will it be just how Phillipa imagined? With all that ice cream, will she and Little Miss Whiskers ever want to go home?
Find out just what happens in this deliciously delightful adventure...
The Man who Planted Trees
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
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
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