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| Book Reviews - Books for Grown Ups |
Current book reviews for this category are shown below.
You may add your own review if you wish. |
| Money Doctor Finance Annual 2009 |
John Lowe
€10.99, Gill & Macmillan
The Money Doctor Finance Annual 2009 is the fourth edition of this annual publication. Speaking in plain English, it tells you how the budget changes will affect you, how you can take advantage of new rules, how you can use clever tips to your own advantage and how to avoid pitfalls.
The most keenly priced family finance guide on the Irish market |
| The Hot Topic - How to Tackle Global Warming and Still Keep the Lights On |
David King and Gabrielle Walker
£5.99, Bloomsbury Publishing
A fascinating, straightforward book written by the best qualified to tell us about climate change, Sir David King, and the acclaimed writer Gabrielle Walker
We all know that global warming is a problem, but the blizzard of information and misinformation on the subject makes it hard to know what to do. The Hot Topic is the first book to set out the problems and the solutions in a straightforward way – no hidden agenda, no breast-beating, no hair shirts.
Science – how the climate is already changing and what the future is likely to bring
Adaptation – preparing for the changes we can’t stop
Technological solutions – new, clean ways to live, travel and keep the lights on
Political solutions – the inside track on what it will take to bring the whole world to the same negotiating table, and how to deal with the ‘problem’ countries – China, India, Russia and the US
Personal and local solutions – what you can do and why it will make a difference |
| Alcoholism |
The Family Guide
£8.99, Need 2 Know Books
Packed with practical advice and the latest information, this book finds solutions to alcoholism, binge drinking and other forms of alcohol abuse.
Its easy-to-read style takes you step-by-step through diagnosing the problem; understanding its physical effects; breaking behavioural patterns and getting treatment.
Support for children with alcoholic parents and guidance for those living with an alcoholic is also included.
Whether it's you, or a friend or colleague with the problem or someone you love or live with, this book gives you all the information you need to stop the damage and chaos caused by problem drinking.
There is a way to combat the problem and this book will surely help.
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| Agatha Christie: The Complete Short Stories (Masterpieces in Miniature) |
Agatha Christie
£39.99, Collins
A boxed set of three bumper volumes containing every Agatha Christie story published in her UK books - a total of 159 stories, including a few rarities exclusive to these volumes.
Hercule Poirot made his first appearance in a short story in The Sketch magazine in March 1923, and so it was for most of Agatha Christie's short stories, published first in weekly and monthly magazines and helping her to build an army of fans through her superb short stories. Some would feature Poirot or Miss Marple, others would allow her the freedom to experiment with new characters or simply write ingenious one-off mysteries that would challenge the reader as much as any of her detectives. Now, every one of Agatha Christie's published short stories have been brought together in this impressive collection. For the first time, this trilogy contains all the short stories published in book form in the UK , perfectly illustrating the true breadth of her talent. From suspense-ridden cases of murder, robbery and blackmail to macabre tales of the supernatural, these books includes some of her very best plots, dubbed ‘Masterpieces in Miniature” and presented in the order they first appeared.
Each book includes bonus items: HERCULE POIROT includes an early version of a story not published since 1936, “Poirot and the Regatta Mystery”; MISS MARPLE AND MYSTERY includes a rare introduction to “The Thirteen Problems” not available anywhere else; and DETECTIVES AND YOUNG ADVENTURERS contains four early Poirot stories which are variations of those in the Poirot volume, plus Agatha Christie’s six rare Christmas stories for children, including “Star Over Bethlehem” and “The Naughty Donkey”.
