Category Archives: About

In My Hands Today…

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The Saffron Gate – Linda Holeman

A young American woman’s journey to track down her missing lover becomes an enthralling adventure of mystery, passion, danger and self-discovery set against the spellbinding backdrop of 1930s Marrakech.

Sidonie O’Shea enjoys the quiet life she shares with fiancé Etienne Duverger in upstate New York. But when Etienne suddenly disappears without word, she finds a letter amongst his belongings that turns her world upside down. Refusing to believe that Etienne would abandon her, Sidonie travels to Morocco in search of him, determined to know the truth. But nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover, both about the man she thought she loved and an unknown world of dangerous secrets in a country steeped in mystery…

In My Hands Today…

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How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia – Mohsin Hamid

The astonishing and riveting tale of a man’s journey from impoverished rural boy to corporate tycoon, it steals its shape from the business self-help books devoured by ambitious youths all over “rising Asia.” It follows its nameless hero to the sprawling metropolis where he begins to amass an empire built on that most fluid, and increasingly scarce, of goods: water. Yet his heart remains set on something else: on the pretty girl whose star rises along with his, their paths crossing and recrossing, a lifelong affair sparked and snuffed and sparked again by the forces that careen their fates along.

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a striking slice of contemporary life at a time of crushing upheaval. Romantic without being sentimental, political without being didactic, and spiritual without being religious, it brings an unflinching gaze to the violence and hope it depicts. And it creates two unforgettable characters who find moments of transcendent intimacy in the midst of shattering change.h

In My Hands Today…

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Bangkok Haunts – John Burdett

Sonchai Jitpleecheep — the devout Buddhist Royal Thai Police detective who led us through the best sellers Bangkok 8 and Bangkok Tattoo — returns in this blistering new novel.

Sonchai has seen virtually everything on his beat in Bangkok ‘ s District 8, but nothing like the video he ‘ s just been sent anonymously: Few crimes make us fear for the evolution of our species. I am watching one right now. He ‘ s watching a snuff film. And the person dying before his disbelieving eyes is Damrong — a woman he once loved obsessively and, now it becomes clear, endlessly. And there is something more: something at the end of the film that leaves Sonchai both figuratively and literally haunted.

While his investigation will lead him through the office of the ever-scheming police captain, Vikorn ( Don’t spoil a great case with too much perfectionism, he advises Sonchai); in and out of the influence of a perhaps psychotic wandering monk; and eventually into the gilded rooms of the most exclusive men’s club in Bangkok (whose members will do anything to protect their identities, and to explore their most secret fantasies), it also leads him to his own simple bedroom where he sleeps next to his pregnant wife while his dreams deliver him up to Damrong . . .

Ferociously smart and funny, furiously fast-paced, and laced through with an erotic ghost story that gives a new dark twist to the life of our hero, Bangkok Haunts does exactly that from the first page to the last.

Book 3 of the series featuring the half Asian, half Caucasian Bangkok inspector Sonchai Jitpleecheep

The books in the series:

  1. Book 1: Bangkok 8
  2. Book 2: Bangkok Tattoo
  3. Book 3: Bangkok Haunts
  4. Book 4: The Godfather of Kathmandu
  5. Book 5: Vulture Peak

In My Hands Today…

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In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Travellers Tale – Amitav Ghosh

Once upon a time an Indian writer named Amitav Ghosh set out to find an Indian slave, name unknown, who some seven hundred years before had traveled to the Middle East. The journey took him to a small village in Egypt, where medieval customs coexist with twentieth-century desires and discontents. But even as Ghosh sought to re-create the life of his Indian predecessor, he found himself immersed in those of his modern Egyptian neighbors.

Combining shrewd observations with painstaking historical research, Ghosh serves up skeptics and holy men, merchants and sorcerers. Some of these figures are real, some only imagined, but all emerge as vividly as the characters in a great novel. In an Antique Land is an inspired work that transcends genres as deftly as it does eras, weaving an entrancing and intoxicating spell.

World Book Day

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Yesterday was a day, as a book lover, I am ashamed to say I had never heard about! So better late than never, let’s belatedly celebrate World Book Day.

World Book Day or World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) is a yearly event on 23 April, organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to promote reading, publishing and copyright. In the United Kingdom, the day is recognised on the first Thursday in March. World Book Day was celebrated for the first time on 23 April 1995.

UNESCO honours 23 April as World Book Day to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.

Why 23 April you may ask? Well this day has been chosen by booksellers in Catalonia as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes, who died on this date. In 1995 UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April, as the date is also the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, as well as that of the birth or death of several other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.

Each year, UNESCO and the international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry – publishers, booksellers and libraries, select the World Book Capital for a one-year period, effective 23 April each year.

The city of Incheon was chosen for 2015 in recognition of its programme to promote reading among people and underprivileged sections of the population. Previous World Book Capital have included Port Harcourt, Nigeria (2014), Bangkok, Thailand (2013), Yerevan, Armenia (2012) and Beunos Aires, Argentina (2011). Wroclaw, Poland will be the next World Book Capital City in 2016 on account of the quality of its programme. Becoming a World Book Capital City does not have any financial implications or prizes for the chosen city, but is an exclusively symbolic acknowledgement of the best programme dedicated to books and reading.

Many countries around the world celebrate this day in their own way with reading programmes and initiatives to get their citizens to read more.

So did you mark World Book Day in your own way yesterday? Well, I did what I do best – read the day away – both physical and digital books….

More information on the World Book Day can be found here in this UNESCO link and this UK World Book Day website.