Book Reviews August 2011

It's our pleasure to share with you some recent reviews from readers. The authors mentioned all have something in common—we have featured their work many times in the past, in Select Editions.

Paul O'C of Doncaster, Victoria, gives a heartfelt plug to a giant from the past, John Steinbeck. 'I'm inspired by East of Eden by John Steinbeck. A son who loved a disengaged and cold father who is reconciled only after the father becomes totally dependent on him. Also a yearning for his mother and willing to accept her unconditionally even though she is the Madam of a brothel. Powerful, gut-wrenching pull of emotions.’

Karen C of Geographe in WA admires ' ‘Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth.  This was an amazing read and once I started I couldn't put it down.’

Sue P of Wellington, NSW loves the very last horseracing mystery on which the late Dick Francis collaborated with his son Felix: 'It reads effortlessly, in that very plain-vanilla style at which the Francises excel. Tom is a classic Dick Francis hero, noble, blessed with common sense and nerves of steel, and he often refers to his army training, or to the works of Sun Tzu and famous military victories, in planning his next step. (I expecially liked that he took his sword with him on some of his forays to lie in wait for the enemy.) '

Like Steinbeck's hero, Tom also has some issues with his mother (!) when he returns home wounded from Afghanistan. If you'd like to investigate, click here for an extract from Crossfire.