‘Twelve little masterpieces of detection. Poirot and Agatha Christie at their inimitable best.’ Sunday Express |
| The Gift |
Cecilia Ahern
£14.99, Collins
If you could wish for one gift this Christmas, what would it be? Everyday Lou Suffern battled with the clock. He always had two places to be at the same time. He always had two things to do at once. When asleep he dreamed. In between dreams, he ran through the events of the day while making plans for the next. When at home with his wife and family, his mind was always someplace else. On his way into work one early winter morning, Lou meets Gabe, a homeless man sitting outside the office building. Intrigued by him and on discovering that he could also be very useful to have around, Lou gets Gabe a job in the post room. But soon Lou begins to regret helping Gabe. His very presence unsettles Lou and how does Gabe appear to be in two places at the same time? As Christmas draws closer, Lou starts to understand the value of time. He sees what is truly important in life yet at the same time he learns the harshest lesson of all. This is a story about people who not unlike parcels, hide secrets.They cover themselves in layers until the right person unwraps them and discovers what’s inside. Sometimes you have to be unravelled in order to find out who you really are. For Lou Suffern, that took time.
'A heartwarming, completely absorbing tale of love and friendship' Company |
| Thanks For The Memories |
Cecilia Ahern
£6.99, Collins
Joyce Conway remembers things she shouldn't. She knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited. And every night she dreams about an unknown little girl with blonde hair. Justin Hitchcock is divorced, lonely and restless. He arrives in Dublin to give a lecture on art and meets an attractive doctor, who persuades him to donate blood. It's the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time. When Joyce leaves hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, she moves back in with her elderly father. All the while, a strong sense of déjà vu is overwhelming her and she can't figure out why …
‘Cecelia Ahern is queen of the modern fairytale…love, magic, happy endings. And most of all, hope.’ Irish Times |
| More Than Just A Game: Football V Apartheid |
Prof. Chuck Korr and Marvin Close
£17.99, Collins
This is the astonishing story of how a unique group of political prisoners and freedom fighters found a sense of dignity in one of the ugliest hellholes on Earth: Robben Island. Despite all odds and regular torture, beatings and daily backbreaking hard labour, these extraordinary men turned soccer into an active force in the struggle for freedom. For nearly 20 years, the political prisoners on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was infamously incarcerated, somehow found the energy, spirit and resolve to organise a 1400 prisoner-strong, eight club football league which was played with strict adherence to FIFA rules. The prisoners themselves represented a broad array of political beliefs and backgrounds, yet football became an impassioned and unified symbol of resistance against apartheid. They refused to let their own political differences sway their devotion to the sport, which allowed them to organise and maintain leadership right under the noses of their captors. This league not only provided sanctuary and respite from the prisoners’ cruel surroundings, it kept their minds active and many credit it with keeping them alive. More Than Just a Game chronicles their story, the politics of the time, the extraordinary characters, their heroism and the thrilling matches themselves.
`It is amazing to think that a game that people take for granted all around the world, was the very same game that gave a group of prisoners sanity - and in a way, gave us the resolve to carry on the struggle'. Anthony Suze, Robben Island Prisoner |
| My Father's Watch |
Patrick Maguire
£11.99, Harper Collins
The intensely moving memoir of Patrick Maguire, one of the ‘Maguire Seven’ wrongly imprisoned as a teenager for making bombs for the IRA.
On the night of October 5 1974, an IRA unit left bombs in two Guildford pubs: five people were killed. On the night of December 3 1974, on the strength of fabricated testimony extracted under duress from Paul Hill and Gerard Conlon (whom the police mistakenly believed had planted the Guildford bombs), Anne and Paddy Maguire, two of their four children, Vincent and Patrick, plus other family members and friends, a total of seven in all, were arrested at their home in West London. On 22 October 1975 the Guildford Four were wrongfully convicted of bombing the two pubs in Guildford. On the 4 March 1976 the Maguire Seven, as they had become known, were found guilty of possession of the nitro-glycerine used in those bombings. On 19 October 1989 the verdicts on the Guildford Four were quashed. On 26 June 1991 the convictions against the Maguire Seven of handling explosives were quashed and just over a year later, Sir John May, after producing a report on the Maguire Seven case, described it as the worst miscarriage of justice he had ever seen. Behind these dates lie human stories – ‘My Father's Watch’ tells that of Patrick, who was the youngest of the accused, at fourteen years old. He was sentenced to four years and when he came out he had no home and no family, as both parents were still in jail. This book takes us through Patrick's entire life, from his working-class childhood in West London to the difficult life he has led since prison, the roots of which go back to the wrongful convictions and the destruction of the family that followed. Patrick Maguire and the novelist Carlo Gébler have written ‘My Father's Watch’ jointly. It is not a ghosted work – told in Patrick's own voice, it is a lucid and inspiring account of one individual's experience of an appalling injustice, as well as a reminder, as the war against terror ratchets up, of just how much harm a state can do to its own innocent citizens in the name of security.
