EVER BOUGHT A BOOK ON THE STRENGTH OF THE REVIEWS ON THE BACK???

If you are like us (and probably one of the many thousands of book lovers across the globe) and have had the misfortune of spending your hard-earned cash on an apparent "best-seller"; you will probably also have experienced the dull thud as you bang your head against the wall, thinking "Why did I listen to the reviews on the back?!" The truth is: reviews found on books are usually self-promoting, PR stunt-type hype and not necessarily a true reflection of the books' quality at all.

It is our aim to tell the truth about books, but don't for one second assume that that is synonymous with us creating a blog to 'diss' authors' work - to the contrary - our intention is to provide an honest appraisal of each and every book we read. If the book is any good - it'll get a good review. If it's awful and a tragedy to the literary world - then it won't. It's that simple.

Thursday 30 October 2008

The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams

We recently reviewed this title on our website and much to our surprise discovered that it wasn't as controversial as we were expecting... in fact, Walliams managed to make the notion of a boy dressing up in girl's dresses seem normal - and maybe that is as it should be.

Let us know your thoughts (especially if you are parents) on how you feel about a book that highlights cross-dressing.

Meanwhile, you can read the book review

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Belching Out the Devil by Mark Thomas




Does the image of a young child struggling in sugercane fields and that of Coca Cola seem at odds to you? How about the fact that 7-8 trade unionists were murdered in Columbia, more have been kidnapped, tortured or falsely imprisoned - and they all worked at a Coca Cola bottling plant.

Belching Out the Devil starts out as a rueful look at how the corporate giant achieved its global domination; from the Coca Cola museum in Atlanta (I've been - it IS a rip off), to the eye-catching snuggly fuzziness of their adverts. But the tone quickly sours as journalist, Mark Thomas, details horror after horror.
If, like us, you feel that corporations as big as Coke have a moral and social obligation to ensure that they not only talk the talk but walk the walk, you can do a few things:

1 - Read this book for yourself (although unfortunately, I don't think any proceeds go towards any given campaign)

2- Visit Killer Coke and give a donation

3 - Stop buying Coke (and all its derivatives)

4 - Pass the message on


Don't Forget About Our MONTHLY Competition!

All you have to do is click on the 'Current Competition' and then select one of the three available titles that you'd like to see WIN our Readers' Choice for the month - then sit back and see if you are our lucky winner!

You can vote as many times as you like, for any title that you want. It's free to enter the competition and you won't have to pay a thing to get your book if you are our winner. FREE BOOK ANYONE?

Go on - enter our competition NOW