New Title: Time Out London

Title: Time Out London 19th edition: The official travel guide to the London 2012 Olympic Games & Paralympic Games

 

Author:  Time Out Guides Ltd

• Paperback:416 pages
• Publisher:Time Out; 19th Revised edition edition (3 Feb 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1846702070
• ISBN-13:978-1846702075
• Product Dimensions: 1.9 x 14 x 20.3 cm

Product Description

Time Out’s resident team helps you get the best from the iconic British capital in this annual guide. Alongside the historic Tower of London, the 21st century Tate Modern and all the other major attractions, Time Out London gives you the inside track on local culture, with illuminating features and hundreds of independent reviews covering everything from West End shows to cosy pubs. 

And as a London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Licensee, the 2011 edition will be the first guidebook to bring you the latest from the Olympic Park bringing London 2012 to life. Helping visitors and Londoners alike plan where to go and how to get involved in the unique events taking place in the lead-up to London 2012 

About the Author

Simon Coppock lives in London and edited the current editions of London for Visitors and the London Shortlist. He has reviewed for Time Out’s Eating & Drinking, Cheap Eats and Pubs & Bars guides, as well as writing on travel for the Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

 

Great Book: The Bridgestown Vegetarian Guide To Ireland

Title: The Bridgestone Vegetarian’s Guide to Ireland

 

Authors:  John McKenna and Sally McKenna

• Paperback:144 pages
• Publisher:Estragon Press; 2nd Revised edition edition (15 April 2003)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1874076367
• ISBN-13:978-1874076360
• Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 9.6 x 1.2 cm

Product Description

The only authoritative source book for vegetarians, the Bridgestone Vegetarian’s Guide gives details of all vegetarian and organic food outlets throughout the country, as well as the best places to stay and to eat that serve creative vegetarian cooking.

 

About the Author

John and Sally McKenna have been writing in Ireland since 1989, contributing to many national and international publications, and producing television programmes about Irish food. They publish the Bridgestone Guides from their base in West Cork. The guides have won prestigious awards, including the Glinfiddich Award, and the Andre Simon Special Award. In 2004 John McKenna wrote and published the second edition of ‘How to Run a Restaurant’ and a new book on hospitality, How to Succeed in Hospitality.

 

 

 

Book Recommendation: Catalan Cuisine

Title: Catalan Cuisine: Europe’s Last Great Culinary Secret

 

Author:  Colman Andrews

• Paperback:352 pages
• Publisher:Grub Street; New edition edition (30 Nov 1997)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1898697760
• ISBN-13:978-1898697763
• Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm

Product Description

Catalonia, located in Spain’s far north-east corner and centred around the port of Barcelona, has its own cuisine and culture which has spread to encompass Valencia, the Balearic Islands (Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza), Andorra, the ancient region of France formerly known as Roussilon, and a single city on the Italian island of Sardinia. Colman Andrews explores this whole territory of Catalan cooking, from its French, Roman and Moorish roots to today’s modern interpretation. Along the way he creates a portrait of the food, wine, history and culture of the region.

 

About The Author

Colman Andrews’ first cookbook, “Catalan Cuisine”, originally published in 1988, was recently named one of the “50 Best Cookbooks of All Time” by the Observer Food Monthly; his most recent one, “The Country Cooking of Ireland”, was honored as Best International Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation in 2010 and beat out all other entries in all categories as foundation’s Cookbook of the Year. Andrews was a co-founder of Saveur, and its editor-in-chief from 2002 to 2006. After leaving the magazine, he became the restaurant columnist for Gourmet. A native of Los Angeles with degrees in history and philosophy from UCLA, he was a restaurant reviewer and restaurant news columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and for three years edited “Traveling in Style”, the Times travel magazine. Throughout the 1980s, he was wine and spirits columnist for Los Angeles Magazine, and published widely as a freelance writer, covering food, wine, travel, music, art, architecture, design, and the entertainment industry. The recipient of eight James Beard awards, Andrews is the co-author and co-editor of three Saveur cookbooks and five of his own books on food: “Everything on the Table”, “Flavors of the Riviera”, “Catalan Cuisine” (which introduced the now-trendy cooking of Spain’s Catalonia region to America), “The Country Cooking of Ireland”, and “Reinventing Food, Ferran Adria: The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat”, a biography of Catalan superchef Ferran Adrià. His companion volume to his award-winning Irish book, “The Country Cooking of Italy”, will be published in fall of 2011. Andrews has recently been named editorial director of The Daily Meal, a food and wine mega-site (www.thedailymeal.com). Adds Andrews, “Judicis argutum labor hic formidat acumen.”