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| Jessy's Journey |
Jess Smith
£9.99, Birlinn
This is a story of a young travelling girl growing up after WWII in a Scotland very different from now. It is a story about Jess, and the adventures she has growing up in a society that has long since disappeared, written by herself and is spread over 3 books it wont fail to keep you wanting more. All her books are intermingled with stories and legends not just from her travelling background but also from Scotland's rich history that everyone who reads these books can relate to. If you're after a slice of Scotland that makes you want for the old days then you can't beat these books.
From the ages of 5 to 15, Jess Smith lived with her parents, sisters and a mongrel dog in an old, blue Bedford bus. They travelled the length and breadth of Scotland, and much of England too, stopping here and there until they were moved on by the local authorities or driven by their own instinctive need to travel. By campfires, under the unchanging stars they brewed up tea, telling stories and singing songs late into the night.
Jessie’s Journey describes what it was like to be one of the last of the traditional travelling folk. It is not an idyllic tale, but despite the threat of bigoted abuse and scattered schooling, humour and laughter run throughout a childhood teeming with unforgettable characters and incidents. |
| The Importance of Being Kennedy |
Laurie Graham
£7.99, Harper Collins
Nora Brennan is a country girl from Westmeath. When she lands herself a position as nursery maid to a family in Brookline, Massachusetts, she little thinks it will place her at the heart of American history. But it's the Kennedy family. In 1917 Joseph Kennedy is on his way to his first million and he has plans to found a dynasty and ensure that his baby son, Joe Junior, will be the first Catholic President of the United States.
As nursemaid to all nine Kennedy children, Nora witnesses every moment, public and private. She sees the boys coached at their father's knee to believe everything they'll ever want in life can be bought. She sees the girls trained by their mother to be good Catholic wives. World War II changes everything.
At the outbreak of war the Kennedys are living the high life in London, where Joseph Kennedy is the American ambassador. His reaction is to send the entire household back across the Atlantic to safety, but Nora, surprised by midlife love, chooses to stay in England and do her bit. Separated from her Kennedys by an ocean she nevertheless remains the warm, approachable sun around which the older children orbit: Joe, Jack, Rosemary, and in particular Kick, who throws the first spanner in the Kennedy works by marrying an English Protestant.
Laurie Graham's poignant new novel views the Kennedys from below stairs, with the humour and candour that only an ex-nursemaid dare employ. The Irish connection will fascinate and draw you in - bringing history to life in a way that other books can only dream of! |
| Wild Dublin - Exploring Nature in the City |
Éanna Ní Lamhna
€12.99, O'Brien Press
Discover the surprising wilder side of Dublin city life with renowned wildlife expert Éanna ní Lamhna.
Between the cracks in the pavement, above the houses and buildings, beneath the flowing rivers and canals, amidst the bushes and trees, creatures and creepy-crawlies go about their business!
Dublin is not only home to a million humans, but is also residence for a fascinating array of flora and fauna.
Minks in the Dodder, whales on the coastline, newts in Dundrum, badgers in Rathfarnham, bats in Raheny, otters in Ringsend – these are just some of the magnificent wildlife you’ll spot in the capital.
Out of all the bird species recorded in Ireland, half make their home in Dublin, as do more than a third of our
wild plants. Most of our terrestrial wild mammals, with just five or six exceptions, have been recorded inside the M50. Divided into four chapters: fresh water (rivers, canals and ponds), built-up areas (birds, mammals and plants that thrive in the city centre), parks (public parks, private gardens, graveyards) and coastal (from Shankill to Sutton),
the book is packed full of interesting facts on wildlife in the capital.
Photographs, illustrations and maps complement the text, written in the author’s familiar and much-loved voice.
