samarnold1975

Product Description On 22 February 2006, GBP53 million was stolen from a cash warehouse belonging to the Securitas company in Tonbridge, Kent. In terms of value, the robbery puts previous British capers, such as the Great Train Robbery, in the shade. This was a crime notable for its audacity, carried out by an unlikely crew of players that included a used car salesman, two Albanian casual workers and a roofer. Five men were convicted at the Old Bailey in January 2008, which attracted nationwide media coverage. A sixth man, Paul Allen, was sentenced in October 2009 for his part. Having become close to the Tonbridge gang and the police during three years of research, Sounes relates a classic crime caper in irresistible, almost forensic detail. After the robbery comes the exciting, sometimes comical story of the getaway. Money is found and arrests are made but key characters slip out of the country, and millions of pounds are still missing. HEIST is the definitive account of these compelling events, is wildly entertaining, and a must for all fans of well-written true crime. Review I was first attracted to this book because the robbery happened where I grew up. Not to mention that £1.3 million was sat a couple of hundred yards from my house in a white van at the Ashford International Hotel. I have lost count of how many times I must have driven past that van on the day it was dumped there. This true story is written in an easy way, even the long legal cases are written in a manner that is easy to read. The author has a talent for telling a story whilst still giving the facts collected. On the areas of the case that are still “grey areas” the author gives the facts and allows the reader to make their own opinions. What is better than reading a crime novel that leaves you still to answer questions. I thought I knew a lot about this case being so close in proximity to where it occurred but this book has given me even more facts. On the questions of the conspirators that were acquitted of the charges I have made my own opinions about them, as you will. I thoroughly good read which leaves just one big question unanswered, just where is the other half of all that money that no one has found.

I absolutley loved the first book can't wait to read the other two. Review Cornelia Funke started her career as an illustrator of books and this is evident throughout. At the end of every chapter there is a beautiful picture, you almost can’t wait to get to the end of every chapter to see the illustration. As exciting as the end of every chapter is, the start is just as fascinating where the author has put a quote from another story. My wish list to read has increased greatly with adding these books to my collection. The book is not only an excellent read, it is also a good book to hold and read with its look, size and feel. Not many of the books I read are then added to my “own in hardback collection” but this book is so good it is on the list as well as the two sequels. This book is one of a trilogy although the first is also a standalone book which is probably why it made such an excellent film. In essence this is a children’s book but like other famous books such as Harry Potter it reaches across the age ranges. Unlike all children’s books not all aspects of this book are happy and it deals with the negative and black side of the human psyche as well, although, the ending will not disappoint. The story is fascinating, with enough excellent interesting characters to make you want to pick up the sequels. This book is simply awesome. Some books you enjoy reading to the end no matter where you are. Some books need to be savoured like a fine wine. When you don’t want to finish a book if you are tired incase you miss something you know you have a classic on your hands. This book is simply one of those books a classic.

Meggie loves books. So does her father, Mo, a bookbinder, although he has never read aloud to her since her mother mysteriously disappeared. They live quietly until the night a stranger knocks at their door. He has come with a warning that forces Mo to reveal an extraordinary secret – a storytelling secret that will change their lives for ever. Review Cornelia Funke started her career as an illustrator of books and this is evident throughout. At the end of every chapter there is a beautiful picture, you almost can’t wait to get to the end of every chapter to see the illustration. As exciting as the end of every chapter is, the start is just as fascinating where the author has put a quote from another story. My wish list to read has increased greatly with adding these books to my collection. The book is not only an excellent read, it is also a good book to hold and read with its look, size and feel. Not many of the books I read are then added to my “own in hardback collection” but this book is so good it is on the list as well as the two sequels. This book is one of a trilogy although the first is also a standalone book which is probably why it made such an excellent film. In essence this is a children’s book but like other famous books such as Harry Potter it reaches across the age ranges. Unlike all children’s books not all aspects of this book are happy and it deals with the negative and black side of the human psyche as well, although, the ending will not disappoint. The story is fascinating, with enough excellent interesting characters to make you want to pick up the sequels. This book is simply awesome. Some books you enjoy reading to the end no matter where you are. Some books need to be savoured like a fine wine. When you don’t want to finish a book if you are tired incase you miss something you know you have a classic on your hands. This book is simply one of those books a classic.