 

 

The Leaving Cert Results 2011

The Leaving Cert Results 2011 by Annette J Dunlea

Published In The Carrigdhoun Newspaper 2nd Sep 2011 p.11

For students getting their Leaving Cert results is a life defining moment for these young adults as they discover where their futures lie and if their hard work of the last two years has paid off.The average Leaving Cert student scores 305 CAO points, much lower than generally recognised.Just half of last year’s class of 2010 scored less than 300 points.In all, over 7,000 students secured less than 200 points in 2010.It highlights that there are a huge number of students who continue to struggle with the exam, but this is often obscured by the focus on the high performers.

2011 Leaving Cert Results are as follows:
A= Hons Paper, B = Foundation Paper , C= Pass Paper
Subject Level Year Total A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG

IRISH

Honours paper 2011,
Total Students: 14,359
Grade %
A1: 5.50%, A:2 8.20%, B1: 10.60%, B2: 12.20%, B3: 12.90%, C1: 12.60%, C 2: 11.80% C3: 10.10%, D1: 7.50%, D2: 4.90%, D3: 2.80%, E: 1.00%

B (General)2011 Total Students: 4,818
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
1.60, 3.40, 6.90, 11.70, 14.30, 16.70, 14.60, 12.20, 7.60, 4.80, 3.80, 1.80, 0.60, 0.00,

G (Foundation)
2011 Total Students: 25,220
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
0.80, 3.90, 8.70, 12.50, 14.90, 14.10, 12.00, 9.40, 7.80, 5.50, 5.10, 4.20, 1.00, 0.00,

ENGLISH A Honours 2011 18,672
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
2.30, 5.80, 4.70, 9.80, 17.10, 11.30, 14.60, 13.40, 7.40, 5.80, 4.80 2.10, 0.60, 0.10 ,

MATHEMATICS A 2011 37,505
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
4.10, 7.30, 9.40, 10.40, 10.60, 10.00, 9.30, 8.50, 7.50, 6.40, 6.70, 6.90, 2.60, 0.40,

HISTORY A Honours 2011 4,168
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
8.30, 8.80, 7.10, 9.60, 10.90, 8.70, 9.90, 11.30, 7.10, 6.90, 7.20 3.10, 1.10, 0.10,

GEOGRAPHY A Honours 2011 6,056
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
1.30, 2.90, 5.10, 8.60, 13.10, 14.10, 15.30, 14.80, 7.20, 6.80, 6.00, 3.50, 1.10, 0.10,

APPLIED MATHEMATICS A Honours Paper 2011 153
Grade%
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
25.50, 7.80, 8.50, 7.80, 10.50, 6.50, 6.50, 7.20, 5.90, 3.30, 1.30 3.30, 4.60, 1.30,

PHYSICS A 1,734
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
6.00, 8.80, 6.20, 10.60, 12.70, 6.70, 10.30, 10.90, 4.40, 6.20, 5.90, 7.60 3.20 0.40

CHEMISTRY A 2011 1,405
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
3.30, 5.80, 7.50, 8.90, 10.90, 9.30, 8.60, 10.40, 7.80, 7.00, 7.80, 6.80, 4.80, 1.20,

PHYSICS & CHEMISTRY A 2011 93
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
2.20, 2.20, 2.20, 4.30, 17.20, 7.50, 4.30, 10.80, 6.50, 4.30, 12.90, 10.80, 11.80, 3.20,

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE A 2011 1,186
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
0.00, 0.30, 0.40, 1.90, 5.10, 7.50, 11.60, 13.30, 12.40, 13.60, 14.80, 13.80, 4.60, 0.80,

BIOLOGY A 2011 7,672
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
0.60, 1.60, 3.90, 6.60, 10.10, 11.20, 13.10, 12.20, 10.60, 8.30, 8.70, 9.10, 3.70, 0.40 ,

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS A 2011 32
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
6.30, 3.10, 9.40, 3.10, 6.30, 15.60, 18.80, 25.00, 3.10, 3.10, 3.10, 3.10, 0.00, 0.00

ENGINEERING A 2011 1,103
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
0.40, 1.50, 3.30, 8.30 10.60, 12.70, 14.30, 13.10, 11.20, 7.60, 8.50 6.90, 1.50, 0.10,

CONSTRUCTION STUDIES A 2011 1,823
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
0.10, 0.40, 2.00, 4.70, 8.60, 12.10, 13.20, 13.40, 12.10, 10.30, 9.40, 10.40 3.10 0.30

ACCOUNTING A 2011 1,764
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
10.50, 9.40, 7.80, 9.40 ,9.10, 7.80, 6.70, 6.40, 5.40, 5.30, 6.70, 7.10, 5.60, 2.80 ,