Éanna Ní Lamhna is a long-standing member of the panel of experts on RTÉ’s Friday wildlife slot on ‘The Mooney Show’, and one of the most instantly recognisable voices on Irish radio. Éanna has been president of An Taisce since July 2004 and is also the author of several other popular wildlife books. |
| Grow Organic |
Dorling Kinderlsey: Made With Care
£17.99, Dorling Kinderlsey: Made With Care
Start living the good life with this complete guide to natural, organic and chemical-free gardening. From storing winter vegetables to making your own compost, discover how to plan, design and maintain your own organic garden with this comprehensive guide.
Pick up tips on a range of organic practises: from advice on how to grow delicious fruit and vegetables, to a troubleshooting section for common plant problems. Covers just about every size of garden with suggestions on how to make just a 4ft square plot productive.
Whether you're a novice or an experienced gardener – get outside and discover how to have a beautiful garden while respecting the needs of the environment.
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| Working Mothers - The Essential Guide: Revised Ediion for 2008 |
Denise Tyler
£8.99, Forward Press Ltd
Nobody would say being a working mother is a doddle, whether you choose to do it or not. But there are ways and means to make it easier. Denise Tyler´s practical book aims to help you find a bit more flexibility in your life, feel less guilty about working motherhood, and ensures you know your rights.
Why do I feel guilty all the time?
Would it be easier to work for myself?
Am I entitled to financial help?
Whatever your questions are or even if you´re just starting to plan for working motherhood, this book will help you find the answers.
This book takes you through a series of practical steps helping you to get a straight answer on fundamental questions working mothers ask such as:
How can I explain to my family I need their help?
Where does all the time go?
Am I entitled to change my work hours?
There is also a comprehensive help list section which provides information for UK parents:
List of childcare and finance websites
List of sites to give advice on setting up a small business
Help and advice for working fathers
List of websites for networking and social skills advice
Also available directly from Need2Know, by calling +44 1733 898103, emailing sales@n2kbooks.com or through the website www.n2kbooks.com.
Released January 31st 2008.
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| Goddess Guide, The |
Gisele Scanlon
£10.00, Harper Collins
Gisèle Scanlon has picked out the best bits from her personal diary, address book and fashion contacts to reveal insider information, glamour secrets and a multitude of heavenly recommendations to allow every woman to find her inner goddess – whether it’s the earth goddess or the urban.
The life-enhancing content includes: what you should have in your make-up bag to tackle every problem; how to sell your clothes on eBay; the dos and don'ts of shoes according to Christian Louboutin; the best way to get value out of that little black dress; plucking the neatest eyebrows; getting extra legroom when booking a flight; planning a divine date; booking a hotel with the comfiest bed; entertaining with champagne; looking after cashmere; de-cluttering your home; buying jeans to lengthen your legs; finding gifts for the trickiest people and instructions from Linda Evangelista's trainer on honing a small behind.
Sumptuous, approachable and friendly, this gorgeous style-bible is both fixer and facilitator – destined to be your new best friend, personal, trend-setting concierge and ultimate Goddess Guide.
This stunning new paperback edition of the style bible success of last year will make a welcome gift for any woman. |
| NEXT |
Michael Crichton
£6.99, Harper
Michael Crichton is widely known for his controversial, cutting-edge stories that blend technology with thrilling plotlines. With stories like dinosaurs making a comeback in Jurassic Park, murderous gorillas attacking scientists in Congo, and archaeologists who travel back to the Middle Ages in Timeline, Crichton has a big reputation to live up to. The author has a lot to live up to with Next. It is set in a world that may be in the future but may also be much closer than we think. It centres on the rapidly changing world of genetics, where human tissues can be owned by corporations, giant, genetically modified insects are being sold as pets, and a spray exists that may be able to cure people of addictions but also causes them to age at an alarming pace. With a long list of characters and plotlines, Next explores a family who has just been joined by a human/chimpanzee hybrid created by the scientist father, a mother and son on the run so bounty hunters cannot claim their highly sought-after genetic material and an enhanced parrot who helps his owner’s son with his math homework. This is just a sampling of the different plots that run through Next. It is written in short chapters with the style that keeps you page turning, though can be lengthy in places with descriptions and events you wtill want to stick with it to the end. Michael Crichton’s next will not disappoint and will live up to his past works.
