Southside, St Sampsons, Guernsey, GY2 4QH. Tel: 00 44 (0) 1481 247999                                                        Reviews and Updates

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Reviews

• Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor
  
  Staggering book in its content and ability to make you feel that you were there. It covers possibly the greatest battle ever and how eventually the Germans were after victory were abandoned by Hitler. Anthony Beevor has a knack for putting over history in a way that is honest, reliable and candid. Also look out for the Battle for Spain and Berlin by the same author.
   
• Call of the Wild - Guy Grieve
  
  I enjoyed this book a lot. Guy was a person in a dead end job who knew at some point that hew was going to be made redundant. He found a publisher and made sure his family were financially looked after and with their agreement went to live in Alaska for a year. He befriended an old man, which was just as well as he would almost certainly have not survived temperatures as low as minus 60c on the edge of the Yukon. He had to find a suitable place to build a cabin on his own, build pathways, hunt food and just survive. Simple things like digging a toilet pit too deep and getting trapped in it, building the log cabin between two trees and just surviving the extreme cold made fascinating reading.
  
   
• Agent Zig-Zag
  
  Another good book. This is the story about Eddie Chapman, one time petty criminal who was imprisoned in Jersey in the Second World War. When the Germans arrived he said he would be their spy if they set him free. He was duly trained as a spy in France and eventually parachuted into England where he promptly sought out MI5 and said he would be a double agent for them. The Germans were completely fooled and even awarded Eddie the Iron Cross. Sadly, for reasons unknown he was dropped by the British after the war and was somewhat bitter about this until he died in the nineties. An amazing character known to many locals who bought the book at my shop and a thoroughly good read.   
• Mind Maps and other books - Tony Buzan
  
  Amazing reads. Tony Buzan is a memory expert and take my word for it his systems work. He can take 200 persons names going into a theatre and quote their names back to them. His books on mind mapping provide ways to remember huge amounts of information that can be tapped at any time and over long periods. The good thing is that these simple systems can be applied to all forms of academic work and exams (I used his system to take a Law exam and had my highest mark ever.) Definitely improves one's memory and recall.
   
• Jigsaw Man - Paul Brittain
  
  A rather gruesome read but thoroughly intriguing. Paul Brittain was asked to help in many of the major murders from the early 1980's when police were unable to provide or convict suspects. He would investigate in meticulous detail and provide a psychological profile of what the suspect should be. He was uncannily accurate and provided many of the major links for police to the criminal. The book covers most of the major crimes that were very public since the 1980's
  
  Jerz Jurkiewicz
   
• Evil Spirits
  
  This is about the life of Oliver Reed the actor who lived in Guernsey for some time. I enjoyed the book and I believe it gave a fair account of an obviously superb actor's life. He was something of a hellraiser but underneath it a kind hearted person (he bought my young daughter a drink once). It was sad to read that he was taken advantage of even from close friends. One oddity is that his home at the Houmet was described as being 12 miles from St Peter Port, according to my calculations this would place it most of the way to the island of Alderney! A good read.
  
  Jerz Jurkiewicz
   
• Magician's Guild, Novice, High Lord - Trudi Canavan
  
  This is a rather good trilogy about a girl called Sonea who living in the slums finds that she is starting to exhibit magical powers. potentially she is very powerful but can't control her powers. The Magician's Guild, being aware of her talents want to teach her how to control her powers. Once she has been taken on as a Novice she learns Dark secrets surrounding the Guild's leader, the High Lord, of which none of the other magicians are aware. The final book in the trilogy opens with Sonea being the High Lord's apprentice also becoming aware of a great threat to all the Guild's magicians, but is torn between this knowledge and what she knows about the High Lord.
  
  Jerz Jurkiewicz
   
• Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M Auel
  
  Ayla, born into a world 30,000 years ago around the Dead Sea area, is separated from her mother when very young and grows up with a neanderthal tribe. They look upon her as stupid and not very capable little knowing that it is they who will die out and Ayla's race survive. Her friend the crippled Kreb, also the medicine man, seems to know the and prepares Ayla for the future. This is the first five novels that are very well researched.
  
  Jerz Jurkiewicz
   
• Deafening - Frances Itani
  
  Grania grows up in a world of silence, reading lips and not belonging. She meets Jim who is facinated by her stillness and beauty and although he can hear they explore their love through silence and sound and sign.
  Married for only two weeks their lives are torn apart when Jim is sent to the awful battlefields of the First World War. As he descends into a hell of unforgiving noise, violence and death, their lives - and their love - are stretched to the limits of endurance.
   
• Harry Potter - The Half Blood Prince - J K Rowling
  
  Many thousands, probably millions, have now read this book and broadly the book seems to have been better received than The Order of the Phoenix (OOTP). This is more likely due to OOTP being generally regarded as being not so well written, although I personally found it a very good read. Both books are entering a new phase of Harry's life. Things are changing at Hogwarts, the tone and underlying themes are getting more serious and even resulting in deaths. Indeed, I wonder how much Hogwarts is going to figure in the next novel. The Half Blood Prince (TBP) certainly holds the reader in suspense and seldom have I seen so many persons crying at the end of fictional novel. On holiday I had to read all the novels again! One of my children has also built  a huge family tree of all the characters so he can work out the next unknown character. Well worth a read and, by the way, I did guess the identity of the Half Blood Prince correctly!
  
  This book and all the other Harry Potter novels are available on audio tape /  CD. Stephen Fry narrates and is excellent, Well worth having on long car journies with children as you will have about 3 hours of total silence!
  
  Jerz Jurkiewicz
    
• Can Cows Walk Downstairs? Paul Heiney
  
  The answer to this and many other tongue in cheek scientific questions lie within, answered by scientists. This book has an interesting slant on such questions as "Why do penguins walk after one another in a straight line?" "What is beyond the edge of the universe?" "Are polar bears left handed?" "why is a dog's nose wet?" "Do ants sleep?" "If an atom is mostly space, why can't I pass my hand through a table?"
  
  Whilst funny the answers are entirely plausible and based on sensible scientific basis. A good read.

          Jerz Jurkiewicz

• Kristin Lavransdatter

          I have no problem in recommending my favourite book written by Sigrid Undset and translated
          many times. It is interesting to see the reviews of persons who have read the complete trilogy,
          They are all five star reviews! It can be difficult to get hold of but is such a lovely book and well worth
          the effort. The story follows the life of Kristin and her eight sons in 13th Century Sweden and Norway.
          After some difficulty she marries into petty nobility but somewhat higher than her reasonably well to do and god
          fearing family. My trilogy is dog-eared which shows how much I have re-read the book.
          
          Jerz Jurkiewicz

• Stephen and Matilda

          I have long been interested in this medieval fight for the throne of England, ever since I read Sharon Penman's
          novels covering the period some generations after William the Conqueror. Penman's novels are in
          my opinion very good and well researched and the stories surrounding the characters, well though out.
          This book is more factual and is probably a lot closer to the realities of the times but I did so enjoy
          Penman's novels

          Jerz Jurkiewicz

Updates

• We have expanded our Marine Section to include Imray and Admiralty maps, plus a number of RYA books
  and cruising notes / books covering the Channel Islands and Adjacent French Coast.
• The Children's and Study area has been expanded.
• Adult free zone - Children are invited to visit the "Castle" where this month the theme is bears. Adults can visit this area if they have the permission of the children!

Contact Information

Telephone

00 44 (0) 1481 247999

Fax

00 44 (0) 1481 247999

Postal address

Southside, St Sampsons, Guernsey, GY2 4QH

Electronic mail

mailto:info@thebookshopguernsey.com