BUSINESS A 2011 6,059
Grade %
A1 A2 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 E F NG
2.50, 8.40, 7.40, 12.50, 14.00, 11.90, 11.50, 7.70, 8.30, 5.10, 5.30, 3.50 1.50, 0.40,

CAO had 71,446 applicants for third level courses around the country. The six best results, in recognised subjects, in one Leaving Certificate Examination will be counted for points computation. One sitting only of the Leaving Certificate Examination will be counted for points purposes. In the case of certain subjects, e.g. Home Economics (General), Alternative Ordinary Level Mathematics, Foundation Level Mathematics or Foundation Level Irish, some HEIs may not award the points indicated on the points grid. If in any doubt, check with the Admissions Office of the appropriate HEIs. LCVP points awarded: Distinction – 70, Merit – 50, Pass – 30 .Here are the points system from the Leaving Cert.results.

Leaving Cert Grade Higher Paper Lower Paper Bonus * Maths
Foundation #
A1 100 60 40 20
A2 90 50 35 15
B1 85 45 30 10
B2 80 40 25 5
B3 75 35 20
C1 70 30 15
C2 65 25 10
C3 60 20 5
D1 55 15
D2 50 10
D3 45 5

Round Offer Reply Date
Round A 7th July, 2011 14th July, 2011
Round Zero 4th August, 2011 10th August, 2011
Round One 22nd August, 2011 29th August, 2011
Round Two 1st September, 2011 7th September, 2011

Offers will be issued as necessary until October to fill any vacancies which may arise. CAO points for courses in science, technology and agriculture have increased dramatically, as students opt for programmes with better job prospects.The points needed for courses in arts and business are in decline.Science and computer courses are high in demand.

Teaching unions and captains of industry have expressed concern about the high failure rate in Maths after 4,000 students failed the subject this year.The Union of Students in Ireland has called for the Leaving Cert to be overhauled, saying the exam is in ‘dire’ need of change.Of the almost 58,000 students who receives their 10 people got eight A1 grades.This year’s results are broadly in line with previous years with a continued high failure rate in Maths.Almost 2,000 students sat exams in a new Maths syllabus this June. The authorities hope this new syllabus will raise standards.

Kids face a key decision and one one which could shape your working life , without knowing all the facts and at a time when your concentration is elsewhere.That’s exactly what we expect 70,000 students to do as part of the CAO process.They still lack the key information which could best inform their college choice and their exam results.The current system forces students to make college choices without being in possession of all the facts. It suits the universities and the other colleges. The CAO needs to be amended the application process to allow for changing courses after the Leaving Cert results are published in mid-August. As a result, many students take courses which may not suit them.Upwards of 30 per cent either fail their first-year exams or drop out during the year in what can be a crushing blow to their self-esteem

Ibec has called for major reform of the Leaving Cert following yet another disappointing set of maths and science results from students this year.Tony Donohoe, head of education policy at Ibec, said the exam system is too reliant on rote learning. He stressed the need to adequately fund ongoing plans to reform the second-level maths curriculum to ensure that students develop the necessary skills to work in high-tech sectors.“Business needs an education system that produces individuals who are adaptable, can think for themselves and have an appetite to learn,” Mr Donohoe said. “The current system fails to produce these skills.”He also said the roll-out of Project Maths was a step in the right direction but that teaching quality is a “critical issue”. Out of the almost 52,000 students who sat Leaving Cert maths, just over 8,000 sat the higher-level paper this year. It is hoped that Project Maths will encourage more students to opt for the higher level.While this year showed a marginally higher uptake of higher-level Project Maths, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn acknowledged that more work is needed to increase these numbers. “I am hopeful that the continued roll-out of Project Maths and also the 25 bonus points which will be introduced for next year’s Leaving Cert students will improve these figures,” he said. Congratulating students on their results, the Minister said: “All of you should be rightly proud of your achievements.”

Mr Broderick also congratulated students on their results saying, “To take the Leaving Cert is an achievement in itself.”General secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association Michael Moriarty urged students to keep the results in perspective. “More than anything else, young people need to get themselves into courses and careers that match their aptitudes to real job prospects,” Mr Moriarty said.Meanwhile the Irish Second Level Students’ Union encouraged students to seek advice from parents and guidance counsellors over the coming days. A spokesperson said: “Leaving Cert results day is different for everyone. There will be people who are dying to find out how they did and people who’d rather hide under the bed. Whatever happens and however you did, it’ll be okay.”After the universities they are the Institutes of Technologies, PLC colleges and apprentice courses.

A national helpline was set up for more than 55,000 teenagers for advice on post Leaving Certificate options.Experienced guidance counsellors will staff the dedicated phoneline to offer advice and support on third-level courses, apprenticeships, rechecks and repeating exams.Thousands of anxious pupils called the Exam Helpline on 1800 265 165 .