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| New Testament, The |
Same Bourne
£6.99, Harper
This is one of the latest religious conspiracy-theory thriller’s from the author of 'The Righteous Men' Sam Bourne aka journalist Jonathan Freedland, set against the backdrop of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict arena. It is April 2003: as the Baghdad Museum of Antiquities is looted, a teenage Iraqi boy finds an ancient clay tablet in a long-forgotten vault. He takes it and runs off into the night ! Several years later, at a peace rally in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister is about to sign a historic deal with the Palestinians. A man approaches from the crowd and seems to reach for a gun -- bodyguards shoot him dead. But in his hand was a note, one he wanted to hand to the prime minister. The shooting sparks a series of tit-for-tat killings which could derail the peace accord. Washington sends for trouble-shooter and peace negotiator Maggie Costello, after she thought she had quit the job for good. She follows a trail that takes her from Jewish settlements on the West Bank to Palestinian refugee camps, where she discovers the latest deaths are not random but have a distinct pattern. All the dead men are archaeologists and historians -- those who know the buried secrets of the ancient past. Menaced by fanatics and violent extremists on all sides, Costello is soon plunged into high-stakes international politics, the worldwide underground trade in stolen antiquities and a last, unsolved riddle of the Bible. The style of the author keeps you wanting to keep reading making you want to know what is around the corner. The authors knowledge of the conflict region is what gives the story much credibility, all in all a book that will keep you entertained through out, well worth the read. |
| Selling Your Home - the Complete Irish Guide to Giving Your Home That Winning Edge |
Con Nagle
€10.95, O'Brien Press
From preparation, marketing, legal and financial issues to gazumping and gazundering, Con Nagle explains;
when to sell, what your home is worth, how to choose the best auctioneer, how to advertise your property and present it in its best light, the legal process, apartment sales and working with property-management companies
Packed with advice and anecdotal examples, Selling Your Home also provides a comprehensive glossary of terms and stamp-duty information.
The first book of its kind in Ireland, it is specifically tailored to the Irish market, and will take the mystery and anxiety out of selling your home.
Written by an industry insider with over 15 years of experience in the property market, this is a must for anyone who wants to achieve the maximum profit when selling their home.
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| Afraid of the Dark - The Tragic Story of Robert Holohan |
Ralph Riegel
€11.95, O'Brien Press
Robert Holohan's disappearance on the 4th of January 2005 touched the heart of the nation. For eight days people from all over Ireland searched for the boy. All their hopes were dashed when his body was found. Then the full tragedy emerged when his good friend and neighbour, Wayne O'Donoghue, admitted to the killing; at the court case he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Ralph Riegel's account of this tragedy starts at the afternoon of Robert's disappearance right up to the aftermath of Wayne O'Donoghue's trial and Majella Holohan's Victim Impact Statement.
'not just a story about the trauma of Robert's parents ... it highlights the huge voluntary effort involved in the search and the contributions made even by those who could not take part. the book is thorough in what it includes.'
The Evening Echo |
| The Big Turnoff |
Ellen Currey-Wilson
£10.99, Vision
Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mum Trying to Raise a
TV-Free Kid. Alternately hilarious and scathing in its observations about our media-crazed culture, The Big Turnoff is the true tale of a TV-addicted mother's struggle to kick the habit and keep the TV out of her son's everyday life.
Like most parents, Ellen Currey-Wilson and her husband aspire to be better parents than their own. Currey-Wilson shared most of her childhood with The Beverly Hillbillies and later kept up with the fictional history of every character on Friends, but she longs for her son, Casey, to know the people around him better than he knows the Teletubbies.
So naturally, like most parents, she goes a bit overboard. Banning the box from her family’s daily existence, Currey-Wilson is determined that her son – and her accommodating husband by extension – won’t be exposed to even a split second of screen time and pledges to wean herself from her own television addiction.