Product Description Life isn’t going well for Myron Bolitar. His business is struggling, and his father, recently recovered from a heart attack, is facing his own mortality – and forcing Myron to face it too. Then comes another surprise. Emily Downing, Myron’s college sweetheart, reappears in his life with devastating news: her thirteen-year-old son Jeremy is gravely ill and can be saved only by a bone-marrow transplant – from a donor who has vanished without trace. Before Myron can absorb this revelation, Emily hits him with an even bigger shocker: Jeremy is Myron’s son, conceived the night before Emily’s wedding to another man. Staggered by the news, Myron plunges into a search for the missing donor. But for Myron, finding the only person who can save the boy’s life means cracking open a mystery as dark as it is heartbreaking – a mystery that involves a broken family, a brutal kidnapping spree, and a cat-and-mouse game between an ambitious reporter and the FBI. Synopsis This is a good fast read which is another in the Myron Bolitar series of novels. Many of the same characters appear in the book the crazy Win the beautiful Ezperanza and Jessica Culver even gets a mention. However, this story deals with Myron’s earlier past as in a relationship which occurred prior to Jessica. The story is fast paced and a real page turner which the usual mix of twists and gasps.

This is essentially a childs book whjch can transfer easily to the adult reading market. Set in an era when blacks and whites were segregated in everything including school. A young white boy comes to terms with the fact his best friend can’t enter his house or play baseball with him because he is black This book is well written and has a innocence about it which makes it a quick an easy read. This is not as good as To Kill A Mocking Bird but along the same lines and just as thought provoking. It seems hard to imagine that less than a century on from this time in history and America now have a black president Well worth a read Product Description Malcolm and I could no more be separated than green from grass. My daddy had forbidden me to play with him, on account of his being coloured. Though little by little I came to understand the barriers between Negroes and white folks, back then I knew of no rule about two boys not being friends. The most important thing in David’s life is his friendship with Malcolm. In a secret ceremony in a cave they even become blood brothers. But this is 1950s Tennessee, and Malcolm is black. One day David’s fiercely racist father lays down a terrible threat. If Malcolm ever enters their home, he will kill him. David tries to change his daddy’s mind, but what will happen if Malcolm ever crosses the line? A powerful and haunting book, countering the horror of racial hatred with a lyrical tribute to childhood friendship.

I am a still sat on the fence. I have a kindle and love using it especially with the applications that mean you can read it between you phone as well as the machine. Use the kindle when I am on holiday saves carrying so many books. HOWEVER can't beat the smell of a new book and the feel when you open. Well and truly stuck on the fence for this one

Synopsis In 1997, Tony Blair won the biggest Labour victory in history to sweep the party to power and end eighteen years of Conservative government. He has been one of the most dynamic leaders of modern times; few British prime ministers have shaped the nation’s course as profoundly as Blair during his ten years in power, and his achievements and his legacy will be debated for years to come. Now his memoirs reveal in intimate detail this unique political and personal journey, providing an insight into the man, the politician and the statesman, and charting successes, controversies and disappointments with an extraordinary candour. “A Journey” will prove essential and compulsive reading for anyone who wants to understand the complexities of our global world. As an account of the nature and uses of power, it will also have a readership that extends well beyond politics, to all those who want to understand the challenges of leadership today. Review The book was more up hill struggle than journey. Now Prime Minister memoirs are not known to be full of laughs and adventure, but this has been reviewed as the lighter side of memoirs. The best bits of the books have all been quoted through the media. The rest of the book is dull and boring with minute details of policy making, revisions and quarrels in Downing Street. I struggled through half of the book and then, like Gordon Brown I just had to walk away, shame Tony Blair didn’t when writing the book.