HeadsUp, Rehab’s mental health promotion project, wants young people to realise there is life after the state exams.Collette Ryan, Rehab project manager for HeadsUp, said: “Results time can be very stressful for young people as it is a day of mixed emotions. Many feel powerless as there is nothing that they can do now to change their results. We want students to know that help is out there if things are getting on top of them.”A range of tips on how to cope are on the Exams Corner section of HeadsUp.ie with test support available by texting HEADSUP to 50424.

The End

New Title: The Last Flannelled Fool

Title: The Last Flannelled Fool: My small part in English cricket’s demise and its large part in mine

 

Author:  Michael Simkins

• Paperback:320 pages
• Publisher:Ebury Press (7 July 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0091927544
• ISBN-13:978-0091927547
• Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.4 x 2.6 cm

Product Description

Michael Simkins is the ultimate Sunday cricketer – passionate, obsessive, technically inept, and hopelessly deluded. When an injury rules him out of an entire season, not only might it spell the end of his long career, he is faced more immediately with a summer aimlessly wandering garden centres and listening to The Archers. 

He decides instead to set off on an odyssey across the counties of England in search of that golden time in his youth when his passion for the game was fi rst kindled. It’s a journey that begins in May in light drizzle at the birthplace of cricket, takes in the burial site of his favourite ground (now a Marks & Spencer) and even stops along the way to flirt with the love child of WG Grace and Kerry Katona that is Twenty20. It ends with the ultimate cricketing zenith – returning to the fi eld of play to bowl an over to Freddie Flintoff in fading light in front of a capacity crowd. So can cricket still bring comfort and meaning to his life or is Old Father Time about to call for Michael’s bails?

 

Great Book: On The Line How One Great Restaurant Made It to the Top and Stayed There

Title: On the Line: How One Great Restaurant Made It to the Top and Stayed There

 

Authors: Eric Ripert and Christine Muhlke

• Hardcover:240 pages
• Publisher:Artisan Division of Workman Publishing (3 Nov 2008)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1579653693
• ISBN-13:978-1579653699
• Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 21.1 x 2.5 cm

Product Description

“On The Line” is an exciting tale of how a restaurant stays on top for over 25 years – the hard work and fierce discipline, the checklists and systems, the precarious balance between order and chaos, the joy of making irresistible food. We meet everyone at le Bernardin from the chef de cuisine and “sauce whisperer” to a sous chef working the saute station and find out exactly what they do (sometimes down to the minute). Most diners are unaware of what goes on behind those swinging kitchen doors and Eric Ripert gives an insider’s look at how excellence in food and service is maintained and made memorable.Curious foodies and diners will find answers to all their restaurant questions: What, and where, is the ‘line’ or ‘pass’? How does one tiny pastry kitchen yield over 500 desserts, 1,500 cookies, and 1,250 petit-fours a day? How much does it really cost to make decadent dishes like Baked Lobster with Wilted Romaine, Squash, and Candied Ginger (GBP 13.97), or organically grown farm raised Osetra caviar (GBP 20.90) – and that doesn’t even include labour! After peeking inside every pantry, walk-in, and drawer in the office, readers will be amazed at the miracle that is a four star dining. Informative, illuminating, and a wee bit gossipy, “On The Line” brims with fascinating facts, bold personalities, and all the pleasure of a delicious three-course meal.

 

 

 

Book Recommendation: Beard On Pasta

Title: Beard on Pasta: A James Beard Cookbook

 

Author:  James Beard

• Hardcover:236 pages
• Publisher:Crescent Books (Oct 1994)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0517119277
• ISBN-13:978-0517119273
• Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 16 x 2.8 cm

This kitchen classic from James Beard-a name synonymous with culinary excellence-is back in print in a handsome edition featuring 100 of Beard’s favorite international recipes and in-depth information on pasta’s origins. An indispensable resource from the dean of American cooking.

 

 

New Title : A Year In The Village Of Eternity

Title: A Year in the Village of Eternity

 

Author:  Tracey Lawson

• Hardcover:384 pages
• Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (4 July 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0747590362
• ISBN-13:978-0747590361
• Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 16.4 x 3.8 cm