In her revealing and outspoken take on parenting, Currey-Wilson recounts her increasingly fanatical behaviour: literally throwing herself in front of the television set to keep her son from inadvertently watching a commercial – and the intermittent fits of insecurity that find her worrying whether Casey will be ostracised for not knowing the theme song to SpongeBob SquarePants. And her own habit? She sets timetables for unplugging herself but often falls off the wagon, racing up to the storage room, where she’s hidden the TV, to get a fix while Casey sleeps.
But something remarkable happens to her family as television assumes a backseat to real life: Currey-Wilson's relationships with her laid-back husband, new-age sister, eccentric mother and remarkably self-possessed son begin to deepen and grow. In an age when it's easier to flick on the TV than to interact with the people around us, The Big Turnoff shows what happens when one woman decides to buck the trend.
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| The Savage Garden |
Mark Mills
£7.99, Harper Collins
This second novel by Mark Mills is a stunning success. It is a very articulate, literary book that slowly builds the very atmospheric plot. It draws the reader, very successfully, into a world of late 1958.
Behind a villa in the heart of Tuscany lies a Renaissance garden of enchanting beauty. Its grottoes, pagan statues and classical inscriptions seem to have a secret life of their own – and a secret message, too, for those with eyes to read it.
Young scholar Adam Strickland is just such a person. Arriving in 1958, he finds the Docci family, their house and the unique garden as seductive as each other. But post-War Italy is still a strange, even dangerous place, and the Doccis have some dark skeletons hidden away which Adam finds himself compelled to investigate.
Before this mysterious and beautiful summer ends, Adam will uncover two stories of love, revenge and murder, separated by 400 years… but is another tragedy about to be added to the villa's cursed past?
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| If There's Anything I Can Do...How To Help Someone Who Has Been Bereaved |
Caroline Doughty
£7.99, White Ladder Press
It is horrendous when someone you love has to go through the unbearable pain of bereavement. You feel grief stricken, numb and completely impotent to do anything to help.
· Will you be intruding if you call?
· Should you send flowers?
· Would it be better to leave them alone?
· Should you avoid talking about the person who has died?
You can’t take away their grief, of course, but there are things you can do to make everyday life more bearable for them. And no one knows better what those things are than people who have been bereaved themselves.When someone loses a partner, wife or husband, it can be incredibly hard to know what to say or how to help. You’re desperate to do something, but what? The only people who can really answer that question are those who have been there themselves.
Caroline Doughty is a professional writer whose partner died four years ago leaving her with two young children. Acutely aware that everyone’s experience is different, and not everyone necessarily feels as she did, she interviewed many other bereaved people before writing If There’s Anything I Can Do…, which is an invaluable guide to helping the bereaved.
Caroline writes movingly about how it feels to face life alone, but her main aim is to impart as much practical, helpful advice as possible. Anyone with a relative or friend who has recently lost their partner will find this book packed with reassuring suggestions for helping out without getting in the way, and guidance on the odd pitfall to avoid.
Whether you’re supporting someone young or old, family or friend, this is a book that will help you do the very best for them. Readers who have reached an age where many of their contemporaries are losing partners will find it an invaluble reference to have sitting on the shelf. Full of suggestions for little ways – and big ways – you can help someone you care about cope that little bit better.
Released on 6th August 2007 -
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| A Guide to Promoting Your Business |
Antonia Chitty
£15.00, prbasics.co.uk
Antonia Chitty works closely with mums running their own businesses to help them improve their profile. This book takes you step by step through working out what is unique and special about your business, and helps you learn about writing and sending your own press releases. Packed with low cost techniques for getting your business noticed, just follow the steps in the book to reach more customers.
There is a website, prbasics.co.uk, to accompany the book, with lots of free resources and essential links. Visit the site to download a template to help you plan your business promotion, a template for writing your own press releases, and more. You can also see extracts from the workbook, and submit your own suggestions for useful resources.
The A4 workbook format provides space for you to fill in your own ideas, thoughts and plans and talks you through your business idea or existing model.
Available online from www.prbasics.co.uk, www.acpr.co.uk, www.amazon.co.uk or order from your local bookshop.
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