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Enjoy a good read with Waterstone’s
Sixof the best Enjoy
Journey to the
Edge of the World
by Billy Connolly
Headline Book
Publishing £20.00
In the summer of
2008 Billy Connolly
set sail on a ten-week
journey from ocean
to ocean: from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, by
way of the North West Passage – a fabled
route deep within the Arctic Circle that has
thwarted explorers and fortune-hunters for
centuries. By plane, rail, road and boat,
along coastlines and across sweeping
landscapes that represent the final northern
frontier of the inhabited world for both man
and beast, Billy’s adventure embraces a
memorable mix of bizarre encounters,
Hemingwayesque characters, incredible
wildlife, forgotten languages, big-game
hunting and all-night carousing under the
midnight sun.
Desperate Romantics: The Private
Lives of the Pre-
Raphaelites
by Franny Moyle
John Murray
Publishers Ltd
£20.00
The Bohemian
lifestyle and
intertwined love
affairs of the Pre-
Raphaelites
shockingly broke
19th-century
class barriers and bent the
rules that governed the roles of the sexes.
They became defined by love triangles,
played out against the austere moral
climate of Victorian England; they
outraged their contemporaries with
their loves, jealousies and betrayals, and
they stunned society when their complex
moral choices led to madness and suicide,
or when their permissive experiments
ended in addiction and death. The
characters are huge and vivid and remain as
compelling today as they were in their own
time. The influential critic, writer and artist
John Ruskin was their father figure and his
apostles included the painter Dante Gabriel
Rossetti and the designer William Morris.
They drew extraordinary women into their
58
circle. In a move intended to raise eyebrows
for its social audacity, they recruited the most
ravishing models they could find from the
gutters of Victorian slums. The saga is
brought to life through the vivid letters and
diaries kept by the group and the accounts
written by their contemporaries. These reallife
stories shed new light on the greatest
19th-century British art.
Bearded Tit
by Rory McGrath
Ebury Press
paperback £7.99
As an adult, or what
passes for one, Rory
recounts becoming
a card-carrying
birdwatcher,
observing his first
skylark – peerless
king of the
summer sky –
while stoned;
his repeatedly
failed attempts to get up at the
crack of dawn like the real twitchers; and his
flawed bid to educate his utterly
unreconstructed drinking mate Danny in the
ways of birding. Rory’s tale is a thoroughly
educational, occasionally lyrical and highly
amusing romp through the hidden byways of
bird-watching and, more importantly, a love
story you’ll never forget.
One Chance: My Life and Rugby
by Josh Lewsey
Virgin Books £17.99
Josh Lewsey is one of the most successful
English rugby players of all time. He has won
every trophy in the sport at both national and
international level and is
renowned for his
unconventionally broad
interests and achievements.
In this intelligent, selfeffacing
and humorous
account of his life so far,
Josh speaks about his
time at Wasps and as a
member of the England
team (including the
World Cup winning
team of 2003), as well
as his many other experiences, and
shares some of the lessons he has learned
along the way.
WWaterstone’s
more good books
at Waterstone’s
• Andover 01264 358927
• Eastleigh 02380 618930
• Fareham 01329 825693
• Lymington 01590 671409
• Petersfield 01730 261415
• Portsmouth 02392 821255
• Salisbury 01722 415596
• Southampton (Above Bar) 02380 633130
• Southampton (West Quay) 02380 232118
• Winchester (High Street) 01962 840379
• Winchester (The Brooks) 01962 866206
www.waterstones.com
The Miracle at Speedy Motors
by Alexander McCall Smith
Abacus paperback £6.99
It has never occurred to
Precious Ramotswe that
there might be
disadvantages to being
the best-known lady
detective in Botswana.
But when she receives
an anonymous
threatening letter,
she is compelled to
reconsider her
unconquerable
belief in a kind
world and good
neighbours. Alexander McCall Smith reveals
with all his brilliant storytelling skill that there
are very few troubles that cannot be solved with
kindness, and very few dry seasons that do not
end with welcome rains.
Grumpy Old Couples:
Men are from Mars.
Women Have Just
Got Back from
Tesco’s
by Jenny Eclair,
Judith Holder
Weidenfeld &
Nicolson £9.99
We all know about the
jungle of dating. But
once you’ve found your
‘special’ friend, you’ll have to pretend you
like their taste in music, be nice to their mother
and pick up their socks, and that’s only year one.
By the time you get into grumpy old middleaged
land, you’re firmly on farting terms and
over-familiarity has bedded in. The only thing to
do with the whole business is to laugh over it,
which is the idea of this book. V