Product Description

The village of Campodimele in the Aurunci Mountains has been called ‘the village of eternal youth’ by the scientific community, after a study revealed the astonishing longevity of its inhabitants. The average life expectancy of the Campomelani is 95, compared to the European average of 75 for men and 82 for women. Not only do the villagers live to an extraordinary age, but they also enjoy healthy and active lives at an age when many people in the UK have succumbed to general infirmity or the three major plagues of Western life: cancer, heart disease and diabetes. How do they do it? Tracey Lawson decided that the only way to find out was to spend some time living in the village herself. This book chronicles twelve months in the life of Campodimele, focusing on the seasonal cooking and eating habits that doctors believe are the key to the villagers’ long lives. There are insights from such colourful characters as Gerardo, who still zips down to the wheat fields on his aged scooter, and Maria, who is often seen chasing hens up the hill on her 83-year-old legs – as well as a year’s worth of timeless, simple recipes that will seduce even the busiest urbanite. With full-colour plate sections to show off the wealth of gorgeous photography, A Year in the Village of Eternity is at once a Mediterranean cookbook, a sensible and inspiring food manual and a stunning, unique travel book – a winning cross between Under the Tuscan Sun and Jamie’s Italy with a dash of You Are What You Eat.

 

About the Author

Tracey Lawson discovered the joys of Italy’s cuisine and lifestyle while teaching English in Tuscany. She spent ten years as a news and features writer, covering foreign and domestic stories for British newspapers, and edited the food pages of the Scotsman for eighteen months. A Year in the Village of Eternity is her first book.

 

Great Book: USA Cookbook

Title: USA Cookbook

 

Author:  Sheila Lukins

• Paperback:605 pages
• Publisher:Workman Publishing; First Edition edition (18 Sep 1997)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1563058073
• ISBN-13:978-1563058073
• Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 20.3 x 4.2 cm

Product Description

In this cookbook, Sheila Lukins celebrates American cooking with over 600 classic recipes, including: mashed Yukon golds; peachy keen pie; burger stuffed with Maytag blue cheese; Denver western omelette with breakfast salsa; and vegetable jambalaya.

 

Book Recommendation: Dr.Atkins Quick and Easy New Dietbook

Title: Dr Atkins Quick & Easy New Diet Cookbook

 

Authors:  Robert C Atkins and Veronica Atkins

• Paperback:224 pages
• Publisher:Pocket Books; 1st edition (6 Jan 2002)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0743462416
• ISBN-13:978-0743462419
• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 19.9 x 1.7 cm

Product Description

Forget about salad without dressing, dried-out skinless chicken breasts and tasteless steamed vegetables. Forget about tiny portions, no fat/no flavour food and no second helpings. Forget about spending hours in the kitchen. With the delicious recipes in DR ATKINS’ QUICK AND EASY NEW DIET COOKBOOK, you’ll feast on juicy steaks, succulent chops, savoury egg and cheese dishes and indulge in desserts. Based on the bestselling DR ATKINS’ NEW DIET REVOLUTION, the recipes here will let you eat and lose weight the Atkins way, whether you’re just beginning this nutritional approach, shedding pounds or maintaining your ideal weight. Designed for healthy eating, this cookbook will help you produce delectable meals every day that will be the key to a whole new you.

 

About the Author

Robert C. Atkins, MD, is the founder and director of the Atkins Centre for Complementary Medicine. A practising physician for over thirty years he is a leader in the areas of natural health and nutritional science and the author of several bestselling books. Visit the Atkins Nutritionals website at http://www.atkinscenter.com

 

 

Great Book: City Of Fortune

Title: City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire

 

Author:  Roger Crowley

• Hardcover:432 pages
• Publisher:Faber and Faber (4 Aug 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0571245943
• ISBN-13:978-0571245949
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 14.8 x 4.2 cm

Product Description

A magisterial work of gripping history, City of Fortune tells the story of the Venetian ascent from lagoon dwellers to the greatest power in the Mediterranean – an epic five hundred year voyage that encompassed crusade and trade, plague, sea battles and colonial adventure. In Venice, the path to empire unfolded in a series of extraordinary contests – the sacking of Constantinople in 1204, the fight to the finish with Genoa and a desperate defence against the Turks. Under the lion banner of St Mark, she created an empire of ports and naval bases which funnelled the goods of the world through its wharfs. In the process the city became the richest place on earth – a brilliant mosaic fashioned from what it bought, traded, borrowed and stole. Based on first hand accounts of trade and warfare, seafaring and piracy and the places where Venetians sailed and died, City of Fortune is narrative history at its finest. Beginning on Ascension Day in the year 1000 and ending with an explosion off the coast of Greece – and the calamitous news that the Portuguese had pioneered a sea route to India – it will fascinate anyone who loves Venice and the Mediterranean world.

About the Author

Roger Crowley read English at Cambridge before going to live in Istanbul. His first book, Constantinople was published in 2005 and was followed by Empires of the Sea, which was chosen as the Sunday Times History Book of the Year in 2008.