Love all the Sherlock Holmes book have made them even more accessible now they are available on Kindle have found myself enjoying all the old classics again

>The Last Block in Harlem – Christopher Herz > Synopsis All fire escapes lead back to the same block in Sugar Hill, Harlem- where kids run through hydrants and music blares from stereos plugged into lampposts. When a new resident (the story’s unnamed narrator) notices the trash polluting the picturesque streets and tainting the block’s beauty, he is spurred to action. However, his best intentions go awry when the clean-up brings media coverage that in turn, sets off a rash of evictions and ushers in an influx of new and affluent tenants. In an attempt to preserve his neighborhood, the tenant mobilizes a grassroots effort to improve the neighborhood from the inside out. Realizing he has yet again polluted his reality with unintended consequences, his fight to clean up the block evolves into a quest to cleanse his soul. The choices he makes cannot change the past and the secrets that haunt him, but will alter the future for himself, his family…and the last block in Harlem. Review This was a good book mainly because it is like nothing I have read before. The plot is easy and the writing engaging. The issues that the book deals with are common in all societies and well written about. The main character within the book is never identified by name but this does not distract from the story. If I had one negative comment to make it would be that I am not sure about the ending of the book. Having said that I am still thinking about the book, a good factor for any read. I urge you to get your own copy and make your mind up about the end yourself. The book will not disappoint at all.

SYNOPSIS Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she’s the most important person in the whole world. She is. Anthony Carter doesn’t think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row. He’s wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming. It is. THE PASSAGE. Deep in the jungles of eastern Colombia, Professor Jonas Lear has finally found what he’s been searching for – and wishes to God he hadn’t. In Memphis, Tennessee, a six-year-old girl called Amy is left at the convent of the Sisters of Mercy and wonders why her mother has abandoned her. In a maximum security jail in Nevada, a convicted murderer called Giles Babcock has the same strange nightmare, over and over again, while he waits for a lethal injection. In a remote community in the California mountains, a young man called Peter waits for his beloved brother to return home, so he can kill him. Bound together in ways they cannot comprehend, for each of them a door is about to open into a future they could not have imagined. And a journey is about to begin. An epic journey that will take them through a world transformed by man’s darkest dreams, to the very heart of what it means to be human. And beyond. THE PASSAGE. REVIEW I am in the minority when I say that this book did not excite me at all in fact I found it positively hard going. This book was not only mentally hard to read as the pro’s did not really seem to engage you but, physically it was hard to read with its size. The book is so large it makes reading it hard work. the story engages you around the three main characters but as the book was 200 pages in I found that I really had no emotional connection to the characters and after a quarter of the book did not care really what happened to them. Others have commented that this book is amazing and the best vampire book for ages but for me it did not excite. Maybe at another time I will give it another go just to see whether I have missed something or not.

So are you the love it or loathe it category. The book has been in the press for a while, be it the reviews for the book itself of the amazing hype about the movie version starring Julia Roberts. Not normally a person who is persuaded by others what books to read I succumbed to peer pressure and brought myself a copy. Feeling a little full of cold I thought now would be a good time to sit and read a book so out came my fresh new copy of Eat Pray Love. To say I was disappointed would put it mildly. The first section dealt with the authors travels around Rome I greatly enjoyed but the middle section of the yoga commune bored me there was so much more the author could have added about the wonderful country of India. The last section picked up a little however, I felt that the book had already been spoilt by the middle section. I know I am in a minority with this book as otherwise why else would it have been made into a book but not one of my top reads. Product Description It’s 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She’s in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they’re trying for a baby – and she doesn’t want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance. So she travels to Rome, where she learns Italian from handsome, brown-eyed identical twins and gains twenty-five pounds, an ashram in India, where she finds that enlightenment entails getting up in the middle of the night to scrub the temple floor, and Bali where a toothless medicine man of indeterminate age offers her a new path to peace: simply sit still and smile. And slowly happiness begins to creep up on her.