Books

Anna Karenina is one of the most loved and memorable heroines of literature. Her overwhelming charm dominates a novel of unparalleled richness and density. Tolstoy considered this book to be his first real attempt at a novel form, and it addresses the very nature of society at all levels,- of destiny, death, human relationships and the irreconcilable contradictions of existence.

It ends tragically, and there is much that evokes despair, yet set beside this is an abounding joy in life’s many ephemeral pleasures, and a profusion of comic relief.

Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) relates the hair-raising journey made as a wager by the Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg, who succeeds – but only just! – in circling the globe within eighty days. The dour Fogg’s obsession with his timetable is complemented by the dynamism and versatility of his French manservant, Passepartout, whose talent for getting into scrapes brings colour and suspense to the race against time. Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863) was Verne’s first novel.

It documents an apocryphal jaunt across the continent of Africa in a hydrogen balloon designed by the omniscient, imperturbable and ever capable Dr Fergusson, the prototype of the Vernian adventurer.

BARRY, KEVIN

This is a book to be read by a blazing fire on a winter’s night, with the curtains drawn close and the doors securely locked. The unquiet souls of the dead, both as fictional creations and as ‘real’ apparitions, roam the pages of this haunting new selection of ghost stories by Rex Collings. Some of these stories are classics while others are lesser-known gems unearthed from this vintage era of tales of the supernatural.

There are stories from distant lands – ‘Fisher’s Ghost’ by John Lang is set in Australia and ‘A Ghostly Manifestation’ by ‘A Clergyman’ is set in Calcutta. In this selection, Sir Walter Scott (a Victorian in spirit if not in fact), keeps company with Edgar Allen Poe, Sheridan Le Fanu and other illustrious masters of the genre.

There he lay looking as if youth had been half-renewed, for the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey, the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, burning eyes seemed set amongst the swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were simply gorged with blood; he lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion.’ Thus Bram Stoker, one of the greatest exponents of the supernatural narrative, describes the demonic subject of his chilling masterpiece Dracula, a truly iconic and unsettling tale of vampirism.

The 5th collection of poems from O’Donoghue, who won the Whitbread Prize for Poetry in 1995. Brings together subtle and moving meditations on exile and belonging, travel and home, and honours friends and loved ones.

New edition 2014 Over 100,000 copies sold!
With just under 200,000 people waiting to do the test and a failure rate of 50%. This is the book they need to know about. Why? It is the only book focused on actually passing the driving test on the day. How often do you get to see the exam paper before the exam. The only book that examines the actual new test score sheet – used by the Department of Transport test examiners. Author is a driving instructor and reveals the tricks of the trade. The books contains the following: Luas signs, port tunnel signs, updated metric speed limits, cycle tracks, bus lanes. PASS IT FIRST TIME!