 

Book Recommendation: The End Hitler’s Germany 1944 – 45

Title:  The End: Hitler’s Germany, 1944-45 (Allen Lane History)

Author:  Ian Kershaw

• Hardcover:592 pages
• Publisher:Allen Lane (25 Aug 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0713997168
• ISBN-13:978-0713997163
• Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 16.2 x 4.2 cm

Product Description

The last months of the Second World War were a nightmarish time to be alive. Unimaginable levels of violence destroyed entire cities. Millions died or were dispossessed. By all kinds of criteria it was the end: the end of the Third Reich and its terrible empire but also, increasingly, it seemed to be the end of European civilization itself.

 In his gripping, revelatory new book Ian Kershaw describes these final months, from the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in July 1944 to the German surrender in May 1945. The major question that Kershaw attempts to answer is: what made Germany keep on fighting? In almost every major war there has come a point where defeat has loomed for one side and its rulers have cut a deal with the victors, if only in an attempt to save their own skins. In Hitler’s Germany, nothing of this kind happened: in the end the regime had to be stamped out town by town with a level of brutality almost without precedent. 

Both a highly original piece of research and a gripping narrative, The End makes vivid an era which still deeply scars Europe. It raises the most profound questions about the nature of the Second World War, about the Third Reich and about how ordinary people behave in extreme circumstances.

About the Author

IAN KERSHAW is the author of Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris; Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis; Making Friends with Hitler; and Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World, 1940-4. Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis received the Wolfson History Prize and the Bruno Kreisky Prize in Austria for Political Book of the Year, and was joint winner of the inaugural British Academy Book Prize. Until his retirement in 2008, Ian Kershaw was Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield. For services to history he was given the German award of the Federal Cross of Merit in 1994. He was knighted in 2002 and awarded the Norton Medlicott Medal by the Historical Association in 2004. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

 

Great Book: Robert Redford – The Biography

Title: Robert Redford: The Biography

 

Author:  Michael Feeney Callan

• Hardcover:496 pages
• Publisher:Simon & Schuster Ltd (9 Jun 2011)
• ISBN-10:1847377521
• ISBN-13:978-1847377524
• Product Dimensions: 16.7 x 4.2 x 24.3 cm

Product Description

A national symbol of romance since the 1970s, Redford’s stardom has often eclipsed the life and trials of the man himself. In this biography — written with Redford’s personal papers, journals, script notes, correspondence, and hundreds of hours of taped interviews — Michael Feeney Callan strips away the Hollywood facade, exposing the complicated, surprising man beneath. The life of Robert Redford is a series of contradictions: descended from impoverished East Coast barbers on his father’s side and once-wealthy Texans on his mother’s side, the young Redford suffered from aimlessness and semi-poverty, dropping out of college and briefly spending time in jail before launching a career in theatre. Redford has contributed more — and more widely — to entertainment than most stars of his calibre. As an actor, he’s appeared on Broadway and film, with an Oscar-nominated performance in 1973′s The Sting. As a director, he’s earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director and has received three Golden Globe nominations for Best Director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director in 1980 for Ordinary People. And as a producer of independent films — including the patronage of his Sundance Institute — he’s worked on films including All the President’s Men and 2004′s The Motorcycle Diaries. This is a fascinating exploration of one of our most celebrated and least understood public figures, and an essential read for anyone interested in the rocky road to Hollywood.

About the Author

Michael Feeney Callan is the author of short stories, for which he won the Hennessy Literary Award; two novels; and several plays, as well as biographies of Anthony Hopkins, Richard Harris, Julie Christie, and Sean Connery. He has worked for the BBC, ITV and Ireland’s Ardmore Studios as a writer, producer and director of television dramas and documentaries. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.

 

Book Recommendation: A Deniable Death

Title: A Deniable Death

 

Author:  Gerald Seymour

• Hardcover:448 pages
• Publisher:Hodder & Stoughton (4 Aug 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1444705857
• ISBN-13:978-1444705850
• Product Dimensions: 24 x 16 x 4 cm

Product Description

C.R.O.P.: Covert Rural Observation Posts are places where men like Danny ‘Badger’ Baxter hide for endless, motionless hours, secretly recording criminal or terrorist activity.
But now Badger has a bigger job than photographing dissident Republicans in muddy Ulster fields or Islamic extremists on rainswept Yorkshire moors.

I.E.D.: Improvised Explosive Devices are the roadside bombs which account for 80% of British casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
MI6 have a plan to assassinate the leading maker of these weapons when he leaves his house in Iran to visit Europe. But first, they need to know when he is leaving, and where he is going.

So it is that Badger finds himself on the wrong side of the Iranian border, lumbered with a partner he loathes, lying under a merciless sun in a mosquito-infested marsh, observing the house. And knowing that if they are caught, Her Majesty’s Government will deny all knowledge of them.

Welcome to A Deniable Death.

About the Author

Gerald Seymour was a reporter at ITN for fifteen years. He covered events in Vietnam, Borneo, Aden, the Munich Olympics, Israel and Northern Ireland. He has been a full-time writer since 1978.

Seymour’s first novel was the acclaimed thriller Harry’s Game, set in Belfast, and since then six of his thrillers have been filmed for television in the UK and US. A Deniable Death is Seymour’s twenty-eighth novel.

 

New Title: How To Be A Woman

Title: How To Be a Woman

 

Author: Caitlin Moran

• Paperback:320 pages
• Publisher:Ebury Press (16 Jun 2011)
• ISBN-10:0091940737
• ISBN-13:978-0091940737
• Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.5 x 2.8 cm

Product Description

1913 – Suffragette throws herself under the King’s horse.

 

1969 – Feminists storm Miss World.

 

NOW – Caitlin Moran rewrites The Female Eunuch from a bar stool and demands to know why pants are getting smaller.

 

There’s never been a better time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain…

Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should you get Botox? Do men secretly hate us? What should you call your vagina? Why does your bra hurt? And why does everyone ask you when you’re going to have a baby?

 

Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin Moran answers these questions and more in How To Be A Woman – following her from her terrible 13th birthday (‘I am 13 stone, have no friends, and boys throw gravel at me when they see me’) through adolescence, the workplace, strip-clubs, love, fat, abortion, TopShop, motherhood and beyond.

 

About the Author

Caitlin Moran had literally no friends in 1990, and so had plenty of time to write her first novel, The Chronicles of Narmo, at the age of fifteen. At sixteen she joined music weekly, Melody Maker, and at eighteen briefly presented the pop show ‘Naked City’ on Channel 4. Following this precocious start she then put in eighteen solid years as a columnist on The Times – both as a TV critic and also in the most-read part of the paper, the satirical celebrity column ‘Celebrity Watch’ – winning the British Press

Awards’ Columnist of The Year award in 2010 and Critic and Interviewer of the Year in 2011. The eldest of eight children, home-educated in a council house in Wolverhampton, Caitlin read lots of books about feminism – mainly in an attempt to be able to prove to her brother, Eddie, that she was scientifically better than him. Caitlin isn’t really her name. She was christened ‘Catherine’. But she saw ‘Caitlin’ in a Jilly Cooper novel when she was 13 and thought it looked exciting. That’s why she pronounces it incorrectly: ‘Catlin’. It causes trouble for everyone.

 

Great Book: Something From Tiffany’s

Title: Something from Tiffany’s

 

Author:  Melissa Hill

• Hardcover:416 pages
• Publisher:Hodder & Stoughton (26 May 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0340993340
• ISBN-13:978-0340993347
• Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.8 x 3.8 cm

Product Description

Doesn’t every girl dream of getting… something from Tiffany’s?

On 5th Avenue in New York City, two very different men are shopping for gifts for the women they love.

Gary is buying his girlfriend Rachel a charm bracelet. Partly to thank her for paying for their holiday-of-a-lifetime to New York. But mainly because he’s left his shopping far too late.

Whereas Ethan’s looking for something a little more special – an engagement ring for the first woman to have made him happy since he lost the love of his life.

But when the two men’s shopping bags get confused, and Rachel somehow ends up with Ethan’s ring, the couples’ lives become intertwined.

As Ethan tries to reunite the ring with the woman it was actually intended for, he discovers this isn’t that easy. Does fate have other ideas for the couples? Or is there simply a bit of Tiffany’s magic in the air…

About the Author

Melissa Hill lives with her husband Kevin and their dog Homer in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. Her previous books, Something You Should Know, Not What You Think, Never Say Never, Wishful Thinking and All Because of You have all been bestsellers and are widely translated. For more information, visit her website at http://www.melissahill.info

 

Book Recommendation: Now You See Her

Title: Now You See Her

 

Author:  James Patterson

• Hardcover:400 pages
• Publisher:Century (4 Aug 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1846054680
• ISBN-13:978-1846054686
• Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 16 x 4.2 cm

Product Description

A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she’s built in New York – including lying to everyone, even her daughter, about her past. But when an innocent man is framed for murder, she knows that she can’t let him pay for the real killer’s crimes. 

Nina’s secret life began eighteen years ago. She had looks to die for, a handsome police-officer husband, and a carefree life in Key West. When she learned she was pregnant with their first child, her happiness was almost overwhelming. But Nina’s world is shattered when she unearths a terrible secret that causes her to run for her life and change her identity. 

Now, years later, Nina risks everything she’s earned to return to Florida and confront the murderous evil she fled. 

In a story of wrenching suspense, James Patterson gives us his most head-spinning, action-filled story yet – a Hitchcock-like blend of unquenchable drama and pleasure.

About the Author

JAMES PATTERSON is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past decade – the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club and Detective Michael Bennett novels – and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers. He lives in Florida with his wife and son. 

James is passionate about encouraging children to read. Inspired by his own son who was a reluctant reader, he also writes a range of books specifically for young readers. James has formed a partnership with the National Literacy Trust, an independent, UK-based charity that changes lives through literacy. In 2010, he was voted Author of the Year at the Children’s Choice Book Awards in New York.

 

New Title: Solace

Title: Solace

 

Author:  Belinda McKeon

• Hardcover:352 pages
• Publisher:Picador (5 Aug 2011)
• ISBN-10:0330529846
• ISBN-13:978-0330529846
• Product Dimensions: 22 x 14.2 x 3.8 cm

Product Description

Mark Casey has left home, the rural Irish community where his family has farmed the same land for generations, to study for a doctorate in Dublin, a vibrant, contemporary city full of possibility. To his father, Tom, who needs help baling the hay and ploughing the fields, Mark’s pursuit isn’t work at all, and indeed Mark finds himself whiling away his time with pubs and parties. His is a life without focus or responsibility, until he meets Joanne Lynch, a trainee solicitor whom he finds irresistible. Joanne too has a past to escape from and for a brief time she and Mark share the chaos and rapture of a new love affair, until the lightning strike of tragedy changes everything. 

Solace is a work to be admired for its spare, intense lyricism, its range, and its deeply compassionate portrayal of life as it is lived now.

 ‘An elegant, consuming and richly inspired novel. A superb debut. This one will last’ Colum McCann 

‘A novel of quiet power, filled with moments of carefully-told truth . . . this book will appeal to readers both young and old’ Colm Tóibín

 ‘A story of clear-eyed compassion and quiet intelligence’ Anne Enright

About the Author

Belinda McKeon, an award-winning playwright, was born in Ireland in 1979. She studied literature at Trinity College, Dublin, and is a contributor to the Irish Times. McKeon has an MFA from Columbia University and lives in Brooklyn with her husband

 

Book Recommendation: On Canaan’s Side

 

Title: On Canaan’s Side

 

Author:  Sebastian Barry

• Hardcover:272 pages
• Publisher:Faber and Faber (4 Aug 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0571226531
• ISBN-13:978-0571226535
• Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 16 x 3 cm

Product Description

‘As they used to say in Ireland, the devil only comes into good things.’ Narrated by Lilly Bere, On Canaan’s Side opens as she mourns the loss of her grandson, Bill. The story then goes back to the moment she was forced to flee Dublin, at the end of the First World War, and follows her life through into the new world of America, a world filled with both hope and danger. At once epic and intimate, Lilly’s narrative unfurls as she tries to make sense of the sorrows and troubles of her life and of the people whose lives she has touched. Spanning nearly seven decades, it is a novel of memory, war, family-ties and love, which once again displays Sebastian Barry’s exquisite prose and gift for storytelling.

 

About the Author

Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His plays include The Steward of Christendom and The Pride of Parnell Street and his novels include The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, Annie Dunne, A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture. A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Dublin International Impac Prize, and was the Dublin: One City One Book for 2007. The Secret Scripture won the Costa Book of the Year award, the Irish Book Awards Best Novel, the Independent Booksellers Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.

 

My Book Recommendation: Me And My Sister

Title: Me and My Sisters

 

Author:  Sinead Moriarty

• Paperback:464 pages
• Publisher:Penguin Ireland (4 Aug 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1844882446
• ISBN-13:978-1844882441
• Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 3.6 cm

Product Description

There’s more than one way of being a modern woman, not that the Devlin sisters would admit it … 

Julie used to be the easy-going sister. But now she’s a mother of four boys under five, her marriage is under strain and she is struggling to keep sane. She needs support, but her sisters don’t understand. After all, their lives are perfect. 

Lawyer Louise has always been top of her game, with little time for family and even less for romance. But with a drunken mistake threatening everything she’s worked for, she may need to accept that she needs help to keep going. 

Gorgeous Sophie got everything she ever wanted: a loving husband, a beautiful, well-behaved daughter and a designer lifestyle. Her sisters consider her spoiled and shallow but she doesn’t care – that’s until her life is turned upside-down and she realises they may be right. Not that she’s going to let them know the trouble she’s in.

 The Devlin sisters think they have little in common. They might just be in for some big surprises … 

About the Author

Number one bestselling author Sinéad Moriarty lives in Dublin with her husband and their three children. Me and My Sisters is her seventh novel.